Nigeria lost close to $200 billion in investment opportunities under Buhari administration

CC™ Global News

Nigeria may have lost close to $200 billion, representing more than 92 percent of investment opportunities available to the country between 2017 and 2020.

Details of a report by the Nigerian Investment Promotion Commission (NIPC) on “Investment announcements versus FDI (Foreign Direct Investments) Inflow in Nigeria, 2017 – 2020” revealed that the actual inflows of FDI into Nigeria within the period was about 7.65 percent of the total investment announcements captured by the Commission.

This indicates that most investment announcements and expression of interests to invest did not materialize or translate to actual investment inflow.

The report shows that total investment announcements captured by NIPC during the period amounted to $203.89 billion whereas actual FDI inflow was $15.6 billion, representing 7.65 percent.

Specifically, statistics obtained from NIPC stated that in 2017, only $3.5 billion actual FDI inflow was recorded out of a total investment announcements of $66.35 billion; in 2018 only $6.4 billion FDI materialized out $90.89 billion announced; in 2019, $3.3 billion out of $29.91 billion; and in 2020 only $2.4 billion actual FDI inflow was recorded out of $16.74 billion investment announcements that were captured.

NIPC noted, however, that its report is based only on investment announcements captured by the Commission which may not contain exhaustive information on all investment announcements in Nigeria during the period, adding that it did not independently verify the authenticity of the announcements.

NIPC further reported that in 2017, a total number of 112 projects were announced across 27 States and FCT; in 2018, there were 92 projects across 23 States and FCT; 2019, there were 76 Projects across 17 States, FCT; while in 2020, a total announcements of 63 projects were made across 21 States, FCT and the Niger Delta region.

Further details of the NIPC report revealed that in 2020, the top 10 announcements accounted for $15.59 billion, representing about 93 percent of total announcements.

The details show $6 billion by Indorama Petrochemicals and Fertilizer company from Singapore; $2.6 billion by Bank of China and Sinosure from China; $2 billion by 328 Support Serves GmbH from USA; $1.6 billion by MTN South Africa; and $1.05 billion by Sinoma CBMI of China.

Others are $1 billion by Torridon Investments of UK; $600 million by African Industries Group in Nigeria; $390 million by Savannah Petroleum of UK; $200 million by Stripe from USA; and $150 million by NESBITT Investment Nigeria.

In 2019, the top 10 announcements accounted for $26.29 billion or 88 percent of total. These include $10 billion by Royal Dutch Shell from Netherlands; $5 billion by Aiteo Eastern Exploration and Production Company from Nigeria; $3.15 billion by Sterling Oil and Energy Production Company (SEEPCO) from Nigeria; $2.3 billion by TREDIC Star Core from Canada; and $1.5 billion by OCP Group from Morocco.

Others are $1 billion by Tolaram Group from Singapore; $900 million by Yinson Holdings Bhd from Malaysia; $880 million by CMES-OMS Petroleum Development Company (CPDC) from Nigeria; $860 million by China Harbour Engineering Company (CHEC)/Lagos State; and $700 million by Seplat/NNPC from Nigeria.

The top announcements in 2018 accounted for $79.3 billion, representing 87 percent of total announcements captured by the commission.

The details include $18 billion by Range Developers of UAE; $16 billion by Total from France; $12 billion by Azikel Refinery from Nigeria; $11.7 billion by Green Africa Airways from Nigeria; and $9 billion by Royal Dutch Shell from UK.

Others are $3.6 billion by Petrolex Oil & Gas from Nigeria; $3 billion by CNOOC from China; $2 billion by Vitol/Africa Oil/Delonex Energy from Luxembourg, Canada and Nigeria; $2 billion by General Electric from USA; and $2 billion by Blackoil Energy Refinery from Nigeria/Niger.

The NIPC report revealed that the top 10 announcements in 2017 accounted for $43.1billion, representing about 65 percent of total announcements captured.

The commission did not, however, provide the details of the investors, sector, source and destination.

