Convert Opportunities To Investment, Experts Urge States

Experts in investment promotion and development have said states must strengthen their capacity to convert economic opportunities into bankable investments and measurable development outcomes if Nigeria is to achieve its ambition of a $1 trillion economy by 2030

The experts stated this yesterday in Abuja, at the signing of a Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) between Brave Icons Global (BIG) and the Forum of State Investment Promotion Agencies of Nigeria (FOSIPAN), for a programme aimed at strengthening investment mobilisation capacity across the states.

The MOU was signed at the SIP-NG Investment Mobilisation Stakeholders’ Roundtable, where stakeholders discussed measures to enhance State Investment Promotion Agencies’ (IPAs) ability to mobilise private capital.

Speaking at the event, the managing partner and chief executive officer of BIG, Banke Fife Bank, said the programme was designed to address challenges limiting investment mobilisation at the subnational level.

Fife Bank said the agreement marked the beginning of an initiative developed over almost a year to institutionalise investment mobilisation capacity among state investment agencies.

He said the agencies needed to move beyond investment promotion by developing the skills, knowledge and technology required to turn opportunities into investment-ready projects and engage capital providers effectively.

According to him, the $1 trillion economic ambition would ultimately have to be delivered through the states, where many projects, licences and investment opportunities are located.

“Investment mobilisation is much more than investment promotion,” he said.

Fife Bank said the programme would provide an accelerator structure through which interested states would receive support to improve the process of developing investment opportunities and moving them towards investment.

He said the initiative would also deploy technology to accelerate opportunity development and improve how state agencies engage sources of capital.

The BIG chief executive said investment mobilisation required collaboration among government agencies, development partners and development finance institutions, stressing that it could no longer be handled in silos.

He said the initiative was designed to build institutional capacity within participating states rather than relying solely on individual officials who receive training.

According to him, investment opportunities must be properly prepared before being presented to potential investors, noting that some investors had shown interest in projects but later withdrew because the opportunities were not sufficiently prepared to receive investment.

Fife Bank identified disjointed projects, inadequate project preparation and weaknesses in governance as some of the challenges affecting investment mobilisation.

 

 

 

He said technology had been incorporated into the programme to make it interoperable with existing reforms and initiatives in the investment ecosystem.

 

 

 

He, however, said the programme was still at its preliminary stage, explaining that the stakeholders’ engagement was intended to test some of its assumptions and identify additional barriers that could affect implementation.

 

 

 

“We are solving real issues,” he said.

 

 

 

Fife Bank said an assessment would be conducted as the programme progresses to determine the difference between states participating in the accelerator and those that are not.

 

 

 

Also speaking, the chairman of the Forum of State Investment Promotion Agencies of Nigeria (FOSIPAN) and executive secretary/chief executive officer of the Benue Investment Promotion Agency (BENIPA), Dr Terhemen Johnpaul Kpenkaan, said Nigeria’s ambition to build a $1 trillion economy would depend on its ability to convert national opportunities into investable and productive projects across the states.

 

 

 

Kpenkaan said while national policy created the wider framework for investment, factories, agro-processing facilities, logistics hubs, energy projects, housing developments and public-private partnerships were implemented in specific locations within states.

 

 

 

He said states were therefore where investors identified stable sites, accessed land, engaged communities, coordinated state-level processes and established the partnerships required for project delivery.

 

 

 

“As competition for capital intensifies and public finances remain constrained, states must do more than merely promote potential,” he said.

 

 

 

Kpenkaan said states must demonstrate professional capability, responsive investor facilitation and credible pipelines of investment-ready projects.

 

 

 

He said FOSIPAN was established in response to the need to strengthen the capacity of State Investment Promotion Agencies, promote more consistent facilitation standards, deepen collaboration and improve the investor journey across Nigeria’s subnational landscape.

 

 

 

“Our objective is clear: to help states become more investment-ready, to connect investors with the institutions best placed to support project delivery and to ensure that Nigeria’s national economic ambition is matched by practical execution on the ground,” he said.

Also speaking, a member of the Global Advisory Board of BIG, Paul Bhuhi, said that about 90 per cent of investment applications fail, not because funds are unavailable but because applicants often fail to translate their ideas into commercially viable propositions.

Bhuhi, who said he had worked in Nigeria for the past six years, said investors and banks needed to understand the financial value, returns and payback potential of proposed projects before committing funds.

He said an idea could have significant social benefits, but unless its value proposition was translated into numbers and a clear investment case, it would be difficult to secure funding.

Bhuhi said the initiative was seeking to bridge the gap between investment opportunities and available capital by helping project promoters communicate their propositions in a language investors understand.

