NSIA To Scale Up Investments In Infrastructure Projects

The Nigeria Sovereign Investment Authority has unveiled plans to invest more in the nation’s infrastructure in line with the agenda of the Federal Government to transform the economy.

Based on its medium term plan, the key infrastructure focus of the NSIA are in roads, agriculture and industrialisation, healthcare, innovation and technology.

The Managing Director/Chief Executive Office of the NSIA, Uche Orji disclosed these at a presentation on the 2019 and 2020 Audited Financial Statements made to the 6th Governing Council at the 116th Meeting of the National Economic Council.

Orji said in the medium term, the NSIA would be focusing on various road projects such as Bitumen Refining to enable Nigeria tap the potential for its emergence as a leading producer of Bitumen.

He also said the Authority would be involved in the concessioning, capital raise and operationalisation of the three Presidential Infrastructure Development Fund road projects within the stipulated timelines for Lagos-Ibadan Expressway, Second Niger Bridge and Abuja-Kaduna-Kano Highway.

The PIDF was established in 2018 to accelerate the execution of critical infrastructure projects, which included Lagos-Ibadan Expressway, Second Niger Bridge , Abuja-Kaduna-Zaria-Kano Road , East-West Road Project and Mambilla Hydro-Power Project, at an initial estimated cost of ₦2.4trn.

The EWR project was removed from the PIDF Portfolio based on the request of the Federal Ministry of Niger Delta Affairs to enable the FMNDA undertake the EWR project as a public works contract.
This request was approved by Mr. President in a directive communicated on June 8, 2020.

The Lagos-Ibadan Expressway, Second Niger Bridge , Abuja-Kaduna-Zaria-Kano Road are currently under implementation.

Orji said the NSIA is responsible for administering the financing required to develop the ongoing projects, adding that the three roads will be commercialised through tolling, concessions, marketing and other revenue generating strategies.

In the area of Agriculture and Industrialisation, Orji explained that the Authority anticipates breaking ground on the Ammonia and Di-Ammonium Phosphate Plant joint venture with OCP.

The Federal Government and the OCP Group of Morocco had in March this year sealed a bouquet of agreements to boost fertiliser production for Nigerians farmers.

The agreements which confirmed the government’s commitment to the development of a sustainable and inclusive agriculture in Nigeria also reaffirms the OCP and NSIA’s unwavering support of agricultural development initiatives in Nigeria.

Speaking on the NSIA’s plan for the health sector, Orji explained that the Authority would be involved in the development of pharmaceutical manufacturing company in partnership with University College London.

He added that the NSIA would also be breaking ground on Multi-specialty Hospital in Abuja in partnership with third party investors.

Also, he said the Authority would be involved in the development, construction and operationalisation of at least 20 healthcare centers of excellence across all six geopolitical zones in the country.

This, he noted, would assist in creating access to quality healthcare for at least one million patients per annum, and expand footprint of diagnostic and single specialty centres.

On the NSIA’s plan for innovation and technology, Orji explained that the Authority would be developing domestic capacity for assembly of Digital Set Top Box (STB) for Digital Switch Over (DSO).

He added that there is also the need to invest in plant for assembly of electricity metering boxes as well as facilitate at scale, assembly of solar panel units in Nigeria.

For the outlook in 2021, Orji said although, the NSIA believes that the market is unlikely to repeat some of the performance of 2020, it is more likely that a broader market recovery will occur with economies opening unlike the case in 2020 in which technology stocks drove market performance.

He said, “In the Future Generations Fund, we expect to allocate more capital to venture capital, global equity markets and an increasing exposure to European equities where we had been under exposed in 2020.

“NSIA believes that broad opening of the markets will provide a comprehensive lift to equities. Despite concerns around new waves of Covid-19, the Authority remains confident that with widespread vaccination programs, global economies will continue to reopen with more opportunities for value creation.”