News
Collapse of Foreign Investment As Nigeria’s Next Envisaged Crisis
By Joel Popoola
Nigeria’s population is exploding while its economy is shrinking. Which is why financial figures released this week make such scary reading.
Forecasts from the International Monetary Fund predict economic growth in Nigeria to be just a third of the global figure for 2021.
And statistics from the National Bureau of Statistics showed a 61% year-on-year decline in foreign money flowing in Nigeria.
This means fewer and fewer international customers for Nigerian businesses, and crucially, fewer and fewer investment capital for Nigerian companies.
International businesses and investors spent $2.8bn in Nigeria in the first half of 2021. In the first half of 2020 this figure was $7.2bn.
Of these figures, foreign direct investment – overseas companies setting up in Nigeria – fell 36% year on year.
The World Bank has also estimated that foreign investment in Nigeria is down 80% in recent times. Foreign portfolio investments – the purchase of Nigerian securities or other assets fell from $4.7bn to $1.5bn in a single year – a drop of nearly 70%.
The impact of the COVID-19 pandemic would have of course played a part, with many businesses across the globe practically mothballed for months.
But there is long-term systemic reason for the collapse of foreign investment in our nation. Nigeria does not appear to be a safe investment.
But we should be an unbeatable one.
In population terms alone, we offer overseas organisations one of the largest domestic markets on earth.
Then, there is our vast human capital.
We have ambition: Our young people are the most likely in all of Africa to have considered running for elected office.
We are entrepreneurial: 71% of our young people have an idea for a business.
We are innovative, having been described as “Africa’s most attractive tech hub for investors” and home to the most start-ups in Africa.
Just last year, consultants McKinsey reported that Nigeria’s Fintech sector has raised more than $600 million in funding between 2014 and 2019.
But if that funding dries up, how are the companies of tomorrow supposed to take their businesses to the next level, growing their international sales, workforces and – yes government – tax bills, which in turn will pay for better public health, education and infrastructure.
This investment is the lifeblood our future economy. But investors are increasingly looking elsewhere.
For a reason why there are doing that, we need look only to the recent research from pressure group YIAGA, who have suggested an astonishing $582bn has been lost to corruption in our nation since independence.
Investors will not see a return on their investment when it is quite clear how much of it is likely to end up in the back pockets of the duplicitous, the dodgy and the dishonest.
We need to build international trust in Nigeria. And that battle begins at home.
At the digital democracy campaign I lead we are looking to rebuild the relationship between government and governed using the power of social media.
We have created a free smartphone app called Rate Your Leader to bring elected officials closer to the people who elect them.
Rate Your Leader which connects verified political figures with verified voters in the divisions they serve, giving local people the kind of direct personal access only previous granted to the privileged few like lobbyists and party donors.
If you want to raise something with your local leader, you can. If you want to ask them a question, you can. If you want to put forward an idea to make your community better, you can.
Apps like Rate Your Leader show how transparent, responsive and accessible political leaders can be, which builds wider trust in our political class and political system. Rate Your Leader also lets users rate local elected officials for openness and responsiveness, rewarding our most transparent and accessible politicians and highlighting their qualities to other voters.
The app also gives politicians a real-time insight into what matters most to the people who elect them – allowing them to take action, make changes and win the respect, trust and affection of the people their serve.
We are a nation held back by the notion that everyone else is only out for themselves – from the very top of the country down. This isn’t true.
But the idea is spreading to other nations too. And that is something that our economy simply cannot afford.
Joel Popoola is a Nigerian tech entrepreneur and digital democracy campaigner. He is also the creator of the Rate Your Leader app.
The Oyo State High Court has granted the Peoples Democratic Party approval to proceed with its elective national convention scheduled for November 15–16, 2025, in Ibadan, the state capital.
The court also directed the Independent National Electoral Commission to attend and monitor the exercise, Channels TV reports.
Delivering the ruling, Justice A. L. Akintola issued an interim order permitting the party to continue its convention plans without obstruction.
The decision came after an ex-parte motion filed by Folahan Adelabi against the PDP, its Acting National Chairman, Umar Damagum; Governor Umaru Fintiri, who heads the National Convention Organising Committee; and the INEC.
In his ruling on Monday, Justice Akintola held that the claimant presented a compelling case that warranted immediate judicial intervention.
“The motion ex-parte has merit and succeeds as prayed,” the judge ruled, granting temporary reliefs that safeguard the party’s schedule and direct all parties to allow the convention to proceed as planned.
The judge subsequently adjourned the hearing of the substantive motion for an interlocutory injunction till November 10, 2025.
