The Catholic Bishops’ Conference of Nigeria, the Sultan of Sokoto, Alhaji Abubakar Sa’ad lll- led Jamaatul Nasril Islam, some state governments and the Manufacturers’ Association of Nigeria have taken a swipe at the Federal Government over its failure to address the rising insecurity in the country.

The groups stated this on Monday as killings and other forms of insecurity took a toll on investments in the country with foreign investors shunning  24 states in 2021.

Earlier on Monday, the National Bureau of Statistics released data, which indicated that Nigeria generated a total of $698.7m from Foreign Direct Investments in 2021.

According to data from the NBS, the FDI generated in 2021 was the lowest the country recorded in 10 years. FDI is one of the three major types of investments and a critical source of capital inflow into the country. Other sources include foreign portfolio investment, foreign loans, and trade credits, among other investments.

NBS defines FDI as an investment whereby the investor has some control or a significant degree of influence on the management of a domestic enterprise.

It notes that the FDI occurs when the investor has enough equity in the enterprise to entitle them to 10 per cent or more of the voting rights in that company.

A breakdown of FDI in Nigeria over the last 10 years shows that in 2012, FDI stood at $2.60bn, it declined to $1.27bn in 2013 but rose to $2.27bn in 2014.

FDI fell again in 2015 to $1.41bn; it fell further to $1.04bn in 2016 and to $981.75m in 2017.

Further analysis of data from the NBS revealed that the FDI rose again to $1.19bn in 2018 but dropped by $256m to $934.34m in 2019.

The latest capital importation report from the bureau stated that the FDI fell by $332m to $698.78m in 2021 from $1.028bn in 2020.

Copyright PUNCH.