Energy, Transport To Get 78% As Nigeria Woos Global Investors For $78.5bn

BANGKOK THAILAND: The federal government has taken a $78.5 billion investment pitch to global investors, unveiling 65 projects across priority sectors, with oil, gas, power, transport and maritime ventures accounting for $61.4 billion, or nearly four-fifths of the total capital requirement. The government is offering investment incentives, capital repatriation guarantees and assistance with setting up businesses in Nigeria.

The Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) governor, Olayemi Cardoso, and the minister of finance and coordinating minister of the economy, Taiwo Oyedele, made the investment pitch at the Nigerian Investors Forum on the sidelines of the 2026 International Monetary Fund (IMF) and World Bank Annual Meetings in Bangkok, Thailand.

Through the Deal Room, the government presented projects requiring capital ranging from $1 million to $15 billion, seeking to accommodate investors with different funding capacities while addressing financing needs in energy, transport, agriculture, manufacturing and other sectors.

The pipeline comprises 25 oil, gas and power projects requiring $36.4 billion and eight transport and maritime projects needing $25 billion. Together, the two sectors account for $61.4 billion, almost four-fifths of the total requirement.

Agriculture and agro-processing account for six projects requiring $9.8 billion, while 17 industry, manufacturing and mining projects need $6.6 billion. Another nine projects in technology, health and urban services require $700 million.

The presentation showed that 17 large projects account for $72.3 billion, representing more than 90 per cent of the total capital requirement. However, 48 of the 65 projects require less than $500 million each, including 29 with capital needs below $100 million.

To make the opportunities more accessible, Oyedele said the Deal Room would guide prospective investors through the process of establishing businesses in the country.

“And how do you set up a factory? It’s part of the deal in the Deal Room. They will show you, they will handhold you, and make it easy for you to do what you have to do,” he said.

The government also highlighted investment protections, including 100 per cent foreign ownership in most sectors and the full repatriation of capital and profits with a Certificate of Capital Importation.

Other provisions presented to investors included 17 double taxation agreements, 13 bilateral investment treaties and a five per cent annual tax credit on qualifying capital expenditure for five years under the Economic Development Incentive.

The pitch comes as the government seeks to build investor confidence through greater policy consistency and a more predictable business environment.

Cardoso said the experience of the Dangote Group demonstrated how monetary reforms had helped restore investor confidence.

“I think basically what is being said there is that investor confidence has returned to the market, and they are beneficiaries of the policies that have been done by the monetary side,” he said.

Group Chief Economist of Dangote Group, Hassan Mammud, told the forum that transparency and credibility in monetary and fiscal policies had helped the conglomerate improve its investment projections and stabilise its operations.

He cited the group’s approximately $17 billion refinery investment as an example of the importance of policy consistency and the incentives associated with operating in an export processing zone.

Oyedele said the government was also pursuing agricultural reforms, improvements in electricity supply, inflation control, regulatory efficiency and better economic data to strengthen the investment climate.

He argued that regulatory burdens and unclear requirements imposed substantial costs on businesses, adding that the government was developing an economic policy framework to improve predictability.

On power, he said reliable electricity was essential to Nigeria’s ambition of building a $1 trillion economy.

“You cannot power a $1 trillion economy in darkness. It’s impossible,” he said.

The finance minister also said reducing inflation to single digits could create conditions for interest rates to fall to single digits, potentially saving the fiscal authorities more than $10 billion based on 2026 figures.

Cardoso said the CBN would continue pursuing its medium-term objective of bringing inflation to single digits, while citing the country’s external reserves and the stability of the naira as factors helping Nigeria withstand external pressures.