A clear indication that many states in the country are not economically viable was brought to the fore again when data from the Central Bank Of Nigeria, CBN revealed that about 21 states in the country recorded zero investment in the last 4 months but majorly depend on the allocation from Federal Government for sustenance.
According to the Capital Importation Report obtained from the CBN, Rivers, Ondo, Edo, Sokoto, Oyo, Abia, and Anambra recorded zero capital importation in the last 4 months. They were followed by Adamawa, Bauchi, Benue, Borno, Cross River, Delta, Ebonyi, Enugu, Imo, Kastina, Kogi, Kwara, Osun, Oyo, Yobe, and Nassarawa states.
Not surprisingly, Lagos topped the list of states that attracted investments during the period under review. Lagos attracted the highest amount of $5.39 billion during the period. The investment inflow into the state represents over 87% of the $6.17 billion.
Lagos is followed by the Federal Capital Territory which attracted a total investment inflow of $754.01 million.
Niger State attracted a total investment inflow of $11.60 million. Sokoto State also attracted $2.50 million, while Kaduna State attracted the sum of $1.98 million and Ogun attracted $1.70 million.
Kano and Akwa Ibom states recorded investment inflow of about $700,000 and about $237,000 respectively among others.
The limited investment inflows into many of these states clearly emphasize that they are not really attractive to the investors, even before the pandemic.
It is worthy of note that most of the states that failed to attract investments during the period under review also failed to attract any investments in 2019 long before the COVID 19 pandemic.
Recall that many governors in the country depend on the Federation Account Allocation Committee (FAAC) for day to day running of the state.
