Nigerians abroad - money remittance at an all time high

Culled from the punch

Nigerians in the Diaspora invested much more in the country than foreign direct investors last year, the Minister of Information, Mr. Labaran Maku, said on Monday.

Maku, who spoke in Atlanta, Georgia, United States, said while Foreign Direct Investment inflow into the country amounted to $8bn, Nigerians in the Diaspora remitted home about $22bn in 2012.

The minister, in a statement made available to our correspondent on Monday by his Special Assistant on Media, Mr. Kingsley Osadolor, said with the money available to Nigerians in the Diaspora, they should take advantage of investment windows available in the country.

Maku listed power, mining, agriculture and the railways as some of the sectors with high investment potential, noting that the country had become the leading investment destination in Africa.

Speaking in Atlanta,Georgia,he stated  that with Nigerians abroad officially remitting nearly $22bn home in 2012 as against about $8bn FDI over the same period, it was obvious that they could muster the resources as well as technical cooperation with competent companies in their host countries to enable them to participate actively in the investment options that abound in the country.