Global Gallivanting Won’t Give Nigeria Investors, Obi Berates FG Over Shrinking FDI

Posted by African Examiner Business News, Featured, Latest Headlines Friday, August 15th, 2025

(AFRICAN EXAMINER) – Peter Obi, presidential candidate of the Labour Party (LP) in the 2023 elections, has slammed the federal government concerning the sharp drop in Nigeria’s foreign direct investment (FDI).

Obi, in a post on X on Friday, stated that no amount of overseas trips will bring investors if there is no good governance in the country.

The statement of the former Anambra governor is coming after President Tinubu announced a two-nation trip to Japan and Brazil.

Obi sldo accused Tinubu and top officials of “global gallivanting” while the country’s investment climate foes down.

“While the president, ministers, and other officials continue their global galivanting in search of FDI, our poor performance in key governance indicators, rule of law, regulatory quality, government effectiveness, and voice and accountability proves you cannot attract sustainable foreign investment with poor leadership and governance,” Obi posted.

Quoting data from the National Bureau of Statistics (NBS), the former Anambra governor stated that FDI fell by 70 per cent in the first quarter (Q1) of 2025 to $126.29 million, down from $421.8 million in Q4 2024.

“Of the total capital importation of about $5.64 billion in the first quarter of 2025, FDI accounted for only about 2.24%, compared to 8.2% in Q4 2024,” he said.

“Disturbingly, about 90% of the imported capital went into speculative money market instruments. With such a high proportion of capital importation flowing into speculative investments, the impact on industrial growth or job creation is highly insignificant and elusive, given the ease with which such “hot money” can exit the economy.”

According to the politician, “sustainable economic growth and development cannot be achieved through poor leadership and weak governance — problems clearly reflected in declining FDI and our poor performance in key governance indicators”.

“To further illustrate our precarious situation, capital flows to the manufacturing sector declined exponentially by 32.1%, dropping to only $129.92 million in Q1 2025 from $191.92 million in the same quarter of 2023,” he said.

The former Anambra governor said, “There is no better confirmation of the lack of trust in this government, whose reforms remain uncoordinated and largely reactive”.

Obi contrasted Nigeria’s performance with other African countries, citing a United Nations report which showed that Africa’s total FDI rose by about 75 per cent to $97 billion in 2024.

“Egypt attracted the highest share in Africa, with $46.58 billion. Other top recipients included Ethiopia ($3.98 billion), Côte d’Ivoire ($3.80 billion), Mozambique ($3.55 billion), Uganda ($3.30 billion), Democratic Republic of Congo ($3.11 billion), South Africa ($2.47 billion), Namibia ($2.06 billion), Senegal ($2.02 billion), Guinea ($1.83 billion), and Morocco ($1.64 billion),” he said.

He said: “Most disappointingly, our dear nation, Nigeria, the so-called ‘Giant of Africa’, received only $1.08 billion, about 1% of Africa’s total FDI, representing a decline of about 42% from 2023.

“Worse still, after this 42% drop between 2023 and 2024, FDI to Nigeria has further declined by 75% between Q4 2024 and Q1 2025.