Nigeria Sovereign Wealth Authority Plans $525m Infrastructural Investment

The Nigeria Sovereign Investment Authority (NSIA) on Monday said it would open its investment portfolio with the injection of $525 million for the take-off of projects under the Stabilisation Fund and the Future Generation Fund early next month.

NSIA is a savings fund established by the Nigeria Sovereign Investment Authority (Establishment) Act 2011 and financed by the Federal Government to build a savings and investments base from the country’s hydrocarbon wealth.

The Managing Director/Chief Executive Officer, Uche Orji, said, at the maiden media briefing in Abuja to signal the formal take-off of operations of the Authority, that the investment is in line with the allocation formula and guidelines recently approved by its Board for the three Fund’s portfolio, consisting Future Generation Fund, the Nigeria Infrastructure Fund, and the Stabilisation Fund.

According to Mr Orji, the investment allocation formula stipulates that the Future Generation Fund and the Nigeria Infrastructure Fund would each get $325 million, or 32.5 per cent of the $1billion seed funding of the Sovereign Wealth Fund (SWF), while $200 million, or 20 per cent would go to the Stabilisation Fund, leaving a balance of $150 million, or 15 per cent for future investment opportunities.

While the Stabilisation Fund would start early June, Mr Orji said the Future Generation Fund, which would start about the same time, would continue till the end of 2013, because of its diversified portfolio and complicated processes. He added that the detailed review of the possible investment areas to benefit from the Infrastructure Fund is ongoing.

He identified priority areas being considered under the Infrastructure Fund portfolio to include healthcare, transportation, water resources, power, and housing. He pointed out that the interest of the agency would be on commercially viable projects that would help it earn good returns on investment for Nigerians.

“Our focus is on investments that are both relevant to the current needs of Nigerians and profitable and sustainable,” Mr Orji said. “We are ready to go anywhere to get the best deals for Nigeria.”