Nigeria Attracts $4bn FDI In 2025, Returns To Africa’s Top 5

Foreign Direct Investment (FDI) inflow into Nigeria rose to $4.01 billion in 2025, the highest level the country has recorded in over 10 years, bringing the country back to the top five countries in Africa in terms of investment inflow, a report by the United Nations Conference on Trade and Development (UNCTAD) has shown.

The World Investment Report 2026, released by the UNCTAD, showed that FDI inflows into Nigeria surged by 148.4 per cent from $1.61 billion recorded in 2024, driven largely by oil and gas-related international project finance deals, pointing to renewed investor confidence in the country’s energy sector despite growing global economic uncertainty.

The latest performance represents Nigeria’s strongest FDI showing since 2014, when the country attracted $4.69 billion, and marks its return to Africa’s top five investment destinations for the first time since 2021.

According to the report, Nigeria ranked fourth among Africa’s biggest FDI recipients in 2025, behind Egypt, Guinea and Mozambique. Within West Africa, the country recorded the second-highest inflows after Guinea.

Stating that “inflows to Nigeria rose to about $4 billion, supported mainly by oil and gas related international project finance deals, including a major project valued at about $2 billion”, the report noted that the rebound came at a period when many countries struggled to attract foreign capital due to geopolitical tensions, trade policy uncertainty, elevated borrowing costs and increasing fragmentation in global investment flows.

It also identified major corporate transactions that boosted investor inflows into Nigeria, including Shell’s sale of its onshore oil assets to Renaissance Africa Energy, a Nigerian-led consortium, and Huaxin Cement’s acquisition of Lafarge Africa.

According to the UNCTAD report, Nigeria also attracted sizeable investment projects in hydrocarbons, refining, battery storage and industrial production, reinforcing the continued dominance of the extractive sector in the country’s investment profile.

The report further showed that Nigeria’s outward FDI declined to $1.19 billion in 2025, the lowest level since 2023, indicating reduced overseas investments by Nigerian companies. The rebound comes as the Federal Government intensifies reforms aimed at attracting more long-term capital to support its ambition to build a $1 trillion economy by 2030.

FDI inflows had increased across several West African economies, “supported mainly by investment in natural resources and energy,” the report stated. While Guinea posted the continent’s fastest growth in investment inflows, rising more than fivefold to about $8 billion from bauxite and iron ore projects, Nigeria remained one of the region’s major beneficiaries, benefiting from oil and gas financing.

Overall, FDI into West Africa rose by 44 per cent to $20 billion in 2025, making the subregion one of Africa’s strongest-performing investment destinations.  Across the continent, however, investment inflows declined by 26 per cent, from $94 billion in 2024 to $70 billion.

Despite the decline, UNCTAD described Africa’s 2025 performance as historically strong, noting that it represented the continent’s third-highest annual inflow over the past 25 years after adjusting for exceptional one-off transactions.

Globally, foreign direct investment rose six per cent to $1.6 trillion in 2025 following two consecutive years of decline. UNCTAD, however, warned that the recovery remained fragile as investment became increasingly concentrated in a limited number of economies and strategic sectors, particularly artificial intelligence infrastructure, semiconductors, energy and digital technology.

The report noted that developing economies collectively attracted $901 billion in FDI during the year, representing a modest two per cent increase, while developed economies recorded an 11 per cent rise to $723 billion.

It said FDI remained the largest source of external financing for developing countries, accounting for about half of their total external finance and playing a critical role in technology transfer, productive capacity expansion and participation in global value chains.