The Vice President of the Business Summit Group in Nigeria, Innocent Obande (left), the President of the Business Summit Group, Dato’ Uzzaman, (middle), Vice President, Strategy, Business Summit Group, Abid Haider (right) and another executive. CREDIT: Business Summit Group
… aims at creating direct platforms where international investors could meet Nigerian businesses and government investment agencies with investment-ready projects.
Nigeria is set to draw in more than $100bn in investment commitments as business leaders and investors from over 50 countries converge in the Federal Capital Territory, Abuja, for the International Investors Summit Nigeria 2026.
The two-day summit, organised by the Business Summit Group, is scheduled for November 10 and 11 in Abuja. The President of the Business SuNigeria commitments at summitmmit Group, Dato’ Uzzaman, disclosed the investment target on Tuesday at a press conference in Abuja.
He said the summit was designed to move beyond discussions about Nigeria’s investment potential by creating direct platforms where international investors could meet Nigerian businesses, state governments and government investment agencies with investment-ready projects.
According to him, the proposed investments would cut across oil and gas, green energy, technology, healthcare, agriculture, mining, infrastructure, education and human capital development, artificial intelligence and fintech.
Uzzaman urged Nigerian companies, particularly medium and large-scale businesses, as well as state governments, to use the summit to present projects capable of attracting immediate and long-term foreign capital.
He said investors were more interested in businesses with proven records and clear expansion opportunities than projects that existed only on paper. “Investors like projects that have track records for expansion and new production lines,” Uzzaman said.
He added that projects capable of immediate implementation would receive priority as the organisers seek to match Nigerian investment opportunities with international capital.
The summit comes at a time when Nigeria is seeking to attract more foreign capital to support economic expansion, infrastructure development, industrialisation and job creation.
The organisers said the meeting would provide Nigerian businesses and sub-national governments with access to investors from major economies and emerging investment markets across the world.
Uzzaman and the Vice President of the Business Summit Group in Nigeria, Innocent Obande, said the summit was also building on investment leads generated from the previous edition held in Bangkok, Thailand, last year.
They disclosed that 25 Nigerian companies and state governments participated in the Bangkok summit, following which participants requested that the next edition be brought to Nigeria.
According to the organisers, Plateau State has secured investment commitments worth more than $1bn within the past six months following its participation in the Bangkok summit.
They said Uzzaman’s role in facilitating investment opportunities for the state contributed to his subsequent appointment as Special Adviser on Investment to the Plateau State Governor, Caleb Mutfwang.
The organisers said the experience demonstrated the potential of using international investment summits to move Nigerian projects from local presentations to actual engagement with foreign investors.
They therefore urged other states to identify projects with clear commercial prospects and present them to investors during the Abuja meeting.
Uzzaman said investors expected at the November summit would come from the United States, Canada, Brazil, Argentina, Guyana, Trinidad and Tobago, Portugal, the United Kingdom, Switzerland, Germany, Lithuania, Latvia and Turkey.
He added that investors from the Middle East and Gulf Cooperation Council countries, Bangladesh, Pakistan, India, Singapore, Hong Kong, China, Taiwan, South Korea, Japan and Australia, among others, were also expected.
The organisers disclosed that Liberian President, Joseph Boakai Sr., had expressed interest in participating in the summit, while the President of the Republic of Liberland, Vit Jedlička, had confirmed attendance with his delegation.
The Plateau State Governor, Caleb Mutfwang, was also described as a strong supporter of the summit.
The organisers said registration had formally opened for Nigerian companies, state governments and government investment agencies seeking one-on-one meetings with participating investors.
Such meetings, they said, would enable investors to assess specific projects, discuss financing structures and explore partnerships rather than limiting engagements to general presentations at the summit.
Nigeria has continued to seek increased foreign direct investment as the government attempts to deepen economic diversification, expand productive capacity and attract capital into sectors beyond crude oil.
The investment summit is therefore being positioned as a platform for connecting Nigeria’s investment opportunities with international capital at a time when businesses and governments are competing globally for investors.
For the organisers, however, the success of the November meeting will ultimately depend on whether investment conversations translate into bankable transactions and projects.
The focus on sectors such as technology, artificial intelligence, fintech, green energy, agriculture, mining, healthcare and infrastructure also reflects the growing effort to broaden Nigeria’s investment base beyond traditional oil and gas projects.
The organisers said the participation of state governments would further give sub-national authorities an opportunity to market projects directly to international investors and reduce the distance between potential investors and project owners.
The summit will also provide Nigerian companies with opportunities to seek foreign partners, capital for expansion and access to international markets.
Uzzaman said the objective was to ensure that the summit created practical investment opportunities rather than becoming another forum for speeches and networking without measurable outcomes.
The organisers said the reported $1bn-plus investment commitments secured by Plateau State after the Bangkok summit would serve as an example of the type of outcome they hope to replicate on a larger scale in Abuja.
With a target of more than $100bn in investment commitments, the November summit is expected to place Nigeria’s investment opportunities before a broad international audience while giving states and private-sector companies an opportunity to compete directly for global capital.
