Oshiomhole wrong on SWF -NSCIA boss

The Nigeria Sovereign Investment Authority (NSIA) says that contrary to the impression created by Governor Adams Oshiomhole of Edo State that the country’s Sovereign Wealth Fund has been seriously depleted over the last few years, the fund, as well as assets managed by it are intact and fully accounted for.
The agency’s managing director, Mr. Uche Orji said in a statement on Sunday, that the clarification became necessary “due to speculations on the state of affairs of NSIA”, adding that the management of NSIA was open and available to provide details on its operations and accounts to all its stakeholders.
It would be recalled, that Oshiomhole, who is also Chairman of the National Economic Council (NEC) Ad-hoc Committee on the management of the Excess Crude Account (ECA) and related federation accounts issues, had said that the Managers of the Sovereign Wealth Fund (SWF) could not account for $700 million out of the $1billion contributed for the fund.
Oshiomhole who spoke to State House Correspondents at the Presidential Villa after a meeting with Vice President Yemi Osinbajo last Thursday claimed that records made available to his committee showed that only $300 million was left in the fund.
But Orji said, “The NSIA states categorically that it has never been invited by the Adhoc Committee on the Management of the Excess Crude Account proceeds and accruals of the National Economic Council to make a submission on its operations in the first instance”.
The organisation, which manages the country’s Sovereign Wealth Fund, said that funds in its custody had been invested profitably, realising a net comprehensive income of N15.8bn in the year ended December 31, 2014, compared with N505m recorded in the 15 months ended December 31, 2013.

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In addition to the audited annual reports of 2013 and 2014, the NSIA stated that it had also made available its quarterly audited accounts until March 2015 on its website, adding that the accounts were being audited quarterly and annually by PricewaterhouseCoopers, an international firm of auditors, using the International Financial Reporting Standard.
According to the NSIA, the seed capital of $1bn provided in 2012 has been managed in three different ring-fenced funds of 20 per cent in the Stabilisation Fund; 40 per cent in the Future Generation Fund; and 40 per cent in the Nigeria Infrastructure Fund.
Orji said that NSIA was currently investing or looking at investing the Nigeria Future Investment Fund in the Motorways, Power, Agriculture, Real Estate and Healthcare sectors.
“NSIA’s total commitment to the Second Niger Bridge project stands at 2.2million dollars, which has been disbursed for project development related consultancy costs.
“In addition, N10.3billion was disbursed on early construction works on behalf of the Federal Ministry of Works.
“The Future Generations Fund is being invested in a diversified range of public, private equities and hedge funds, using the services of best-in-class investment managers and global fund custodians,” he said.

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