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.
By Eric Elezuo
The governor of Osun State, Senator Ademola Adeleke, has announced his resignation from the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP).
A letter signed by the governor himself and dated November 4, 2025 revealed that the governor dumped the party about a month before coming out public with the announcement.
Confirming the resignation via a statement, the governor’s Chief Press Secretary, Mallam Olawale Rasheed, wrote;
“Governor Ademola Adeleke of Osun State has resigned his membership of the People’s Democratic Party (PDP) since November 4th, 2025.
“The letter was addressed to the PDP Chairman for ward 2, Sagba Abogunde of
Ede North Local government, Osun State.
“The letter reads as follows: ‘Due to the current crisis within the national leadership of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), I hereby resign my membership of the PDP with immediate effect.
‘I thank the Peoples Democratic Party for the opportunities given to me for my elections as a Senator (Represented Osun West) and as Governor of Osun State under the Peoples Democratic Party”, the governor noted in the letter personally signed by him.’
Neither the letter nor the spokesperson’s statement suggested the governor’s next port of call even as political parties in the state are in the season of primaries to elect flag bearers for the 2026 governorship election in the state.
By Eric Elezuo
The Minister of Defence, Alhaji Abubakar Mohammed Badaru, and a two-term former governor of Jigawa State, has resigned his appointment. This is shortly after the former Chief of Defence Staff, General Chris Musa (retd) visited Aso Rock Villa, and had a closed door meeting with President Bola Tinubu.
The resignation, which is with immediate effect, according to statement credited to the Special Adviser to the President on Information and Strategy, Bayo Onanuga, is contained in a letter dated December 1, 2025, and addressed to President Bola Tinubu. Badaru, who is 63 years, quoted health grounds as reason for quitting his job.
The statement added that “President Tinubu has accepted the resignation and thanked Abubakar for his services to the nation.
“President Tinubu will likely inform the Senate of Badaru’s successor later this week.
His resignation comes amid President Tinubu’s declaration of a national security emergency, with plans to elaborate on its scope in due course.
He served as defence minister for 27 months since August 21, 2023.
The immediate past Governor of Edo State, Godwin Obaseki, has responded to Governor Monday Okpebholo, insisting that no one can bar him from entering Benin City, the State capital.
Obaseki’s response followed Okpebholo’s claim that the former governor would not return to the State because he is allegedly unpopular with the people.
Okpebholo stated this during an interview at the weekend that Edo remains firmly behind President Bola Tinubu’s re-election bid, citing what he described as the President’s achievements in the State. He added that he would resign if Tinubu fails to secure re-election in 2027.
He further claimed that Obaseki lacks the courage to visit the State to campaign for anyone other than Tinubu, alleging that the former governor would face rejection from residents, including children, due to what he described as Obaseki’s poor governance record.
“Everybody is for Asiwaju, who is Obaseki? Does he have one anywhere here? Let him come here now. He cannot come. His poor record will prevent him from going to Edo.
“Obaseki dares not come here. If Asiwaju does not win his re-election, I will resign as a governor,” he declared.
In a viral video on Monday, Obaseki countered that Okpebholo, whom he referred to as a man from a village in Edo State, lacks the authority to stop him from entering the State.
The former governor added that he deliberately avoided commenting on Okpebholo’s administration since leaving office, to allow his successor room to perform.
“When you start with violence, you will reap violence. For one year since I left office, I have not said a word on his government, I have said to myself that I would give them the opportunity to shine.
“Suddenly, he started attacking my personality and threatening me. That was enough; he brought people to Manchester to attack me.
“This week, this governor had a disgraceful press conference, where he was threatening me. Somebody born in Oredo. This is a villager threatening me that I cannot come to Benin, and that when I come, he will show me. Me! When I am ready to go, we will all come. This is an insult,” he said.