According to NIPC, the gaps between announcements and actual investments demonstrate investments potentials which were not fully actualized.

The Commission stated: “A more proactive all-of-government approach to investor support, across federal and state governments is required to convert more announcements to actual investments.”

Reacting to the situation, Director General, Nigerian Association of Chambers of Commerce, Industry, Mines and Agriculture (NACCIMA), Ambassador Ayoola Olukanni, noted that the gap may not be unconnected to the economic recession and COVID-19 pandemic events within the period, aggravated by policy instability.

Olukanni stated: “Numerous studies have established that Foreign Direct Investment is dependent on the market size of the host country, deregulation, level of political stability, investment incentives, openness to international trade, economic policy coherence, exchange rate depreciation, availability of skilled labor, endowment of natural resources and inflation.

“You will agree with me that the four years spanning 2017 and 2020 are characterized by struggle to exit from economic recession, a period of slight recovery, the COVID-19 pandemic, and another period of recession. These circumstances may or may not be responsible for the political and economic reaction that can be witnessed in the uncertainty in the foreign exchange market, increased inflation, increased unemployment, increased political unrest and insecurity and so on.

“What can be established is that Foreign Direct Investment is averse to risk and uncertainty, especially the kind of uncertainty brought about by policy instability and economic policy. An obvious example is the closure of the land borders in 2019, while justifiable through the lens of national security is certain to have a negative impact on Foreign Direct Investment which has a long-term planning horizon.

“In summary, to seek to increase actual FDI is to promote the factors that have been shown, empirically, to positively impact FDI. While the Nigerian economy checks the boxes of most of these factors, economic policy coherence, foreign exchange market stability and insecurity are issues that are currently the bane of FDI inflows.”

Also commenting, an economist and private sector advocate, Dr. Muda Yusuf, who is also the immediate past Director General of Lagos Chamber of Commerce of Industry (LCCI), said the development reflects low level of investors’ confidence occasioned by structural problems of infrastructure and worsening security situation.

His words: “It is investors’ confidence that drives investment, whether domestic or foreign. Investors are generally very cautious and painstaking in taking decisions with respect to Foreign Direct Investment (FDI). This is because FDIs are often long term and invariably more risky, especially in volatile economic and business environments. Uncertainties aggravate investment risk.

“Investors in the real sector space are grappling with structural problems especially around infrastructure. There are also worries around liquidity in the forex market; there are concerns about the accelerated weakening of the currency. There are issues of heightened regulatory and policy risks in many sectors.

“Investors’ confidence has also been adversely affected by the worsening security situation in the country. Meanwhile, the economy is still struggling to recover from the shocks of the COVID-19 pandemic. These are the likely factors impacting investment decisions.

“Our ability to attract FDI will depend on how well we position ourselves. The critical question will be around expected returns on investment. Overall, it is the investment climate quality that will make the difference. We need to ensure an acceleration of necessary reforms to make Nigeria a much better investment destination. We need policy reforms, regulatory reforms and institutional reforms, among others.

“We should accelerate the ongoing foreign exchange reforms; we need to undertake trade policy reforms to liberalize trade in sectors of weak comparative advantage; we need regulatory reforms to make regulations more investment friendly. We need to create new opportunities in the public private partnership (PPP) space, especially in infrastructure. We need to see more privatization of public enterprises.

“It is important as well to quickly fix the ravaging insecurity in the country. All of these are crucial to boost investors’ confidence.”

AGENCY

Nigeria a failed state pretending to be normal – Moghalu

CC™ Global News

Kingsley Moghalu, former Deputy Governor of the Central Bank of Nigeria and presidential candidate in the 2019 general election, has described Nigeria as a failed state.

Moghalu, who was recently appointed as an Academic Visitor to the University of Oxford, UK said Nigeria is a failed state pretending to be normal.

His reaction came days after terrorists attack the Abuja-Kaduna train.

