Business
‘Insecurity, Costing Nigeria Foreign Investment’

Top business experts have warned that Nigeria is missing so many opportunities of attracting Foreign Direct Investments (FDI) due to e escalating insecurity nationwide.
The experts, who spoke in Abuja at a capacity building workshop for National Bureau of Statistics (NBS) staff, titled ‘Data management strategies to improve national planning and development’, urged the NBS to embark on a national survey in collaboration with the academia to bring out a solution to security challenges in Nigeria.
One of them, who is the Chairman, Royal Statistical Society (RSS), Dr. Olaniyi Matthew Olayiwola, lamented that the development has affected the transportation, commerce and the trading industries.
He expressed regret that both local and foreign investors are now afraid of investing in the country due to insecurity.
Olayiwola, who is also the Head of Department (HOD) Statistics, Federal University of Agriculture, Abeokuta, disclosed that the RSS is currently developing a model called “Biased Reduction Model” to detect the actual causes of insecurity in the country and proffer solutions to national security challenges.
According to him, “Nigeria has lost a lot of FDI due to insecurity challenges we are having in the country. There are so many factors dragging the Nigerian economy down, depriving so many investors that can help the from GDP from investing in the country.
“Because of the insecurity, they are finding it difficult to invest and the economy is deeply affected. Look at the transportation system, the commerce, the trading and some other things. The security situation is also making it difficult for the country to exchange what is being produced.
“There are so many people that are very rich in the country and are capable of having so many industries but they believe that if they establish themselves in the country and a crisis pops up, their establishment may be set ablaze.
“We as statisticians have seen that if we are able to address the issue of security challenges in the country, every other thing will fall in place; for instance, investors can come to Nigeria to invest”, he said.
Citing communication gap and lack of information as major factors causing insecurity in the country, he insisted that insecurity will be a thing of the past, if the NBS could collate data around causes of insecurity.
Earlier in his remarks, the NBS Statistician General, Simon Harry, urged participants to be attentive and translate the knowledge gained from the workshop into nation building.
He noted that it is this type of knowledge that can bridge the gap between what is happening now and the type of investors that would come in if security challenges are dealt with in the country.
He also called on the leaders to proffer solution to security challenges as a matter of urgency, adding that without investors, GDP cannot grow.