The Managing Director, Nigerian Sovereign Investment Authority (NSIA), Mr. Uche Orji, has said the devaluation of the naira has presented the Sovereign Wealth Fund (SWF) with both challenges and opportunities.
Speaking to reporters yesterday in Abuja on the financial year end activities of the NSIA, Orji said: “The recent devaluation of the naira presents both challenges and opportunities in the domestic market. From our position as investors, we have seen incredible buying opportunities and we expect the infrastructure fund to become increasingly active in the domestic market as we take advantage of short term price dislocations.”
Using the dollar as its base currency, Orji said the success recorded in its financial year activities could be attributed to a long dollar currency position versus other currencies which the Authority hopes to sustain.
He said the three tiers of government that are shareholders of the Sovereign Wealth Fund will not get any dividends from the Nigerian Sovereign Investment Authority (NSIA) until 2017.
This is despite the impressive financial year end results posted by the NSIA so far.
Orji said by law, shareholders of the SWF are not entitled to any dividends until five years after it commenced business with profits.
He noted that the NSIA was interested paying out dividends to Nigerians who are shareholders of the SWF but the law setting up the agency only permits that dividends be paid after five years of commencement of operations with profit across all three funds that the NSIA manages.
He assured that Nigerians that the NSIA would love to continue making money again and prayed for the continued good performance of the Authority.
The NSIA, Orji said, would convene its Governing Council meeting where it would meet with stakeholders of the fund, such as the governors, the vice president, the governor of the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN), among others, to present the detailed financial reports of the Authority.
Orji also said the NSIA has been upgraded in the international transparency index from ninth position to fourth place for making public its investment policy, charter, and posting quarterly financial performance on its website as well telling the world what it is investing in.
On the outlook for this year, Orji said the authority’s key investment areas would include, power, agriculture, and social infrastructure. He however cautioned that the year remains volatile because of the vulnerabilities in the external environment.
Orji stated that the vulnerabilities not withstanding and barring any unforeseen circumstances, the NSIA he said “would maintain its diversified strategy for the future generation and stabilisation funds.”
The NSIA managing director used the forum to clear the air on the status of the execution of the second Niger River Bridge being handled by Julius Berger. Said he: “Am not aware they have halted work. Filing is ongoing; most of the dredging work has been completed. Work is ongoing but we have not reached financial closing yet. Hopefully, we will get there. So far, the money Federal Government has been committing there has been deployed to fund most of the work so far.
“The environment is challenging. We are in partnership with Julius Berger on investment to the last four years and this is a massive project. It will take time. Second Niger Bridge is going to span almost 12 kilometres. The actual bridge itself is about 2km but the approach is about 10 kilometre on a marshy land. There is no fundamental problem, but financing yes, there is a little challenge but it has not halted work”
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