The Federal Government has released $311 million recovered assets to the Nigeria Sovereign Investment Authority, NSIA, for three Presidential Infrastructure Development Fund (PIDF) Projects
The Managing Director of NSIA, Uche Orji made this disclosure at a virtual meeting with newsmen to discuss the 2019 audited financial statement of the agency
“The Federal Government has transmitted $311 million recovered asset to the NSIA. This was facilitated by the legal counsel of the NSIA.” he stated.
According to him, the money is domiciled in cash with the Central bank of Nigeria in a special account.
Mr Orji said the NSIA “hopes to start using the money in the third quarter of 2020 on some critical infrastructure projects like the Second Niger Bridge, Lagos Ibadan Expressway and Abuja-Kaduna-Kano Expressway.”
With regards to the performance of the performance of the NSIA in 2019; “the NSIA recorded a five per cent growth in Total Assets from N617.7 billion in 2018 to N649.84 billion as of the end of 2019.
“It also recorded a Profit After Tax of N34.46 billion for the 2019 financial period,” the figures are contained in the 2019 audited financial statement of the agency which was released on Friday in Abuja.
The Authority also said it recorded total comprehensive income of N36.15billion in 2019 as against N44.34billion recorded in 2018.
Excluding foreign exchange gain of N18 billion in 2018 and N1.28 in 2019, the net income in 2019 was N34.87billion compared to N26.28 billion in 2018.
Also, it closed key transactions and increased capital deployment on domestic infrastructure projects specifically in agriculture, healthcare, and infrastructure enabling financial institutions.
On the healthcare sector, the NSIA said it operationalised the Cancer Centre at the Lagos University Teaching Hospital in May 2019.
The Authority also said it recorded significant progress on the civil and construction works at the Advanced Diagnostic Centres at both the Federal Medical Centre Umuahia and Aminu Kano Teaching Hospital.
These construction works, it said, were subsequently completed in 2020.
For the Presidential Infrastructure Development Fund, the Authority said it received N90 billion from government and deployed capital across three of the major road projects under the PIDF.
The three major road projects are the Second Niger Bridge, Lagos – Ibadan Expressway and Abuja-Zaria-Kaduna-Kano Road.
As of the end of 2019, it said a total of ₦181.9 billion had been deployed across all the three projects.
Speaking on this financial performance, the Managing-Director said that the outlook for the Fund remains promising.
“The onset of the Covid-19 pandemic has caused an unprecedented human and health crisis with significant impact on global markets. As such, it may be difficult to predict the markets’ overall reaction to development.
“It is predictable that the volatility introduce by the onset of the pandemic may linger.
“However, the Authority continues to monitor the market conditions with the view to leverage the upside risks that avail themselves in the market.
“The NSIA expects that our investment strategy will continue to deliver positive returns in the long term in 2020 as the markets normalize and new opportunities emerge,” he added.
The NSIA boss said asset allocation strategy remains stable across the various funds adding that Future generations fund remains 25 per cent public equities, 25 per cent private equity, 25 per cent Absolute Returns and 25 per cent Other diversifiers.
He gave the areas of focus for the Nigeria Infrastructure Fund to include agriculture, healthcare, power, toll roads and gas industrialization.
Mr Orji said the NSIA closed key transactions and increased capital deployment on domestic infrastructure projects specifically in motorways, agriculture, healthcare, and power:
He noted that, “operationalising several subsidiaries of the NSIA will be a key focus especially in the healthcare sector where we have several projects in the pipeline.
“NSIA has invested in several financial companies that help develop the capital markets including Nigeria Mortgage Refinancing Company, InfraCredit, NG Clearing, Development Bank of Nigeria, and Family Homes Funds.
“We will continue to work on strengthening these entities and making new investments in companies that strengthen financial market infrastructure.”
The NSIA Boss said the Authority would continue to deploy capital into vital sectors of the economy with increased focus on sectors that will engineer real growth.
It would be recalled that the Federal Government received the sum of $311,797,866.11 of the Sani Abacha assets repatriated from the United States and the Bailiwick of Jersey.
The amount increased significantly from over $308 million mentioned in a press statement issued in February, 2020 to over $311 million following interest that accrued from February 3 to April 28, 2020 when the fund was transferred to the Central Bank of Nigeria.
Source: VON
