Worried over Dwindling FDIs, NIPC Plans Aggressive Strategy to Reserve Trend

James Emejo and Folalumi Alaran in Abuja
The acting Executive Secretary, Nigerian Investment Promotion Commission (NIPC), Mr. Emeka Ofor, has said the commission will adopt an aggressive approach to woo local and Foreign Direct Investments (FDIs) into the country this year.

To this end, he said apart from series of stakeholders’ engagements lined up for 2022, the agency would also partner with the media to improve the business environment through developmental reporting to attract more investments into the country.

The country had experienced drought in investment inflows in recent times, partly due to an unfavourable investment climate occasioned by insecurity and the COVID-19 pandemic.

However, commenting on the commission’s FDI strategic plan for year 2022, Offor said, “One of the major things we consider the most in NIPC is the projection of Nigeria’s image to the world and we take that assignment very seriously because if a prospective investor feels good about your country and location, they will be thinking of investing there.”

He said the objective was to ensure that information disseminated is able to projects Nigeria’s image in positive light so as to positively influence investors’ decision and provide a balance view of the country.

He said, “We have so many negative stories out there and we need to balance those stories with the real facts about Nigeria, the positive facts about Nigeria.

“We also try to let people know that even where we have challenges, those challenges should be seen as opportunities that an investor can invest to bring about the change that we desired.”

The NIPC boss added, “We consider the press crucial to the work we do which is why we have as part of our plan quarterly engagement which will be slightly different from what we do in the past in the sense that we will showcase Nigeria’s investment prospects more to attract investors, project a better image and support investments.”