The ex-presidential candidate lamented that the inaction of security agents who were aware of the attack ahead of time, indicated that Nigeria is a failed state.

In a series of tweets, Moghalu wrote: “After reading reports of the terrorist attacks on the Abuja-Kaduna train, and of how security networks were reportedly aware in advance of the attack but did nothing, we must tell ourselves the truth: Nigeria is a failed state pretending to be a normal country.

“Our state failure can be reversed. Britain suffered from “The Troubles” (terrorism by the Irish Republican Army) decades ago, but today it’s a different story.

“Afghanistan is not our destiny, but we must change our political direction in 2023 to make that outcome a false prophecy.”

Kingsley Moghalu

@MoghaluKingsley

·

Oct 23

After reading reports of the terrorist attacks on the Abuja-Kaduna train, and of how security networks were reportedly aware in advance of the attack but did nothing, we must tell ourselves the truth: Nigeria is a failed state pretending to be a normal country.

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The Great Groundnut Pyramids of Kano: A Truly Nigerian Masterpiece

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Dan Senor’s execrable take on the growing numbers of babies and children being killed in Gaza

CC™ Introspective

By Deji Komolafe, Deputy Editor-in-Chief

Dan Senor, former Bush foreign policy advisor and co-author of a new book called "The Genius of Israel: The Surprising Resilience of a Divided Nation in a Turbulent World”, recently joined Fareed Zakaria on the latter s long running Sunday morning show on CNN, Fareed Zakaria GPS.

Here is a transcript of their conversation regarding the ever growing death toll in the Israeli siege on Gaza, especially with regard to children. 

ZAKARIA: How long -- if this campaign goes on for another month or two, more and more civilian casualties, will -- you know, the memory of the Hamas attack fades and the reality of pictures of Palestinians dying increases, how long do you think he has? 

SENOR: It depends how he frames this. If President Biden frames this accurately that Hamas is responsible for Israeli civilian casualties and Palestinian civilian casualties, that the reason Palestinians are being killed is because Hamas has chosen to wage its offensive military capabilities in hospitals, in U.N. run schools, near mosques.

[10:45:04]

Israel doesn't get to choose and the U.S. doesn't get to choose where Hamas fights. Hamas chooses where it wants to fight and is deliberately choosing it. It would be like -- the analogy I recommend President Biden give is it would be as though Russia located a missile launcher next to a Russian orphanage and was firing at Ukraine, and Ukraine responded and accidentally killed the -- they took out the Ukrainian orphanage.

The U.S. wouldn't blame Ukraine for that. It would obviously be Putin's decision. It was a strategic decision. And, I think, President Biden needs to start framing things in those terms and -- then I think the American public's tolerance for the images coming out of Gaza will be, you know, higher.

Dan Senor’s response is truly instructive as it shows an unfortunate reality regarding the subjective value of human life in this conflict. 

No amount of political engineering or public relations branding should ever compromise the humanity of ALL to call things exactly as they are. I am confident that the tolerance of the American people will never get higher for the gruesome images of babies, children and mothers being collectively slaughtered. 

Source: CNN

The legend of Socrates: A true Brazilian great and one of the best midfielders of all time

CC™ VideoScope

The Forgotten Arab Slave Trade

CC™ VideoScope

Elijah McCoy - Genesis of The Real McCoy

CC™ VideoScope

Warren Buffett: All Successful People Have This One Rare Thing in Common

Warren Buffett

CC™ Digest - By Marcel Schwantes 

The difference between successful people and really successful people, according to the Oracle of Omaha..... 

Have you ever wondered how the most successful people achieve so much when they have the same number of hours in the day as the rest of us? To Warren Buffett, the 89-year-old chairman and CEO of Berkshire Hathaway and the third richest person in the world, it's not a mystery at all.

In the words of the Oracle of Omaha, "The difference between successful people and really successful people is that really successful people say no to almost everything."

Hang on, they say NO?

It feels counterintuitive, but give it some thought and Buffett's advice will ring true in virtually any context, whether it's investing, work, or your personal life.

