Two months after its inauguration by President Goodluck Jonathan, the much discussed Sovereign Wealth Fund is making progress towards becoming fully operational.

If everything goes as planned, the Nigeria Sovereign Investment Authority (NSIA) will from tomorrow (December 21) advertise several key management and staff positions. Disclosing this today at a media briefing in Abuja, the Nigerian capital, NSIA MD, Mr. Uche Orji, said the projection is that the full complement of staff would be in place by the first quarter of 2013.

He disclosed that the NSIA is already “in the process of filling the role of the CIO (Chief Investment Officer),” adding: “We received 300 resumes for the CIO role and will soon commence the process of short-listing the candidates. We hope to have the interviews early next year and have a CIO in place by early March.”

Paul C Nwabuikwu, Special Adviser to the Coordinating Minister for the Economy and Minister of Finance, Dr. Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala, confirmed to News Express that the Strategy Document which will guide the operations of the NSIA is ready. “Also, its investment policy guidelines and the processes for the three fund mandates of the NSIA are almost finalised,” Nwabuikwu said.

“The Strategy Document,” according to him, “was ratified by the Board of the Nigeria Sovereign Investment Authority (NSIA) led by Alhaji Mahey Rasheed (OFR) to ensure that the blueprint is ready on time, the board has met twice since its inauguration on October 9 to review and reshape the draft submitted by the management team led by Uche Orji, the MD of NSIA. Additionally, efforts to hire key personnel and acquire a functional office have reached an advanced stage.”

Speaking on the progress made so far, Dr. Okonjo-Iweala herself stated that the country is poised to benefit significantly if the momentum is maintained.

Her words: “There is still a lot of hard work ahead, we need to remain focused and disciplined so that we can reap the rewards. We are not yet there but we are on the right track. The question we must keep asking ourselves is: Other countries have benefitted from SWF. Why not Nigeria?”

Giving an insight into the emerging internal processes of the NSIA, Orji, who was appointed MD in October following an international head hunt, said that to ensure that resources are maximised, prudence is the cornerstone of management at the NSIA. He made it clear that the organisation will have a lean operating model at the early stages.

Orji also emphasised that in seeking the best investments for Nigeria, the NSIA will not limit itself but will search for the best deals wherever they can be found in the world.

In his words: “There are no geographical restrictions or product restrictions for the Future Generation and Fiscal Stabilisation Fund, and we expect to invest across the full spectrum of products (equities, fixed income, alternative assets, etc.), in accordance with our five year rolling plan, that will provide a superior risk adjusted returns for the future generations of Nigerians.”

Being seriously promoted by Dr. Okonjo-Iweala with the active support of President Jonathan, the mission of the NSIA is to: (1) Build a savings base for the Nigerian People; (2) Enhance the Development of Nigerian Infrastructure; and (3) Provide Stabilisation Support in times of Economic Stress.

There are three Fund Mandates that were established by the Act: (1) Future Generation Fund, (2) Nigeria Infrastructure Fund, and (3) Fiscal Stabilisation Fund with each fund holding at least 20% of the assets under management.

Future Generations Fund: This will start off fully outsourced and in the future in-house managers will be added to foster skills in asset management and investments. In addition to developing investment policies and guidelines, the process of appointing custodians and investment consultants for determining our asset allocation models is almost concluded. 

Fiscal Stabilisation Fund: This will be mainly managed in-house and will ensure liquidity is available to the government in times of economic stress.

Nigeria Infrastructure Fund: This will be mostly managed in-house. “Our strategy will be mainly to largely invest directly, both Equity and debt instruments along with credible local and international partners. The Infrastructure Fund will target areas that give us a balance between financial and strategic benefits,” said Orji, the NSIA MD.

He further said: “We are already in the process of developing our 5 year rolling plan and have engagements with other MDAs as well as the private sector participants to develop our priority lists and determine our specific investment strategy and we hope to start making investments by the second half of 2012.

“A subset of the Nigeria Infrastructure Fund is our social infrastructure fund which will hold up to 10% of the assets in the Nigeria Infrastructure Fund aimed at segments of the economy for which we economic returns are not the primary drivers. Our investment processes and procedures are also being developed here and will be published as a guide for the submission of potential development projects.

“Our processes and investment principles will be in accordance with the Santiago Principles which focuses on a transparent and independent investment process, with a focus to make our investments sustainable.”

•Photo: Okonjo-Iweala says the Sovereign Wealth Fund programme is on course and sure to yields dividends.