FG to Reposition Sovereign Wealth Fund

By Ndubuisi Francis in Abuja
 

The federal government  has disclosed that it plans to reposition the Sovereign Wealth Fund managed by the Nigeria Sovereign Investment Authority (NSIA).

The planned repositioning is in tandem with the infrastructure objectives of the federal government.

The Minister of Finance, Mrs. Kemi Adeosun made the disclosure in a statement issued by her Media Adviser, Mr. Festus Akanbinon

Under the SWF, which had a seed capital of $1.55bn, there are three categories of fund from which investments could be anchored.

They are Future Generation Fund where up to 20 per cent of the fund could be invested in it, Infrastructure Fund which had an allocation of 40 per cent, and Fiscal Stabilisation Fund which also had a 40 per cent allocation.

In the statement the minister said while responding to a question posed to her on Channels Television’s Sunrise Daily Program that the economic team of the federal government had been working hard to reposition the economy.

She said based on the economic blueprint of the federal government, there is going to be a massive investment in capital projects.

She said since budgetary allocations alone would not be able to address the infrastructure gap as only 30 per cent of the budget had been allocated to capital projects, there was need to reposition the sovereign wealth fund to attract more investments in the area of infrastructure.

She said, “The economic blueprint is very clear. We are going to invest in capital projects to ensure that we diversify this economy.

“We have been talking about diversification since I was a child and we haven’t achieved that.

“What the FG wants to do is reposition and have it (SWF) focused in line with government’s objectives which is investments in infrastructure.

“The government realised that even with 30 per cent of the budget earmarked for capital spending, the country’s infrastructure gap is so wide that government alone cannot bridge it.

“So what we are hoping is that the sovereign wealth fund now becomes a channel to attract further private capital, particularly from investment funds abroad.

“We really want to focus on infrastructure-toll roads, bridges, power plants, things that would help the economy grow.”

She said the government was focused on revamping domestic production as part of efforts to diversify the economy.