The Nigeria Sovereign Investment Authority (NSIA) says that it recorded a total of N160.06 billion (Ghs 2.4 billion) in comprehensive income in 2020, representing a 343% growth compared to N36.15 billion (Ghs 546 million) recorded in 2019.
The growth was attributed to strong performance from its investments in international capital markets, improved contribution from subsidiaries and affiliates and exchange rate gain from foreign currency positions despite challenges of the coronavirus pandemic.
This disclosure was made by the Managing Director of NSIA, Mr Uche Orji, at a virtual media conference on the presentation of the NSIA’s 2020 Audited Financial Statements and Performance Review on Tuesday in Abuja.
Orji said that the authority achieved 33% growth in Net Assets amounting to N772.75 billion (Ghs 10.8 billion) as against N579.54 billion (Ghs 8.1 billion) in the previous year.
He also said that the NSIA received an additional contribution of $250 million and provided first stabilisation support of $150 million from the Stabilisation Fund to the Federal Government.
The NSIA boss pointed out that the authority also received $311 million from funds recovered from late General Sani Abacha from the US Department of Justice and Island of Jersey with the funds deployed towards the Presidential Infrastructure Development Fund (PIDF) projects of Abuja-Kaduna-Kano Highway, Lagos Ibadan Expressway and the Second Niger Bridge.
What the NSIA Managing Director is saying
Orji said, “The 2020 fiscal year was characterised by high volatility and global market uncertainty on account of COVID-19 in the first half. However, the authority’s strategic investments generated respectable returns in spite of the impact of COVID-19.
Notably, NSIA has invested in various private equity and venture capital investment funds to tap into the high-growth sectors. NSIA expects that the outlook for 2021 would be positive, however, we expect bouts of volatility as global markets adjust and recover from the impact of the pandemic.”
On some of the projects and interventions, Orji said for the power sector, the NSIA was building a 10 megawatts solar power plant in Kano, which presently was the single largest in Nigeria.
He said, “Expected to be completed at the end of 2022 at a cost of about 15 million dollars, the plant would link industrial customers to an additional source of power supply.’’
On agriculture, Orji said that through the Presidential Fertiliser Initiative (PFI), the authority produced 12 million 50 kilogram bags of NPK 20:10:10 equivalent in 2020 bringing the total production since inception to over 30 million 50kg bags equivalent, while the number of participating blending plants increased to 44 from less than seven at inception.
The NSIA boss added that the authority completed the construction of 3000 hectares Panda Agric Farm in Nasarawa, the first project of the UFF-NSIA partnership.
He said that for 2021, the authority plans to complete the concession, capital raise and operationalisation of the Lagos-Ibadan Expressway, Second Niger Bridge and Abuja-Kaduna-Kano Highway.https://e635a92f8ea145129d506f747da74f58.safeframe.googlesyndication.com/safeframe/1-0-38/html/container.html
What you should know
- The Nigeria Sovereign Investment Authority is a Nigerian establishment that manages the Nigeria sovereign wealth fund, into which the surplus income produced from Nigeria’s excess oil reserves is deposited.
- This sovereign wealth fund which was allocated an initial $1 billion as seed capital, was founded for the purpose of managing and investing these funds on behalf of the government of Nigeria. The fund was established by the Nigeria Sovereign Investment Authority Act, signed in May 2011, and commenced operations in October 2018.
- It is intended to invest the savings gained on the difference between the budgeted and actual market prices for oil to earn returns that would benefit future generations of Nigerians. It also has had an additional $500 million contribution to date by the current administration
