The Managing Director, Nigeria Sovereign Investment Authority , Uche Orji, last week visited PREMIUM TIMES’ head office in Abuja . During the visit, he spoke with the Editor-in-Chief, Musikilu Mojeed, Managing Editor, Idris Akinbajo, and Business/Economy Editor, Bassey Udo, on various issues affecting his company’s business. Excerpts:
The three Funds were to be ring-fenced. That means, once money is put in one Fund, it cannot be taken or moved around. Taking these decisions took us to the end of 2013. It was in 2014 we actually started investing with the $1billion received from the government.We did not receive any other money until the end of 2015 when another $250million was brought by the current government. We did not receive that until 2016. Another $250 million was released a few months later, bringing the total to $1.5 billion.
The NSIA has overcome those initial controversies whether it should be established or not. We are gradually, but steadily progressing. But, I always think our real test will be when we have gone through two or three cycles of management and Boards. Then, the NSIA would have been seasoned.PT: You said the government can draw from the Stabilization Fund to stabilize the economy. Does the government pay back such monies with interest?Not necessarily.
They are mostly international as well. The idea is to earn long-term returns for the future generations of Nigerians. Part of what NSIA does every day is to decide how to allocate funds across different strategies. Private equities are where NSIA has a lot of investments. We have products like that from international banks to invest.
But, why we used funds approach in our investment strategy is two-fold. One is the specification. If NSIA goes to invest in a business, it is taking a lot of risks in that one business. But, if the investment is in a Fund that invests in 30 businesses, the risk is a lot lower.For the Nigeria Infrastructure Fund, it is solely dedicated to Nigeria. The biggest challenge is on currency, contractual issues, and all that.
Port infrastructure, in particular, is absolutely essential. We do not have enough ports to drive trade in the country.The guides to our investment decisions are our ability to make a nation-wide strategic impact on the economy; ability to attract foreign/local institutional capital to the economy; ability to strike a balance between earning commercial and social returns, and ability to have a conducive legal and regulatory environment to invest.
As FG is giving out the money how are you improving in that sector? I expected to that between this year and other year you've been able to improve from a particular MW to another
Because they want Nigerians to keep on buying their useless generators
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