Manager of Nigeria’s sovereign wealth fund, the Nigeria Sovereign Investment Authority, grew its net assets by 10 per cent from ₦919.73bn in 2021 to ₦1.02tn in the 2022 financial year.
This was disclosed in its audited results for the 2022 financial year, which was released on Thursday.
The highlights of NSIA’s activities and performance during the period under review also showed that it recorded its 10th year of continuous positive earnings in spite of volatility across markets.
In its 2022 report, the earnings of the NSIA Group was N96.96bn, a 34 per cent dip compared to N146.98bn recorded in 2021. The organisation attributed the decrease to the performance of its Future Generations and Stabilisation portfolios that are invested in emerging and developed financial market instruments.
On the other hand, its interest income, revenue from infrastructure business, and management fees earned from fiduciary activities, increased by 34.5 per cent (₦15.7bn) year-over-year.
The Managing Director and Chief Executive Officer, Mr. Aminu Umar-Sadiq, said the performance was recorded despite the challenges in the operating environment.
He said, “Against market expectations and internal forecast, NSIA closed the 2022 financial year with a respectable performance. This result underscores the robustness of our diversified portfolio, and the excellent commitment of the team.”
“As we look to the future, NSIA is resolute in its commitment to delivering increased investments in critical sectors of the economy, driving growth across its funds, and attracting third-party capital into Nigeria’s infrastructure sector. In 2023, we will be resourcing our various platforms targeted at emerging sectors – renewable energy, sustainability, innovation, and healthcare – which will ensure the Authority achieves its dual objectives of delivering financial returns and impactful social outcomes,” he added.
Nigeria’s sovereign wealth manager, said that the 2022 fiscal year was marked by unprecedented shocks, such as the COVID-19 lockdown in China, the Russia-Ukraine conflict, food and energy crises, supply-chain disruptions, soaring inflation, and monetary policy tightening, which impacted the financial markets.
In 2022, NSIA said that it reached a significant milestone in implementing its infrastructure strategy by delivering key projects. These projects cut across core sectors of focus and the implementation of specialised federal government initiatives.
They include projects in the agriculture sector; the Presidential Fertiliser Initiative. The opening of the Pandagric Novum farm, a joint venture between NSIA and Signature Agri Investment for the cultivation of maize and soybeans and connected to a 147,000 metric tons per annum capacity poultry feed mill.
In the technology sector, NSIA said it introduced the NSIA Prize for Innovation as a measure to stimulate the ingenuity of Nigerian innovators and technopreneurs to develop solutions that address real-world challenges with global application. The NPI program is a business enhancement initiative to support early-stage, growth-driven tech solutions through education, mentorship, and financing and recorded milestones in the gas industrialisation sector, health care, power and road.
