The Minister of Industry, Trade, and Investment, Jumoke Oduwole, has stated that the ministry will focus on retaining domestic investment while also attracting foreign direct investment to enhance Nigeria’s economic competitiveness.
She noted that this dual approach would create a stronger business environment and elevate Nigeria’s global appeal.
Oduwole made this disclosure in an interview with ARISE NEWS on Monday.
She stressed the critical role of domestic businesses, describing them as the “best advertisement” for the Nigerian economy.
The trade minister emphasized that creating a conducive environment for businesses—through streamlined regulatory frameworks, reduced bureaucracy, and legislative reforms—would allow them to grow and thrive.
Oduwole stated that this would turn domestic businesses into powerful advocates for Nigeria’s investment potential.
“For competitiveness, one of the things that is a priority for me in this new position is to make sure that we retain domestic investment. This has always been one of the sound bites from all the years of PEBEC, that the domestic businesses are the best advertisement for the Nigerian economy and when you can facilitate business and make things easier, regulatory environment, bureaucracy, legislative reforms, judicial reforms, that makes those businesses more comfortable, more productive and they can scale, and then we can fully advertise and beat our chest for foreign direct investment, knowing that they would get a lot of corroboration from the businesses on ground. So we will continue to work on that. We’ll also continue to prioritise foreign direct investments,” she noted.
She praised President Bola Tinubu for prioritizing FDI through his recent international engagements, referring to him as “the chief investment officer of this administration.”
The minister pointed out that these efforts, including a recent visit to India, are already yielding results.
She highlighted that several investment commitments made during the President’s trips were fulfilled just last month, thanks to Nigeria’s supportive fiscal and monetary policies.
