Labour Party’s 2023 presidential candidate, Peter Obi, has disagreed with claims that President Bola Tinubu’s policies are reviving Nigeria’s economy.
Obi argued that Tinubu’s economic strategies are not well-planned but rather reactive responses to issues.
His comment came after the World Trade Organization’s Director-General, Dr. Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala, said on Thursday that Nigeria’s economy had stabilized under Tinubu’s leadership.
Okonjo-Iweala had told journalists at the State House that Tinubu’s reforms were heading in the right direction after visiting the president.
However, in a post on X (formerly Twitter) on Friday, Obi criticized the government, saying foreign investment in Nigeria keeps falling despite constant
overseas trips by the president and his ministers. According to him, with poor governance and weak institutions, the country cannot attract lasting investments.
Quoting fresh data from the National Bureau of Statistics, Obi revealed that foreign direct investment into Nigeria dropped by about 70% in the first quarter of 2025 — from $421.8 million in late 2024 to $126.29 million in early 2025.
He said that out of the $5.64 billion total capital inflow in Q1 2025, FDI made up only 2.24%, a sharp fall from 8.2% in Q4 2024.
Obi also noted that 90% of this incoming capital went into speculative money market investments, which do little for industrial growth or job creation and can leave the economy quickly.
He pointed out that investment into Nigeria’s manufacturing sector dropped by 32.1%, falling from $191.92 million in Q1 2023 to $129.92 million in Q1 2025.
Obi highlighted that while global FDI fell in 2024, Africa’s share increased by about 75% to $97 billion. Egypt was the biggest beneficiary with $46.58 billion, followed by countries like Ethiopia, Côte d’Ivoire, and Mozambique.
In contrast, Nigeria only received $1.08 billion in 2024 — just 1% of Africa’s total and a 42% drop from the previous year. Worse still, FDI to Nigeria fell another 75% between Q4 2024 and Q1 2025.
Obi concluded that Nigeria cannot achieve real growth and development without strong leadership and effective governance.
