Following a recent report by the National Bureau of Statistics(NBS) on the latest Nigerian Capital Importation for 2021, that the value of capital importation into Nigeria fell by 30.78 percent to $6.7 billion in 2021 from $9.68 billion in 2020 and stated how the 36 states of the federation fared, pitching Imo State among the states that their foreign investments dropped or states which failed to attract foreign investments during the year, the Imo State Commissioner for Budget, Economic Planning and Statistics, Dr C.C. Osuala has come out to fault it, saying that the report was not properly done.
Speaking with newsmen, Dr Osuala noted that the bureau was not clear on the area it looked into or analysed, adding that in Capital Importation, different areas or fields could be considered.
Explaining further, he said that the bureau could not say whether it was in agriculture, commerce or any other field that it based its analysis on, because Capital Importation could also be carried out in those areas as well as in many other areas of human endeavour.
He pointed out that Capital Importation “does not only mean capital or physical cash” as it could also “come in form of importation of equipment, skilled labour, drugs etc and when done, capital is still attached to them or imported”.
He frowned at a situation in which the report said that Imo performed below states like Anambra which attracted $4.7 million; Kano which attracted $2.55 million; Oyo, $2.0 million; Ogun , $1.06 million etc, saying that the foreign investments attracted in his ministry, the Ministry of Budget, Economic Planning and Statistics alone without taking into consideration those of other ministries was far more than what the above mentioned states attracted as foreign investments in 2021.
He further disclosed that the World Bank’s SFTAS grant attracted by his ministry for the state as a result of transparency in budgeting was more than what these states attracted as foreign investments, “a situation which leaves the report with some error”, adding that the state had continued to attract more as it had just attracted $500, 000 from World Bank as a result of its budgeting performance in the first quarter of the year.
He also disclosed that South Korean investors were desirous in partnering with the Senator Hope Uzodimma led government in developing the Real Estate sector of the state economy and advised the NBS to restrain herself from politicking with empirical data.
Osuala, who once headed the Appropriation Committee of the House of Representatives seized the opportunity to speak on the expected time of completion of state projects as captured in the budget, expressed optimism that the health centres in the 305 wards of the state either being reconstructed or equipped, would be functional in the next few weeks, while the 5km roads being constructed in each of the 27 local government areas of the state would be completed by the end of the current budget cycle.
