Newsfront Online …Telling the Public as it is
…Investment in foreign equities and bonds giving FG sleepless nights
With a seed capital of $1 billion in 2012, the Nigeria Sovereign Investment Authority (NSIA) has grown its assets to $4 billion using funds from oil sales surplus recovered funds.
The NSIA is an investment institution of the Federation set up to manage funds realised in excess of budgeted crude oil revenues.
It was created to drive sustained economic development for the benefit of all Nigerians by building a savings base for the Nigerian people, enhancing the development of Nigeria’s infrastructure and providing stabilisation support in times of economic stress.
Minister of Finance, Budget and National Planning, Mrs. Zainab Ahmed, made the disclosure at the plenary session on Sovereign Wealth Funds (SWFs) at Africa Investment Forum (AIF – 2022) in Abidjan Cote d’Ivoire.
She stated that “NSIA’s core assets under management has now grown to $2.2 billion since the commencement of its operations”.
Thereafter she revealed that Nigeria through the NSIA now has “about $4 billion in total assets regardless of the many rainy days we went through recently, and the fund has been profitable consistently”.
She also said the Muhammadu Buhari “administration has been gradually injecting money into the NSIA, this funding came not only from oil surpluses, but other sources such as our recovered funds and assets”.
Another source of funding for the NSIA, Zainab Ahmed said, is “a sizeable percentage invested in equities and bonds in Europe, America and Asia”.
“In today’s climate, this last fund is the one that is keeping me awake at night,” she said.
Looking into the future, Mrs. Ahmed said “our hope is that the next five years will be less dramatic and more predictable so we can plan properly for that rainy day, whatever it maybe.
She promised the federal government “will gradually but sustainably build a fund for the future without ignoring today’s needs”.
Given the performance of the NSIA, Zainab Ahmed announced that the federal government has declared the Nigeria Sovereign Investment Authority (NSIA) as its partner of choice in the execution and successful delivery of major infrastructure projects.
Ahmed said the federal government chose the NSIA as its partner of choice because the agency has executed and successfully delivered “major infrastructure projects and transformational initiatives with national impact”.
According to her, “through the NSIA, we are building key roads and bridges under the Presidential Infrastructure Development Fund; we have revived our fertiliser blending facilities through the supply of high quality NPK under the Presidential Fertiliser Initiative and are partnering with Morocco to build an Ammonia plant”.
She also stated that with the NSIA, government is “supporting artisanal and small-scale miners while building up our reserves through the presidential artisanal gold mining initiative”.
Mrs Ahmed added that both the federal government and the NSIA “have also commenced our journey towards the adoption of clean energy, starting off with the development of a 10MW Grid Solar Plant. We have constructed cancer and medical diagnostic centres across the country”.
Declaring other legacy achievements of the NSIA, the finance minister said: “We recently commissioned a state-of-the-art animal feed facility linked to hundreds of hectares of maize farms.
“We are tackling today’s problems head on. We allocated a certain proportion of NSIA’s funds for investments in innovative pioneer sectors within and outside Nigeria.”
Speaking further, Ahmed said the challenges for Sovereign Wealth Funds (SWFs) “would be the constant rain that Nigeria is experiencing and the decision on how to treat each wet day as it comes.
“We have a growing population. We have climate change in the form of floods, droughts and desertification and their adverse impact on food security. We have pockets of insecurity. Then there is the pandemic of course. With these competing demands, it takes a very strong and focused leadership to think about saving.”
(thenationonlineng.net)