So often we spread ourselves thin by saying "yes" constantly, and we end up taking on more commitments than we can handle. If you've been there, you know the outcome: increased stress and lower quality, whether it's of work, life, or just decisions in general.

Successful people say no to these 4 things 

The good news is that you can turn things around just by saying no. Does that mean it's easy? Of course not -- but it's worth the effort.

1. Exciting opportunities that aren't a good fit.

Always remember that devoting attention to something, whether it's an investment opportunity, a new project at work, or a new hobby, means taking time away from something else. This year forgo all those opportunities with potential in order to focus on the ones that are the most important.

2. 80-hour work weeks that cost you time with family.

Our culture has glorified the struggle of the entrepreneur and businessperson to the point where people feel like 60- or even 80-hour workweeks are something to brag about. Show me an 80-hour zealot and I'll show you a family or personal life that's been sorely neglected. Successful people choose balance over burnout.

3. Superficial networking events.

While some people slog through speed dating style networking events that go by in a blur of business cards, the smart ones spend their time nurturing a few truly valuable relationships. Successful people choose quality over quantity.

4. Going to incredible lengths to please people.

Spend too much time trying to please the people around you and you'll find you've neglected your own most basic needs. Successful people aren't self-absorbed, but they're also not going to cater to the people around them at the expense of their own lives and happiness.

Putting "no" into practice

As we start a new year (and a new decade!) it's the perfect time for you to step back and rethink your priorities. If you're still saying yes to the things above (and everything else that comes your way), you'll be amazed at what can happen when you finally start to say no. It won't be easy, and here's a quick exercise that proves it designed by Buffett himself.

Write down a list of your 25 most important goals. That may seem like a lot at first, but you'll hit that number quickly when you think about all the different directions you're trying to go in life. 

Next, circle the top five, and then (this is the painful but important part) cross out the rest.

No one -- not even the most productive person in the world -- has room for 25 goals. The really successful people are the ones who recognize that fact, accept their limited bandwidth, and choose to allocate their time to a few things that matter the most. Try emulating this practice and you'll be able to join their ranks.

Source: Inc.

Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie: Africa's cultural and literary icon

Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie

CC™ Opeditorial

By Yahaya Balogun

When a Muse is within my reach or vicinity, my literary antenna captures the precinct or perceives the Muse. When you have an insatiable quest for knowledge acquisition, the muse in talented and good people around infatuates your literary urge. I am an ardent adherent of the muse any day!

Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie makes us proud! She is one of our cultural icons and literary moguls in Africa! Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie received an honorary Doctor of Letters degree from Yale University during the university’s 2019 commencement ceremony. 

She got this deserving award one day after delivering the Class Day address. 2019 marked the first time in Yale’s history that the Class Day speaker would receive an honorary degree in the same year. Chimamanda is one of the muses and Nigerian cultural ambassadors to the world. Chimamanda represents one of the best in us in Nigeria and Africa.

On November 16, 2019, Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie received the Bookcity Milano prize during the Bookcity Literary Festival in Milan, Italy. She also appeared in an onstage conversation. Adichie's beautiful story in the United States and around the globe is being told beautifully in different forms by the world. And these effervescent forms transcend a single story being told by some Nigerians. But the deafening silence on her achievements by Nigerians is also very obvious.

Nauseatingly, why do we not celebrate the good ones among us? Why do the brown-envelope Newspapers in Nigeria, and social media hogwash us with naughty and noxious things? Why don't people rejoice with our collective achievements domestically and on the world stage? These are damning questions begging for honest answers! Chimamanda Adichie is not the Gucci-COZA, ELISHA ABBO, SYNAGOGUE, HERDMEN or RUGA. 

Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie is one of the representations of Nigeria's intellectual glory. Her achievements are cocooned in a meritocracy. Unfortunately, Adichie comes from the clime where mediocrity holds sway. Mediocrity always takes precedent over meritorious service in the homeland: the reason why Adichie wouldn't make any headlines in our brown-enveloped and hate-monger Newspapers in Nigeria. Nigerian passion for mediocrity is damning and alarming!

