by Emmanuel Okubenji

The Minister of Trade and Investment, Olusegun Aganga, has announced that the federal government had attracted foreign direct investment commitments of over N8.5 trillion. He said the investment commitments, which cut across the major sectors of the economy, would roll in five years.

Aganga said this while briefing on the progress and challenges in the past one year. He said that over $8.9 billion of foreign direct investment were attracted into the country in 2012, according to a report by UN Conference on Trade and Development (UNCTAD).

He said the report placed Nigeria as the first in Africa. According to the Minister, Nigeria currently exports 117 products to 103 countries.

Reviewing the performances of the 16 parastatal agencies under his ministry, Aganga said that the Corporate Affairs Commission (CAC) in Abuja and Lagos operate 24 hours service. He said the Standard Organisation of Nigeria had reduced the influx of substandard products into the country from 85 per cent to 60 per cent.

Aganga also said that the Bank of Industry gave out over N122 billion in loans which created more than 633,000 jobs with an additional 5,000 jobs created in the textile industries. He said that trade accounted for 18.1 per cent of national GDP and that government would soon launch industrial revolution plan that would link industries to innovations.