The purpose of this research is to ascertain the effect of real exchange rate fluctuation and its volatility on inward flow of FDI with Nigeria as a focal country, between 1970 to 2014. The research applied GARCH (1,1) to ascertain the level of volatility and ARDL model was used to determine the relevant results-these techniques were adopted for their robustness in estimation. It could be revealed that the effects of exchange rate and exchange rate volatility are more of a short-run phenomenon; while devaluation would increase inflow of FDI, volatility makes foreign investors more sceptical with increasing uncertainty. Increasing uncertainty could deter inflow of FDI into the country. Having captured the effect of political regime in the model, the paper reveals that a democratic regime should be the mainstay since it attracts more foreign investment compared to the military regimes. Therefore, even though devaluation is good, it would be better under civil government regimes.

Most of the Nigerian government’s transformation agenda is geared toward creating and enabling business environments to attract foreign direct investment. Opinions are divided as to the impact of foreign investment on trade and this researcher believed it could be either positive or negative. Hence, this research is to ascertain the magnitude of foreign investment’s impact on Nigeria’s bilateral trade. Integrating foreign direct investment in the gravity model, we applied the PPML technique because of its robustness and ability to recognise zero trade. We segregated foreign investment into three-flow, stock and its annual growth. Our estimation revealed that foreign direct investment stock impacts negatively on bilateral trade flow in Nigeria for both exports and imports and it is robust with the overall sample. Exporters’ foreign direct investment inflow was also revealed to have an impact on bilateral trade in Nigeria. But in all ramifications the magnitude of the negative impact is relatively small but statistically significant reflecting that trade and inward foreign investment are at least substitutes. Nigeria should further encourage inward foreign investment to further stimulate economic growth and aid in creating import substitution.

Most of the Nigerian government's transformation agenda is geared toward creating and enabling business environments to attract foreign direct investment. Opinions are divided as to the impact of foreign investment on trade and this researcher believed it could be either positive or negative. Hence, this research is to ascertain the magnitude of foreign investment's impact on Nigeria's bilateral trade. Integrating foreign direct investment in the gravity model, we applied the PPML technique because of its robustness and ability to recognise zero trade. We segregated foreign investment into three-flow, stock and its annual growth. Our estimation revealed that foreign direct investment stock impacts negatively on bilateral trade flow in Nigeria for both exports and imports and it is robust with the overall sample. Exporters' foreign direct investment inflow was also revealed to have an impact on bilateral trade in Nigeria. But in all ramifications the magnitude of the negative impact is relatively small but statistically significant reflecting that trade and inward foreign investment are at least substitutes. Nigeria should further encourage inward foreign investment to further stimulate economic growth and aid in creating import substitution. Contribution/ Originality:This study uses new estimation methodology and the model to determine the impact of foreign direct investment (FDI) on Nigeria's trade development. The impact of FDI was measured from three perspectives; stock, flow and growth. The paper revealed there is a robust and statistically significant negative effect of FDI on trade, though very negligible.