Legal practitioner and Senior Advocate of Nigeria, Oyetola Muyiwa Atoyebi, SAN, FCIArb (U.K), Notary Public, has highlighted the need for Nigeria to strengthen the implementation of its legal and regulatory framework to improve investor confidence and attract sustainable Foreign Direct Investment (FDI).
In an article titled, “Foreign Direct Investment in Nigeria: Strengthening the Legal and Regulatory Ecosystem for Investor Confidence,” Atoyebi examined the role of FDI in Nigeria’s economic development and the regulatory challenges that continue to affect the country’s investment climate.
According to the Senior Advocate, foreign investment remains important to Nigeria’s industrialisation, technology transfer, employment generation, productive capacity and participation in global trade.
He noted that Nigeria already has an extensive framework governing investment, including the Nigerian Investment Promotion Commission Act, the Companies and Allied Matters Act 2020, foreign exchange reforms, sector-specific legislation and various business facilitation measures.
However, Atoyebi identified regulatory fragmentation, policy uncertainty, foreign exchange constraints, infrastructure deficits, administrative delays, security concerns and slow dispute resolution among the challenges capable of weakening investor confidence.
The central problem, he argued, is therefore not necessarily the absence of investment laws, but the effectiveness, consistency and predictability with which existing laws and policies are implemented.
The article further examines Nigeria’s investor-protection mechanisms, major regulatory institutions and recent reforms, while drawing attention to the gap that can arise between protections contained in legislation and investors’ practical experiences.
Atoyebi advocated stronger institutional coordination, greater regulatory certainty, efficient dispute-resolution mechanisms, increased digitalisation of administrative processes, transparency and accountability.
According to the article, these measures are critical to establishing a credible and predictable investment environment capable of attracting and retaining sustainable foreign capital in Nigeria.
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