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The Minister of Industry, Trade and Investment, Jumoke Oduwole, has said that Nigeria attracted about $21 billion in capital importation in the first 10 months of 2025, up from $12 billion recorded in 2024 and less than $4 billion in 2023.
Oduwole disclosed this on Wednesday while defending the ministry’s 2026 budget proposal before the House of Representatives Joint Committee on Commerce, Industry and Small and Medium Enterprises (SMEs).
Addressing lawmakers, the minister said the ministry concentrated in 2025 on translating policy into tangible economic outcomes through improved coordination, engagement and practical facilitation.
“On investment, Nigeria recorded total capital importation of approximately $21 billion in the first ten months of 2025, up from about $12 billion in 2024 and under $4 billion in 2023,” she said.
According to her, the recovery was driven by deliberate investment facilitation measures, including the development of more than $5 billion in bankable projects, sector-focused deal rooms, and the country’s first domestic investors’ summit.
She noted that these initiatives helped mobilise domestic capital and resolved about 50 investor bottlenecks, thereby moving projects from the proposal stage to implementation.
Oduwole also said the ministry conducted more than 100 bilateral investment engagements at home and abroad, expanding ties with countries such as the United Arab Emirates, Brazil and Japan, while strengthening existing relationships with the United States and the United Kingdom.
She added that the Nigeria-UK Economic and Trade Partnership, which began in the second quarter of 2024, played a significant role in boosting inflows, with UK investors accounting for roughly 65 percent of Nigeria’s foreign capital importation in 2025.
On trade, the minister said Nigeria posted a trade surplus in 2025, with total trade valued at about N113 trillion in the first three quarters.
She stated that exports grew by about 11 percent year-on-year to around $6.1 billion, describing it as the highest level ever recorded in both value and volume.
Looking ahead, Oduwole said the ministry’s 2026 priorities are anchored on the National Development Plan and key policy documents, including the 2023-2027 trade and investment policies and the 2025-2035 industrial policy.
She explained that the focus would be on implementing these frameworks to deepen industrialisation, expand non-oil exports and further strengthen Nigeria’s investment climate.
