The Federal Ministry of Industry, Trade and Investment attracted $139.36 billion investment commitment between 2017 and September 2018 through its various reforms.

The ministry, which made this known via its official Twitter handle, @TradeInvestNG, said the amount was the highest on record.

It said, in its efforts to attract investment, it revamped incentive programmes for investors, including a new Pioneer Status regime, and released the first compendium of investment incentives in Nigeria.

The ministry also established bilateral Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) of over $50 billion with the U.K., Germany and China for local investment commitments.

It also established the Nigerian Investment Certification Programme (NICP) to boost states’ competitiveness.

The ministry also said in order to develop the Micro, Small and Medium Enterprise (MSME) sector, it executed the Growth and Employment Programme (GEM), and disbursed N3.7 billion to 910 entrepreneurs.

It added that through the GEM programme, six innovation hubs were set up to enhance the growth of the MSME sector.

The ministry also said it implemented the Government Enterprise and Empowerment Programme (GEEP), the largest micro-credit scheme in the history of Nigeria — granting revolving credit to over 1.5 million traders, artisans, youths and farmers. It said that it jointly executed 25 MSME Clinics with the Office of the Vice-President, bringing government services directly to the MSMEs in their states of operation.

“We disbursed N487.5 billion to 3,334 enterprises through the Bank of Industry (BoI) and provided technical assistance to 21,000 MSMEs.

“We equally launched the national SME Portal to drive ease of access to government services for SMEs,” it said.