Nigeria’s foreign direct investment drops by 70% to $126.29m

Foreign direct investments into Nigeria dropped sharply by 70.06 percent quarter-on-quarter to $126.29m in the first quarter of 2025.

This is according to the latest Capital Importation report released by the National Bureau of Statistics.

The drop in FDI in the three months of 2025 occurred despite an overall increase in capital importation into the country to

$5.64 billion, an increase from $5.09 billion in the same quarter of 2024 and $3.38 billion in Q1 last year.

This indicates that foreign investors are favouring short-term financial instruments in Nigeria over long-term ones.

Meanwhile, on a year-on-year basis, FDI posted a modest growth of 5.97 percent compared to $119.18m.

A further breakdown showed that 2.24 percent of total capital was imported into the country in Q1 2025, down from 8.29 percent in the preceding quarter and below the 3.53 percent recorded in Q1 2024.

The development shows the disparity between capital inflows and actual investment in sectors capable of driving economic growth.

NBS data indicated that the bulk of this figure— around $4.21 billion, or 74.6 percent of the country’s $5.46 billion capital importation in Q1 2025— was invested in money market instruments, primarily Open Market Operation bills and Treasury Bills.

Nigeria’s foreign direct investment drops by 70% to $126.29m