Efforts of the government to bring in investors to Nigeria’s oil and gas sector have shown not to have yielded the desired result as projected by the government, as the sector has only attracted $5m foreign investment in the second quarter of the year, having recorded no investment in the first quarter.
Following the reports, out of the $2.6bn capital importation recorded between April and June, the oil sector took just 0.19 per cent while the banking sector led with $1.12bn (43.15 per cent) subsequently.
This report is coming from research carried out by the National Bureau of Statistics in its capital importation data for the second quarter of 2024.
According to further investigations taken by a local media outlet in the country, reports foreign capital investments in the oil and gas sector fell from $720m in 2016 to $3.64m in the entire 2023.
Capital importation is the inflow of foreign capital into a country, typically in the form of investments, loans, or other forms of financial resources, and this can further include Foreign Direct Investment, and portfolio investment such as investments in a country’s financial assets like stocks, bonds, and securities.
These investments can also be in the form of short-term loans, deposits, or other forms of temporary capital inflows or attachments.
Records from the petroleum sector’s shows that $50m capital importation in the second quarter of 2024 indicates a slight improvement from the zero percent reported in the first quarter.
The sector recorded $750,000 in capital importation in the first quarter, and zero percent in the second quarter, $850,000 in the third quarter, and $2.04m in the last quarter.
Amounting to the total of $3.64m as capital importation in total into Africa’s largest oil-producing country in 2023.
According to National Bureau of Statistics, in Q1 2021, the nation gathered a sum of $57.25m as capital importation; $340,000 in Q2 2021; $940,000 in Q3; and $32.31m in Q4. In total, $101m was the capital importation for the year 2021.
The reports further revealed that the sector garnered $208m in capital importation in 2014 and $29.76m in 2015, while making a leap in 2016 at as high as $720m.
The nation’s oil sector in 2017 saw $331.36m as foreign capital investment, with the sector getting $133.51m in 2018; $216.23m in 2019 and $53.51m in 2020.
Reports gathered overtime shows that foreign capital investments in the petroleum sector have been on the scale of decline.
