By Cynthia Ezekwe.
The Nigeria Sovereign Investment Authority (NSIA) has said it has invested not less than $500 million to domestic infrastructure, while also enabling third party investments of over one billion dollars.
Aminu Umar-Sadiq, managing director and chief executive officer of NSIA, made this known at an investigative hearing held recently at the Ad hoc committee constituted by the house of representatives to investigate the activities of the NSIA since inception.
Speaking at the event, Umar-Sadiq noted that NSIA has a robust infrastructure investment portfolio covering several critical sectors such as agriculture, healthcare, financial infrastructure, technology, innovation, and power.
He explained that NSIA belongs to the three tiers of government consisting the federal government, state government, local government, including the FCT and its area councils, adding that the authority has also developed institutions and platforms to improve the financial market ecosystem within the country.
“We developed a 10 MW solar power project which was expected to facilitate the creation of over 500 direct and indirect jobs. Furthermore, through its participation within the housing sector, over 13,000 affordable housing units were under construction in different states of the Federation,” the managing director added.
According to Umar-Sadiq, NSIA has supported over 236,000 farmers in different Agric projects, adding that under the Presidential Fertiliser Initiative (PFI), the authority has facilitated the production of 3.8 million metric tonnes of fertiliser to farmers nationwide, with 72 blending plants currently in operation across Nigeria.
He also stated that the net assets of the authority grew from N156 billion in 2013, to N1. 017 trillion at the end of 2022, and has remained profitable over the last 10 years of operation, with yearly audits performed by independent auditors.
The managing director added that the net contribution has grown from the initial $1 billion to the current net asset value of $2.27 billion as at December 2022.
On his part, Lateef Shittu, the representative of the director general, of the Nigeria Governors Forum (NGF), said that local governments were notable stakeholders who were accounted for together with the state government and represented a significant holding of the fund.
Shittu affirmed the collaboration of the Governors Forum with the NSIA, saying they were satisfied with the level of interactions and were clear about the objectives of the authority in relation to its projects and impact on the nation.
Ademorin Kuye, the chairman of the committee, said the objective of the investigation was to ensure that the statutory provisions of the law establishing the authority was adhered to.
Kuye stated that the house wants to be able to have answers to questions from Nigerians on how the funds of the agency were being managed, adding that if the need arises, the committee would visit sites of projects being handled by the authority to ensure value for money.
