We Boast Of 560,300 Jobs, N1trn Assets In 10 years – NSIA

• Highlights power, agricultural, housing investments 

BY EDMOND ODOK – With less two months to end the administration of President Muhammadu Buhari, the Nigeria Sovereign Wealth Investment Authority (NSIA) says the cheering news is that no fewer than 560,300 jobs were created while its assets grew over the N1 trillion mark in the last decade.

Highlighting the Authority’s sterling performance for the period between 2013 and 2023, the Managing Director, Mr Aminu Umar-Sadiq, said the jobs created were 245,000 direct employment and 315,300 indirect jobs generated through its operations nationwide.

He also said that NSIA’s financial performance within the period under review showed that its net assets successfully grew from N156 billion in 2013 to N1.017 trillion in 2022 with over $500million investment in the country’s domestic infrastructure.

Mr Umar-Sadiq, who spoke at a media briefing in Abuja, on Thursday, flanked by the Authority’s top management staff, said within the period under review, NSIA further attracted over $500 million in foreign direct investments while applying its funds to seven strategic and robust areas of infrastructure investment portfolios.

He said the Authority’s success story includes the bold moves of developing/co-developing over 10 institutions and platforms to improve the financial market ecosystem while it also investing in over 80 percent of locally owned and run private equity (PE) funds in Nigeria since it’s inception.

Further listing the NSIA’s investment areas as three projects in motorways covering over 515.4 kilometres; 10 megawatts solar power scheme; agricultural scheme; and housing schemes; as well as healthcare projects across the six geo-political zones of the country, Umar-Sadiq said; “Despite numerous challenges posed by the global economic environment, NSIA delivered a respectable financial performance, underscoring the resilience of its asset allocation and investment strategy.”

According to him, “For the 10th year in a row, the NSIA has remained profitable, closing the 2022 financial year as follows: Net asset grew 11 percent to N1.02 trillion in 2022 (2021: N919.73 billion). Total Revenue for 2022 totaled N111.4 billion, a 27.2 percent decline from 2021.

“This comprises of income earned from the Authority’s core assets within the three funds and its fiduciary activities in relation to its third-party managed assets.

“In 2022, the Authority efficiently managed all its controllable earnings streams, resulting in growth in its nonvolatile revenue streams. The decline in performance year-on-year can be attributed solely to fair value losses on financial assets from externally-managed investments.”

However, the NSIA boss assured that the unfriendly economic weather notwithstanding, “We anticipate that these losses will be minimized, if not fully recovered, by 2023, as the global economy starts to recover.”

On a general note, he said; “It is however noteworthy that earnings from interest income, infrastructure business revenue, and fiduciary activities’ management fees increased by 34.5% (N15.7 billion) year-on-year”, adding; “These returns provided the needed diversification of the Group’s revenue base and cushioned the effect of the decline in the earnings from the market facing assets.”

For Umar-Sadiq, “NSIA remains confident in its investment strategy and will continue to explore opportunities to mitigate risks and drive financial performance” going forward.