Nigeria’s capital importation rebounded sharply in the third quarter of 2025, rising 380 percent year-on-year to $6,014.77 billion from $1,252.66 billion in the same period of 2024, according to official data. The surge has been welcomed by President Bola Ahmed Tinubu’s administration following the National Bureau of Statistics’ release last week.
However, the Centre for the Promotion of Private Enterprise (CPPE) has urged caution, noting that the figures, while encouraging, mask underlying structural risks. In a statement, CPPE Director Muda Yusuf explained that a deeper analysis reveals the majority of incoming capital flowed into the banking and financial sectors, with minimal allocation to manufacturing, infrastructure, and other productive real-sector activities.
This sectoral imbalance means the capital rebound is not translating into expanded productive capacity. Without stronger investments in industry, agro-processing, logistics, energy, and export-oriented manufacturing, the broader economy risks limited gains in employment, productivity, and inclusive growth.
“Financial deepening without real-sector expansion risks creating a liquidity-driven recovery that does not fundamentally alter Nigeria’s productive base,” the statement said. CPPE stressed that the central policy challenge is to shift from a liquidity-driven recovery to an investment-led transformation.
The think tank argued that only by converting short-term capital inflows into long-term productive investments can Nigeria achieve sustainable growth, meaningful job creation, export diversification, and stronger macroeconomic resilience. The observation highlights a critical disconnect between financial inflows and tangible economic development, underscoring the need for policy measures that deliberately channel foreign capital into sectors that drive broad-based productivity and industrialisation.
