PUSH AND PULL FACTORS DETERMINANTS OF FOREIGN DIRECT INVESTMENT TO NIGERIA: AN AUTOREGRESSIVE DISTRIBUTED LAG (ARDL) APPROACH

Purpose: Foreign direct investment is sensitive to domestic and external factors. The sensitivity to external factors means changes in global productivity levels (financial sentiments) may produce a substantial impact on FDI in Nigeria. The study is aimed at examining the pull and push factor determinants of foreign direct investment to Nigeria. 
Methods: The study adopted the Autoregressive Distributed Lag (ARDL) Approach to achieve the long and short-run determinants. The study uses secondary data sets from 1986 to 2018 with the application of Eviews 9 output to analyse data. 
Results: Findings from the ARDL model shows that foreign direct investment is sensitive to domestic (depreciation of exchange rate and interest rate) and external factors (US gross domestic product and US interest rate) both in the long and short run. The study concludes that foreign direct investment into Nigeria is due to ‘pull’ factors rather than ‘push’ factors. 
Implications: The implication of the study showed that foreign direct investment flow surges cannot be denied in determining the macroeconomic performance in Nigeria. The choice of FDI seems to future more in Nigeria’s economy. Understanding of the factors that drives FDI can inform efforts by government and expert on how to attract and manage FDI to the Nigerian economy. 
Conclusion:  The study concluded that the flutuation in FDI is determined by both domestic and global factors. These factors had differential impact on FDI volatility. Consequently, the study recommended the need for the prudent management of these determinants to ensure reduced volatilities which are essential for the growth of the domestic economic particularly at this time when the Nigerian economy is in great need of foreign investment owing to the continuous fall in international crude oil price and the recession facing the economic.