Abuja — Nigeria Investment Promotions Commission (NIPC) Tuesday revealed that the investment friendly atmosphere prevalent in the country in the last five years have attracted well over $5 billion worth of Foreign Direct Investments (FDI) into the country in the Information and Communication Technology (ICT) sector.

Executive Secretary of the Nigeria Investment Promotion Commission , Engr. Mustafa Bello made the disclosure in a presentation at the business and investment forum organised by the NIPC in honour of a twenty -man delegation from Czech Republic in Abuja.

Engr. Bello disclosed that the nation has also attracted substantial foreign investments in other sectors such as agriculture, services, tourism, solid mineral, Pharmaceuticals, manufacturing and oil and gas.

The Czech delegation was in Nigeria as part of their tour of selected African countries in search of new investment opportunities and avenues to consolidate existing trade relations.

President Olusegun Obasanjo had instructed the Nigeria Investment Promotion Commission to organize a business and investment forum in collaboration with the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Czech Embassy to create the much needed opportunity for Nigerian business men to interact with the visiting team.

Bello assured the delegation that the Commission would continue to provide necessary assistance to foreign and domestic investors in Nigeria; develop and implement innovative, focused and effective investment promotional strategies; provide after care services to the investors and develop other innovations geared towards attracting foreign capital into the Nigerian economy.

Addressing the business forum, Special Adviser to the President On Manufacturing and Private Sector, Alhaji Adamu Abdulkadir sued for better trade relations between Nigeria and the Czech Republic, saying that the present administration had put every incentive in place to encourage direct foreign investments in the country.

Abdulkadir disclosed that Nigerian had ample investment potentials in areas such as agriculture, petrochemicals, energy, pharmaceuticals, food processing, mining textiles as well as environmental management, adding that the Nigerian Investment Promotions Council had a lot of tailor made incentives that could be mutually beneficial to the country and any foreign investor who chooses to come to Nigeria.

The Czech Deputy Minister of Foreign Affairs, Mr. Pavel Svoboda who led the trade delegation expressed delight at the joint business forum, recalling that economic relations between both countries have had a long tradition that needed to be maintained in the interest of the parties.

Nigeria , Svoboda said, is Czech's second most important trade partner in sub-Saharan Africa after South Africa. He however expressed dismay that the mutual trade balance between both countries has been fluctuating over the past few years, a situation he said had led to decrease in mutual trade turnover. Nigeria imports mainly transformers, steel and iron products, spare parts, computer technology, razor blades, caps and fezzes and exports mainly natural rubber and cotton to Czechoslovakia.