Meanwhile, Chimamanda Adichie is flourishing exceptionally in America's exceptionalism, abundant opportunities, and prosperity! The most glowing part of her story is her referential of Nigeria in all her expositions. She is a true patriot and amazon daughter of the soil of Nigeria. Adichie has a compendium knowledge and unique style in preserving Professor Chinua Achebe's literary encyclopedia. Some of our people stereotype Adichie for her beliefs in feminism and controversial academic presentations. Some Nigerian professors frown at her feminist postures, and uniquely essentials, but their inability to understand her multicultural intelligence and literary-know-how is bewildering and damning.

Interestingly, Chimamanda Ngozi's books have been translated into more than 30 different international languages. Her book Americanah made it to the list of the top best Barack Obama's 2018. Adichie is engagingly following the path of our cultural and literary giant---Prof. Chinua Achebe whose book "Things Fall Apart" has been translated to more than 50 international languages.

Chimamanda Adichie beautifies one of the human capital endowments we have known in Nigeria. It is unfathomable to see how unwilling Nigeria exports her best human resources (brains) to a willing world that utilizes them for its benefits. Nigeria is a reservoir of raw and untapped knowledge. The processed brains and other knowledgeable people currently residing in Nigeria are being abused and bastardized daily by the hostile environment. Jealousy, selfish motives and deliberate ignorance signal the hard times ahead of the country.

Consequently, Time actually heals! I hope time heals our people's self-hate, self-destruct and deliberate ignorance. There should be no burden in being critical about something or someone. But when you morph low to hate someone who is making progress because of his or her opinions on germane issues, you will need to make a critical visit to a psychologist for moral therapy.

While Chimamada's spiral self-made and talent are soaring high among the global academia, and in the international arena, her resenters are soaring deep in low-life of jealousy and confusion. Nigeria is a nation with abundant human capital. We are the number one exporter of human resources in the global world. Anytime I see Nigerians achieving a great feat in a competitive global community, my adrenaline-rush for our greatness always go beyond imagination and satisfaction.

Congratulations to Amazon Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie. She is one of our cultural icons and ambassador extraordinaire! Let's celebrate her brilliance, candor, confidence, grace, and resourcefulness. We are very pleased with Adichie, and also very proud of her great literary talent and achievements.

Amọtẹkun: Why it is here to stay and may end up being the defining issue on the continued corporate existence of Nigeria

Western Nigeria Security Network (Amọtẹkun)

CC™ Viewpoint - By Editor-in-Chief

Nigeria is a great nation. In the history of the world, there has never been such abundance of natural wealth, talent, ingenuity, resourcefulness and dogged resiliency assembled within the borders of one nation. 

Nigerians are an extremely resourceful, prideful and accomplished people but one thing, yes that one main thing, the key ingredient that serves as the penultimate fulcrum for moving a nation to the next level, has always been missing...... LEADERSHIP!

Leadership is and will always be key to the success of an organization or a people. True leadership is equipped with vision, empathy, compassion and a servant spirit. It is the glaring lack of leadership or the rudderless nature of it that has brought Nigerians, the Yoruba of Southwestern Nigeria in particular, to the realization that they must take their future into their own hands. The central government of President Muhammadu Buhari has essentially abdicated its responsibility under the Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria to safeguard lives and property within the borders of the country. 

Enter then now Amọtẹkun (Cheetah or Panther), the Western Nigeria Security Network established by the six states in the South-west, for the purpose of self-defence and self-protection in the face of unending attacks by criminals, especially the terrorist Fulani Herdsmen responsible for ethnic cleansing across much of Western Nigeria, Eastern Nigeria and the Middle-Belt. This would not have been necessary if President Buhari and the Nigerian Service Chiefs (most of whom are from Buhari's Fulani ethnicity) had not consistently turned a blind eye to the persistent killings of innocent citizens mostly women and children by the rampaging Fulani Herdsmen; a group that has been designated as one of the five most deadly terrorist organizations in the world behind only Boko Haram and ISIS. 

