By Onome Amuge
The Nigeria Sovereign Investment Authority, manager of Nigeria’s sovereign wealth fund, said it delivered impactful initiatives consistent with the target outcomes for 15 of the 17 Sustainable Development Goals (SDG).
NSIA made the disclosure in the recently published maiden edition of its development Impact Report (IR), outlining NSIA’s progress towards the attainment of its developmental and socio-economic impact since inception. It also includes the authority’s efforts to safeguard the environment and address relevant climate-related risks and opportunities in line best practice.
Speaking at the launch of the report in Abuja, Aminu Umar-Sadiq, managing director and chief executive officer, NSIA, described the report as a significant milestone for the authority as it highlights its development agenda and the impact it has had over several years of operations. He added that the report underscores NSIA’s commitment to transparency, accountability, and a data-driven approach to impact measurement.
In his words, “The Impact Report is a comprehensive assessment of our investments, operations, and achievements. It presents a detailed analysis of our performance across various asset classes, our commitment to environmental, social, and governance (ESG) principles and highlights our contribution to Nigeria’s economic growth and development, job creation, and social welfare.
The launch of NSIA’s Impact Report is not merely a reflection of our achievements. It is also a call to action, a challenge to ourselves and our partners to do more and do better. On an annual basis, we intend to keep strengthening our reporting, and foster a culture that recognizes risks and opportunities from climate change challenges and sustainability efforts throughout the Authority, its affiliates, and associate companies.”
Selected highlights from NSIA 2021 impact report as listed by the Nigerian establishment include:
– Creation of over 500,000 direct and indirect jobs through various initiatives and projects.
-Support to over 230,000 farmers through various agri-projects across the country with over 68 per cent of the primary beneficiaries being women.
-Significant progress on three high-priority national road projects which have a combined road length of 515.4 kilometres.
Also, NSIA stated that it has continued to set standards in oncology (cancer) and diagnostics services in Nigeria with NSIA’s healthcare interventions through the medical centres of excellence located in Lagos, Kano and Umuahia. The authority noted that the two diagnostics centres located in Kano and Umuahia have served nearly 300,000 patients while the cancer centre in Lagos held over 150,000 chemotherapy sessions to cater to cancer patients.
Other accomplishments reported by NSIA include the commencement of field work on site of a 10MW solar farm in Kumbotso, Kano State which was completed in 2023; sustained trajectory on diversity, equity, and inclusion.
NSIA stated that it maintained gender and ethnic pay equity and achieved growth in female workforce to roughly 36.3 per cent of total full-time employees across grade levels amongst other achievements. It also noted that it launched the NSIA Graduate Analyst Programme to build capabilities within the country in the areas of asset management, infrastructure project management, portfolio management & reporting, finance, treasury management and risk. The report disclosed that a total of 36 Nigerian professionals benefitted from the first programme.
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