Sovereign authority assets rise to N772.75bn

The net assets of the Nigeria Sovereign Investment Authority (NSIA) have risen to N772.75 billion, an increase of 33 percent in 2020.

The Authority’s assets increased by N193.21bn in 2020 higher than the N579.54bn recorded in 2019 despite the COVID-19 pandemic, it said in a statement on Tuesday.

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According to its Audited Financial Results for the 2020 Financial Year, the Authority, which manages Nigeria’s sovereign wealth fund, said the growth in assets reflects strong financial performance and consistent implementation of strategic infrastructure investment programmes for the year.

Highlights of NSIA’s activities and performance during the period showed that the Authority recorded 343 per cent growth in Total Comprehensive Income to N160.06bn in 2020 as against N36.15bn in 2019.

Excluding the devaluation gain of N51bn, core income of N109bn was recorded in 2020 compared to N33.07bn in 2019.

The NSIA also received an additional contribution of $250 million; and provided first stabilisation support to the federal government where $150m was withdrawn from the Stabilisation Fund.

Speaking at a briefing to present the financial performance, the Managing Director of the NSIA, Mr. Uche Orji said the Authority received $311m from funds recovered from the late General Abacha from the US Department of Justice and Island of Jersey.

This amount, he stated, was deployed towards the Presidential Infrastructure Development Fund projects of Abuja-Kaduna-Kano Highway, Lagos Ibadan Expressway and Second Niger Bridge.

In the area of agriculture, he said the Presidential Fertilizer Initiative produced 12m 50kg bags of NPK 20:10:10 equivalent in 2020, bringing total production since inception to over 30m bags equivalent. The blending plants also rose from about seven to 44 last year.

In the area of Gas Industrialisation, he noted that the Authority is progressing on developing the Ammonia and Diammonium phosphate production plants in partnership with OCP.

For the Stabilisation Fund, he said the Authority has been able to liquidate a portion of the Stabilisation Fund assets in 2020 to meet the $150m redemption that augmented the July 2020 FAAC to all three tiers of government.