The response to the establishment of Amọtẹkun has been as expected with the Attorney General of the Federation (of Fulani extraction) and various Northern leaders and organizations including Miyetti Allah (essentially the silent partners and benefactors of the Fulani Herdsmen) voicing their disapproval of the security unit. The hypocrisy of the Northern leaders can obviously be seen with the fact that they created the Hisbah and other community policing and paramilitary outfits to counter the trend of insecurity in their region, but then have a problem with a parallel existence of such outfits in other parts of the country. 

Perhaps, there is an inordinate reason for their objection since the law is actually on the side of the creation of such units with a view to having them also work in conjuction with the police and the Nigerian Armed Forces. It is no secret that the Nigerian Army under the current Chief of Army Staff, General Buratai has been found wanting when it comes to protecting and safeguarding the territorial integrity of Nigeria. 

The Nigerian Army has also been accused of sectional/ethnic bias. The high-handed treatment of IPOB and Shia group members in comparison to that of the rampaging Fulani Herdsmen is evidence that this current administration has a clandestine internal colonization agenda. 

The fact remains that the precedent of the implementation of full fledged Sharia by the Northern Nigeria State of Zamfara (with 11 other Northern States then following suit) gives credence and legal muscle to the creation of Amọtẹkun, as the latter is an extension of Yoruba Customary Law as entrenched in the Nigerian Constitution. Furthermore, Chapter 1 Section 4 [6,7(a)(c)] of the Nigerian Constitution states as follows:

(6) The legislative powers of a State of the Federation shall be vested in the House of Assembly of the State.
(7) The House of Assembly of a State shall have power to make laws for the peace, order and good government of the State or any part thereof with respect to the following matters, that is to say:-

(a) any matter not included in the Exclusive Legislative List set out in Part I of the Second Schedule to this Constitution.

(c) any other matter with respect to which it is empowered to make laws in accordance with the provisions of this Constitution.

Furthermore, Chapter 1 Section 5 [2 and 3] of the same Constitution vests executive and legislative powers to create laws and maintain order within States of the Nigerian Federation in the hands of the constituted bodies of that State in as much as they ensure a good faith synergy with the Nigerian Constitution.

I will defer further to the legal luminaries that abound in Western Nigeria and other parts of Nigeria, but on the surface of it, the Attorney-General of the Federation is playing with fire by putting his ethnic and personal feelings above the good of the nation. If Amọtẹkun is illegal, then Hisbah and every other community security outfit (including the Civilian Joint Task Force working with the military against Boko Haram in Northern Nigeria) is illegal as well and should be proscribed with immedate effect.

There are those in the Southwest who are supposedly waiting for the "approval" of Bola Tinubu on this matter. The truth is that much like Nnamdi Kanu's opinions do not matter here (as he has an inordinate agenda that Amọtẹkun is no part of), that of Tinubu should not, as the latter is prepared to mortgage the future of the Yoruba race for his own personal ambition. That is just who he is.

In concluding, let me state categorically and without equivocation that Amọtẹkun is here to stay and any attempt to outlaw the outift will be steeped in unconstitutional chicanery.

According to the Constitution, the Federal Republic of Nigeria shall be a State based on the principles of democracy and social justice. Furthermore, sovereignty belongs to the people of Nigeria from whom government through the Constitution derives all its powers and authority. In so much as the Federal Government of Nigeria has abdicated its primary responsibility of ensuring the security and welfare of the people, that power then naturally devolves to the States to ensure that the security and welfare of the citizens within their domain is assured.

The blood of the women, children and men that have been shed in their thousands, with the heinous acquiescence of this current administration, will be on the heads of the Western Nigeria leaders that accede to the unconstitutional demands of an over-reaching central government with an inordinate agenda.