14 Nigerian state governments have failed to attract any form of foreign direct investments despite spending at least N21.04bn on foreign trips in since Covid-19.

The states in question include; Bauchi, Bayelsa, Benue, Borno, Cross River, Ebonyi, Edo, Gombe, Imo, Jigawa, Nasarawa, Taraba, Yobe, and Zamfara states. Between 2021 and the third quarter of 2023, these states failed to attract any of the $14.85bn that foreign investors channeled into Nigeria.

Between 2021 and 2023, Bauchi spent N3.81bn on foreign trips without having anything to show for it. Bayelsa spent N1.99bn, Benue spent N1.33bn, Borno spent N1.73bn, Cross River spent N663.16m, Ebonyi spent N1.01bn, Edo spent N1.77bn, Gombe spent N32.09m, Imo spent N541.23m, Jigawa spent N1.10bn, Nasarawa spent N541.26m, Taraba spent N2.52bn, Yobe spent N1.24bn, and Zamfara spent N2.77bn.

The figures for foreign trips were extracted from state budget performance reports sourced from Open Nigerian States. Many of the states didn’t have their full budget performance reports with some only having for two quarters in some cases.

Kebbi did not also receive any foreign direct investments in the period under review but there was no data on the amount the state spent on foreign related trips hence its exclusion from this report.

The lack of foreign investments in these states coincides with a general fall in investments into the country due to insecurity and other issues.

The World Bank opined, “Net FDI inflows are negative, reflecting net withdrawals of equity by foreign investors. FDI and FPI flows into Nigeria do not compare favourably with similar economies of the world, reflecting difficulties with FX availability, security concerns, and other structural challenges in recent years.”

Some of states in this report including Zamfara, Jigawa, and Nasarawa have been plagued by insecurity in recent years. In Zamfara for instance, banditry has become the order of the day with almost 14 local government areas of the state occupied by bandits.