He said reducing the failure rate of investment applications from nine out of 10 to five out of 10 would make a significant difference to investment mobilisation across the country and individual states.

Bhuhi also disclosed that the initiative was developing a software platform to provide transparency and access to investment data, enabling stakeholders to track and report on the progress of investment opportunities.

According to him, the platform would facilitate collaboration within states and provide relevant information to national and international investors.

“The keywords we’re trying to put together here is create a common language between investor and investee,” he said.

He said the platform would also help stakeholders identify investment opportunities requiring attention, those making progress and those requiring urgent intervention.

Bhuhi said the engagement showed the need for greater collaboration and a common platform for investment mobilisation.

“Problem resolution comes after problem acceptance,” he said.

Speaking on investment readiness, the chief economic adviser to the governor of Kogi State, Aliyu Salami, said governments must develop the right strategy, structure and human resources before seeking to attract investors.

Salami said there was an investment gap between available opportunities and actual investment outcomes, stressing that states must put the necessary structures in place to bridge the gap.

He said investment agencies needed to define what they wanted to achieve, how to achieve it, who would be responsible and when the objectives would be delivered.

According to him, the structures should include appropriate technology, office facilities and personnel with the knowledge required to engage investors and understand investment issues.

Salami said Kogi State had applied the approach to its proposed 106-megawatt industrial park, explaining that the state engaged a major consulting firm to conduct a feasibility study for the project.

He said the state had secured the necessary approvals and relevant licence and had moved the project to the commercialisation stage.

Salami added that the project had been presented to potential investors at international meetings in China and Panama, with the necessary project documents made available.

Also speaking, the Director of Africa Innovision Global Consulting, Iffat Mahmud, identified investment risk as one of the major barriers to attracting capital to Nigeria.

Mahmud urged State Investment Promotion Agencies to be open about the risks investors face and develop measures to mitigate them.

She cited the National Credit Guarantee Scheme, NISAL and InfraCredit as examples of mechanisms aimed at reducing investment risks, saying greater awareness of such initiatives could make investors more comfortable investing in Nigeria.

She also suggested that lessons from Nigeria’s venture capital and startup ecosystem could be applied to traditional businesses, particularly through investor collaboration to reduce risk.

The director, Contract Compliance, Infrastructure Concession Regulatory Commission (ICRC), Ahmed Abdulrazaq, who represented the Director-General of the commission, Dr Jobson Ewalefo, called for greater collaboration among states on major projects.

Abdulrazaq said state investment agencies needed to understand their development needs, the expectations of their people and the risks associated with proposed projects before approaching investors.

He said the high cost of project preparation made it important for states to develop the capacity required to structure projects and attract private capital.

Abdulrazaq urged states to collaborate on projects that could serve shared economic interests, citing Kogi, Niger and Kwara states as examples.

According to him, the states could jointly invest in a port developed in Niger State to support the movement and export of agricultural products from neighbouring states.

He said such partnerships would enable states to share resources and reduce the financial burden and risks associated with undertaking major projects individually.

Also speaking, the Vice President of the World Trade Centre Lagos, Dr David Opeyemi Oke, stressed the importance of developing local human capital and private-sector capacity to support investment.

Oke said attracting international investors was not enough, as states also needed credible and capable local partners to support and sustain investments.

He urged state governments and investment promotion agencies to leverage their comparative advantages and collaborate across state boundaries to develop projects that attract investment.

Oke cited an agro-processing initiative involving Osun and Ogun states, with Lagos serving as a logistics and market-access hub, as an example of how states could combine their respective advantages to support investment.

He also called for continuity in investment projects, warning against their abandonment following changes in political administrations.

Oke said investment promotion should be treated as a long-term development strategy, while states should build the local competencies required to receive and manage major investments.

He disclosed that the World Trade Center had launched a project known as Step Life, aimed at matching human capital with local assets to create scalable businesses in sectors where individual states have comparative advantages.

According to him, the proposed system was designed to make investment mobilisation repeatable across states, institutions and capital providers, irrespective of changes in government.

He said the process would help states move projects through preparation, packaging, and investment readiness before connecting them with potential capital providers.

Oke said the system would also address abandoned projects by ensuring that investment mobilisation goes beyond securing capital to tracking whether projects deliver the development outcomes for which they were initiated.

He said such outcomes would include job creation, tax revenue, infrastructure and other economic benefits.

Oke said the initiative was therefore designed as an end-to-end programme covering the preparation of investment opportunities, mobilisation of capital, progression and closure of transactions, as well as monitoring of development outcomes.

He described the approach as moving from “opportunities to outcome,” rather than merely moving opportunities to capital.