The interim order, issued on November 3, 2025, was sealed by the Oyo State High Court and endorsed by its Principal Registrar, S. O. Hammed.
The Nigerian Immigration Service (NIS) has released the passport of Senator Natasha Akpoti-Uduaghan following outrage over what she described as an unlawful and politically motivated seizure of her travel documents at a Nigerian airport.
Senator Akpoti-Uduaghan, representing Kogi Central Senatorial District, was reportedly stopped by immigration officers on Tuesday morning, who withheld her passport without any official explanation.
The lawmaker, visibly frustrated, went live on social media to protest the action, accusing Senate President Godswill Akpabio of ordering the seizure.
“I have committed no offence and there is no order from the court to withhold my passport and deny me travelling. The last time this happened, the officer in charge told us that the Senate President, Godswin Akpabio instructed them to withhold my passport and prevent me from travelling because he said each time I travel out of the country, I spoil the country’s image by granting interviews out in international media.
“Please, can you tell them to release my passport and this embarrassment should stop? You have no right to withhold my passport.
“You have no right to deny me exit and entrance into my country. I have not committed any offence and this must stop. No, this must stop.
“As a matter of fact, I think I have to sue you for continuously embarrassing me. No, don’t tell me sorry. Can I please have my passport? You can’t keep doing this to me all the time,” she said.
Akpoti-Uduaghan, who was recently celebrated her second year in office, described the incident as a continuous pattern of harassment.
She noted that her passport had previously been seized under similar circumstances, only to be released after intervention from someone influential.
The female Senator said, “I’ve been standing here for the past 20 minutes. Why are you doing this? What have I committed? The last time it had to take someone influential to call you to release my passport. That was what allowed me travel.
“Now again, you’re withholding my passport while I’m making calls. Is Godswin Akpabio so important? Why is he overruling boundaries? Godswin Akpabio, the Senate President, has instructed the Comptroller General of Customs to deny me exit, to withhold my passport. This is wrong.
“Yes, I know I have two federal government cases against me, of which the president of Nigeria instructed the AGF to cancel the cases, to withdraw the cases.
“This president, Bola Tinubu, actually spoke with Godwin Akpabio to terminate all the cases against me because he admitted, he agreed that they were politically witch-hunting cases. So there is no reason why my passport should be withheld at the international airport.
“There is no reason why. You have no right to do that, madam. You have no right. You are taking laws into your hands. There is no court order. I have not missed any of my court appearances.
“I have attended all my court sessions. I am not a flight risk. I am not a risk to my country. So why are you treating me like a criminal? Can I have my passport, please? Thank you very much. Sometimes I think you just have to be a rebel to get things right. Then you keep asking Nigerians to be good citizens.
Minutes after her public protest gained traction online, the NIS reportedly bowed to pressure and released her passport.
“If I had not gone public, would you have given me my passport,” she added.
News
Would You Rather I Travel with My Enemies’ Children, Wike Defends Traveling with Sons to Official Assignment
Minister of the Federal Capital Territory (FCT), Nyesom Wike, has reacted to viral photos showing his sons accompanying him on local and foreign trips, saying he has the right to carry them along.
He argued that his sons, as master’s degree holders, need the exposure.
“What law says that my sons shouldn’t travel? Let the FCT say where they paid ₦1.
“What official matter? Did they sign any document? It doesn’t need to be a personal trip.
“What’s wrong? So, I can travel with anybody from the FCT. I can travel with anybody in Nigeria. I have that right.
“Oh, come on, they have to know how Nigeria is. They have to learn about government,” Wike said on Channels Television’s Politics Today on Monday.
Asked whether he was teaching them to become politicians, he said, “No, that’s not correct. My first son is a lawyer. He said, ‘No, I’m not going to practice. I want to be a farmer.’
“I said, ‘What do you mean by this? He said, ‘No, this is what I want to do.’ I said, ‘Okay’. What do you do?
“They’ve gone for training in Spain. They’ve gone for training in Lisbon.
“My second son finished from King’s College — a master’s degree in Economics. He said he wants to be in real estate.”
The former Rivers State governor also said he is happy that his sons behave responsibly and give him comfort.
“I’m so happy that I have children who have given me comfort, who have not given me problems.
“Assuming they were somewhere smoking. You would have said, ‘Oh, look at these children now. Who are they? I will not travel with my enemy’s children,” he added.
Wike has been spotted with his sons at official events, including the commissioning of projects in the FCT.
Last week, he was criticised by some Nigerians for taking them to a summit in Dubai, United Arab Emirates.
