Tinubu said this at the 2023 Leadership Annual Conference and Award yesterday (Tuesday) in Abuja.

The event, with the theme, “An Economy in Distress: The Way Forward,” was organised by the Leadership Group, publishers of Leadership Newspapers.

The Nigerian President, who was represented by Mohammed Idris, minister of Information and National Orientation, said the Nigerian economy is not in distress, but facing challenging times.

He explained that the in spite of the challenging situation, the country has attracted unprecedented opportunities to reset the course and build a new and sustainable economy away from the rent-seeking and the waste that was once the order of the day.

“Since we assumed office in May 2023, we have attracted $30 billion in Foreign Direct Investments (FDIs) commitments into the real sectors of the economy, including manufacturing, telecoms, healthcare, oil and gas, and others.

“Those investments have already started coming into the country. Just a few days ago, I was in Qatar on an official visit, where the Emir assured that a senior government delegation would visit Nigeria after Ramadan.

“I have asked the Minister of Finance and Coordinating Minister of the Economy to directly interface with the Qatari authorities to ensure that speedy progress is made.

“The Nigerian economy saw a better than anticipated performance in the last quarter of 2023, growing by 3.46 per cent, compared with 2.54 per cent in the preceding quarter.

“Capital Importation into Nigeria was up by 66 per cent in Q4 2023, reversing a 36 per cent decline in the previous quarter.

“In January 2024, the Nigerian Stock Exchange All Share Index (ASI) crossed the 100,000 points mark, its highest ever.

“There is no one who looks at this data who will conclude that ‘distressed’ is the accurate way to describe the Nigerian economy,” Tinubu said.

He emphasised that these were the outcomes of ongoing reforms.

He, however, said the government was aware of the hardships due to the reform, but assured that a lot of efforts and energy were being made towards alleviating the pains and setting the economy on firm footing.

“There are incredible opportunities for investment in every sector of the economy, as the Federal Government stabilise our foreign exchange market and macroeconomic indices.

“I ask for the continuing patience and support of all Nigerians, including the elite that is very well represented in this room today.”

The President also sought for understanding of the media as government continues the reform of the economy. “To the Nigerian media, I urge you to strive to report not only the challenges but also the solutions and the opportunities as well.

“Ours is a story of a country that is taking the right steps, and feeling the fleeting pains that will come with this course of action. A glorious dawn is indeed assured.

“Since the removal of petrol subsidies, our imports of petrol have dropped by about 50 percent, which translates to roughly one billion liters of petrol every month, according to the National Bureau of Statistics,” Tinubu said.

The president added that the revenues accruing to the three tiers of government – federal, state and local – had grown by between 50 per cent and 100 per cent since the removal of the petrol subsidy.

“This means more funds are available to directly impact the lives of Nigerians through investments in critical infrastructure, social security, and other areas.

“For example, the additional funding we are receiving is going into a new minimum wage for which negotiations have started, between the federal and state governments and organized labour.

“I have approved the disbursement of N200 billion, through three new special intervention funds established to support Nigerian businesses.

“The first is a N50 billion Presidential Conditional Grant Scheme that will provide business grants and loans to traders, food vendors, transport workers, ICT businesses, creatives, and artisans.

“Verification of all submitted applications is ongoing, and disbursements will commence through the Bank of Industry as soon as this verification is completed.

“The second is a N75 billion MSME Intervention Fund which will provide single-digit-interest loans to our MSMEs.

“The third is a 75 billion Manufacturing Sector Fund targeting manufacturing businesses, with selected beneficiaries eligible to access up to one billion naira each,” the President said.

Cardoso said this on Monday during an interview on Arise TV, where he addressed concerns about the recent volatility in the currency market.

He said, “I think the recent move to have Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation Limited (NNPCL) and other MDAs move their funding straight to the central bank also sends a power message. It boosts the confidence that finally, Nigeria is going in a direction that many investors would love to see it go.”

According to him, foreign investors are always on the lookout for progress made in the Economy, as validated by the Rating Agencies.

He said:

“They come, you think they may not come back, then they come back a second time, they come back a third time and then they see some of the rating agencies coming out with their own conclusions of how they see the economy of the country progressing. It validates their thinking. We do additional reforms; it continues to encourage them.  That is how I see investors playing today.

Olayemi Cardoso, also said that Foreign Portfolio Investors want the country to carry out policy reforms to enable them to bring in their funds.

According to the latest report, capital importation from the National Bureau of Statistics showed that in Q3 2023, capital importation into Nigeria stood at $654.65m, lower than $1.16bn recorded in Q3 2022, indicating a decline of 43.55 percent. In comparison to the preceding quarter, capital importation fell by 36.45 percent from $1.030bn in Q2 2023.

While other investments ranked top, accounting for 77.56 percent ($507.77m) of total capital importation in Q3 2023, portfolio investment was 13.31 percent ($87.11m), and foreign direct investment brought in 9.13 percent ($59.77m).

Speaking on the interest of FPIs, Cardoso said, “Some people look at foreign portfolio investors and say, ‘Oh, it’s hot money and all that.’ I don’t believe that is the case. I take it that in any portfolio that you have, whether it be a sovereign or a corporation, you will have a diversified mix of investors.

“Today, we have a situation where a lot of foreign portfolio investors are interested in coming back to the Nigerian market and if there is any group that has taken an interest, methodically, I say because they have not run over the door to get in, but they have taken a methodical interest in understanding the reforms that are taking place and how it is taking the country to a direction they believe is the right one, it is the foreign portfolio investors.”

“Gone are the days when you could shut yourself out. The thing is to have it as part of the mix of the different inflows,” he said.

He added that the recent move of the government to have Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation Limited and other ministries and departments and agencies of government’s funding also sends a signal to the foreign investors.

The CBN chief said, “I think the recent move to have NNPCL and other MDAs move their funding straight to the central bank also sends a power message. It boosts the confidence that finally, Nigeria is going in a direction that many investors would love to see it go.”

The figures obtained from the NBS Q3 Foreign Capital Importation, represents a drop of around 216.46% when compared with the figure for the previous quarter which stood at $605.04 million.

According to the report, on a year-on-year basis, FDI to the manufacturing sector declined by 71.2% from $392.54 recorded in Q3, 2022 to its figure in the quarter under review.

However, in the first nine months of 2023, the manufacturing sector received around $1.14 billion in foreign capital.

This represents an increase of $415.82 million when compared to the $724.75 million received in the same period of 2022.

The report also disclosed that the decline in foreign capital is not unique to the manufacturing sector but to the general economy in Q3.

Total capital importation for Q3 stood at $654.65 million which represents a drop of 36.45% when compared to the figure recorded in Q2 ($1.03 billion).

Every year, foreign capital declined by 43.55% from the $1.16 billion recorded in the same quarter of 2022.

It would be recalled that the manufacturing sector in the past few years has been faced with a series of problems that have curtailed its growth.

These problems include; rising foreign exchange rates, high energy costs occasioned by epileptic power supply, multiple taxation, inflation.

A review of the performance of some manufacturing firms listed on the NGX reveals that 8 companies recorded a foreign exchange loss of -N129.811 billion while only three of these companies recorded a foreign exchange gain of just N3.49 billion.

This coupled with the difficulty of multinationals in the manufacturing space to repatriate cash has resulted in notable exits in recent times. (Independent).

[Featured Image Credit]