Nigeria has clawed its way back into Africa’s upper echelon with Foreign Direct Investment surging to a decade-high of $4.01 billion in 2025, a 148.4 percent jump from $1.61 billion recorded the previous year, according to the World Investment Report 2026 released Tueday by UNCTAD.
The performance marks the country’s strongest FDI showing since 2014, when inflows reached $4.69 billion, and returns Africa’s most populous nation to the continent’s top-five ranking for the first time since 2021.
Nigeria placed fourth among African destinations, trailing Egypt ($15.5 billion), Guinea ($7.76 billion), and Mozambique ($5.69 billion), while securing the second-largest inflows in West Africa .
Oil, gas and corporate deals drive rebound
UNCTAD attributed the surge primarily to oil and gas-related international project finance deals, including a major project valued at approximately $2 billion. The report also highlighted significant corporate transactions that reshaped the investment landscape, 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 .
The resurgence aligns with the Federal Government’s broader reform agenda. Since 2024, President Bola Tinubu has issued targeted directives introducing unprecedented fiscal incentives, regulatory clarity, and operating process simplification that have restored investor confidence.
The reforms, now embedded in legislation, have been validated by major Final Investment Decisions including Shell’s $2 billion offshore gas project in OML 144 and the Ubeta Non-Associated Gas project .
Speaking at the Nigeria International Energy Summit in early this year, Minister of State for Petroleum Resources Heineken Lokpobiri disclosed that Nigeria secured $18.2 billion in field development plans during 2025, unlocking 1.4 billion barrels of crude oil.
He noted that of the seven major final investments made in Africa between 2024 and 2025, four were in Nigeria, proof, he said, that the country is once again the preferred investment destination for oil and gas.
Reform momentum and policy recalibration
The rebound comes as the Federal Government intensifies efforts to attract foreign capital as part of its plan to build a $1 trillion economy by 2030. Since 2023, authorities have introduced foreign exchange market liberalisation, fuel subsidy removal, tighter monetary policy, and enhanced investor engagement to rebuild confidence.
UNCTAD noted that Nigeria has introduced performance-based tax credits for upstream petroleum companies and adopted a minimum effective tax rate of 15 percent for multinational enterprises with revenues above €750 million, aligning with global tax reforms.
The Federal Ministry of Industry, Trade and Investment described 2025 as an “inflection point,” with capital importation rising from $3.9 billion in 2023 to $12.3 billion in 2024, while portfolio and direct investment inflows combined reached nearly $14 billion within the first three quarters of 2025.
Portfolio investment accounted for about $13 billion, compared with $4.4 billion over the same period in 2024, while FDI improved to approximately $936 million from $253 million a year earlier.
Structural challenges persist
Despite the headline growth, concerns remain over the concentration of inflows in extractive industries. FDI outflows from Nigeria fell to $1.19 billion in 2025, the lowest level since 2023, highlighting fewer outward investments by Nigerian companies. Analysts note that inflows remain below the levels required to finance infrastructure, industrialisation and job creation at the scale needed for Africa’s third-largest economy.
Nigeria’s return to the top five reflects a recovery in investor appetite for its energy sector, although non-oil sectors such as manufacturing, technology, and agriculture continue to lag in attracting long-term capital commitments. The country will need substantially higher and more consistent foreign investment inflows to meet its $1 trillion economy target, with the growth strategy depending on mobilising capital for power, transport, housing, digital infrastructure, and expanding exports .
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