Abstract
The study examined macroeconomic variables, financial development, and domestic
investment in Nigeria. The used an ex-post facto research design and gathered annual secondary data
from 1990 to 2024 from the World Bank Indicators. The research applied the Autoregressive
Distributed Lag (ARDL) model, along with descriptive statistics, unit root tests, cointegration tests,
and diagnostic tests to examine the data. The results showed that interest rate, exchange rate,
inflation, GDP growth, and financial development had expected signs but statistically insignificant
effects on domestic investment over the long term. This indicates that investment behaviour in
Nigeria is more affected by institutional and structural issues than by typical macroeconomic factors.
The findings also point out that while financial development has a positive effect, its impact is weak
due to shallow capital markets, limited access to credit, and governance issues. The study concludes
that macroeconomic stability alone cannot significantly boost domestic investment without
additional structural reforms. It recommends strengthening institutions, ensuring policy consistency,
and coordinating fiscal and monetary policies to stabilise inflation, interest rates, and exchange rates
which will in-turn affect investment.