Image credit : Unctad

UN Trade and Development has reported that out of $1.6 trillion global foreign direct investment (FDI) in 2025, data centres attracted more than one fifth of global greenfield projects, with announced investment exceeding $270 billion.

In the report published this week on its website, Unctad, said that the demand for data centers investment was driven by AI infrastructure and digital networks.

The report reads:

” France, the United States and the Republic of Korea led as host countries, while emerging markets such as Brazil, India, Thailand and Malaysia also attracted major projects.

Similarly, the value of newly announced semiconductor projects rose by 35%.

By contrast, project numbers fell sharply by 25% in tariff-exposed, global value chain-intensive sectors.

Textiles, electronics and machinery were particularly affected.

While investment in technology-driven, capital-intensive projects lifts overall FDI figures, flows remain highly concentrated and generate limited spillovers.

Policies should aim to link digital infrastructure investment more closely to skills development, innovation systems and local value creation.

Seplat Energy Plc has appointed Tony O. Elumelu, the renowned Nigerian businessman and chairman of Heirs Holdings and United Bank for Africa (UBA), as a Non-Executive Director on its board with effect from January 22, 2026.

The appointment comes shortly after Elumelu’s investment entities, Heirs Holdings Limited and Heirs Energies Limited, acquired a 20.07% stake in Seplat Energy from French oil company Maurel & Prom (M&P) in a December 2025 transaction valued at approximately $500 million.

The deal positioned Heirs as the company’s largest single shareholder.In a related board change, Seplat announced the resignation of Mr. Olivier Cleret De Langavant, who had represented M&P as a Non-Executive Director since January 2020.

Both the appointment and resignation were disclosed in a filing to the Nigerian Exchange Limited.

Elumelu brings deep expertise in energy, banking, power generation, and pan-African investments.

His entry to the board is widely seen as a strategic move to support Seplat’s long-term growth ambitions and further strengthen indigenous participation in Nigeria’s upstream oil and gas industry.

The leadership transition underscores Seplat Energy’s evolving ownership structure and its continued focus on operational excellence and value creation in Africa’s energy sector.

Taiwo Oyedele, the Chairman of Presidential Committee on Fiscal Policy and Tax Reforms, has highlighted on the benefits of the new tax laws for local manufacturers.

Oyedele addressed the manufacturers during a stakeholders engagement with the Manufacturers Association of Nigeria (MAN) themed, “From Legislative Assembly to Factory Floor: What the New Tax Laws Mean for Nigerian Manufacturers.”

Oyedele acknowledged that manufacturers grappled with multiple taxation, high tax burdens and VAT compliance challenges under the old tax regime.

“Today, you can manufacture in Nigeria and imported alternatives will still land cheaper, even after freight, insurance, and duties, which means that even in our own market, we are struggling to compete.

“We want our businesses to compete first locally, then within the region, especially under the African Continental Free Trade Area (AfCFTA).

Otherwise, businesses will be setting up in Ghana, Benin Republic and be sending their products to Nigeria,” he said.

Oyedele noted that manufacturers faced disproportionately higher effective tax rates due to a mix of legal and illegal levies imposed by state and non-state actors.

His words: “We were taxing capital. We were taxing investments. We have one of the highest tax burdens on corporate profits in the world here in Nigeria.

We are happy that at least 10 states have passed laws fully aligned with the federal framework. This will help eliminate nuisance taxes and illegal collection practices that have long been the bane of manufacturers.

Manufacturers, more than any other sector, had to deal with a multiplicity of taxes everywhere they turned, and even legal taxes were being collected illegally.

This was not working for us, and it wasn’t going to work. Multiple levies distorted the system. These reforms aim to fix that and support manufacturing.”

He said the tax reforms were designed to make Nigeria’s tax system fairer and simpler, particularly for productive sectors such as manufacturing, to make them more competitive both domestically and globally.

“Manufacturers stand to gain from expanded input VAT claims on assets and services, revised income bands, higher exemption thresholds, and a range of reliefs and allowances aimed at reducing effective tax burdens.

In his remarks, the Director-General of MAN, Segun Ajayi-Kadir, said that the success of the reforms depend on full alignment by sub-national governments.

“We are happy that at least 10 states have passed laws fully aligned with the federal framework. This will help eliminate nuisance taxes and illegal collection practices that have long been the bane of manufacturers.

“Now that states are passing these laws on their own, it bodes well for manufacturers and for the sustainability of the tax reform agenda,” he said.