Nigeria emerges as Africa’s FDI hub of digital technology

Nigeria emerges as Africa’s top destination for foreign direct investment (FDI), having reportedly attracted over 30% of the FDI in the continent’s tech ecosystem and increasingly becoming the hub of digital technology in the continent.

“The Nigeria tech ecosystem has attracted about $4.4billion investment between the year 2015, 2019 and 2020 respectively, and ICT contributing to about 18.5% to the nation’s GDP, and NITDA also supported about 753 start-ups in different ways through trainings, seed funding and grants,” the director general of the National Information Technology Development Agency (NITDA), Kashifu Inuwa, said.

“Nigeria is thriving and has a vibrant tech ecosystem in Africa and almost 30% of all [FDI] into Africa ends in Nigeria.” Inuwa made this statement at the ‘2023 Leaders Without Borders Annual Business Summit and International Honors’ that was recently held in London.

NITDA’s efforts drive digital transformation, as 120 million Nigerians gain internet access and the tech sector attracts $4.4 billion in investments, contributing to 18.5% of the nation’s GDP. NITDA empowers millions of Nigerians with digital literacy, training over 3.3 million individuals and saving the nation over N305 billion through efficient IT project implementation.

The NITDA’s chief also asserted that Nigeria’s fintech businesses are almost twice as large as its largest bank. But, Nigeria’s overall FDI plunged by 33% to $462.91 million, the lowest level since 2017, according to data from the National Bureau of Statistics (NBS) published last month. According to NBS, the total capital importation into Nigeria stood at $1 billion in Q4 2022, lower than $2.1 billion recorded in Q4 2021, indicating a decrease of 51.51%.