By Tony Obiechina, Abuja

The Nigeria Sovereign Investment Authority (NSIA), managers of Nigeria’s sovereign wealth fund, has announced a growth in its total assets to N1.02 trillion at the close of its 2022 financial year on December 31.

In the 2022 full-year audited results released on Thursday, the investment institution said the asset growth indicated a 10.

The NSIA said its non-volatile revenue, such as interest income, revenue from infrastructure business, and management fees earned from fiduciary activities, increased by 34.5 percent (N15.7 billion) year-over-year.

It noted that its total comprehensive income stood at N96.

The NSIA attributed the decline to strong macroeconomic headwinds. The institution said although its earnings are lowers than that of 2021, it remained confident in its investment strategy and would continue to explore opportunities to mitigate risks and achieve its investment objectives.

The NSIA said the 2022 fiscal year was marked by unprecedented shocks, such as the COVID-19 lockdown in China, the Russia-Ukraine conflict, food and energy crises, supply-chain disruptions, soaring inflation, and monetary policy tightening, which impacted the financial markets.

It said its well-diversified portfolio continues to provide the resilience to withstand market challenges as evidenced by the results.

Commenting on the result, the Managing Director and Chief Executive Officer of NSIA, Aminu Umar-Sadiq said a respectable performance was recorded despite the challenges in the operating environment.

“Against market expectations and internal forecasts, NSIA closed the 2022 financial year with a respectable performance. This result underscores the robustness of our diversified portfolio, and the excellent commitment of the team.

“As we look to the future, NSIA is resolute in its commitment to delivering increased investments in critical sectors of the economy, driving growth across its funds, and attracting third-party capital into Nigeria’s infrastructure sector.

“In 2023, we will be resourcing our various platforms targeted at emerging sectors – renewable energy, sustainability, innovation, and healthcare – which will ensure the Authority achieves its dual objectives of delivering financial returns and impactful social outcomes,” Umar-Sadiq said.

The key projects the NSIA delivered in 2022 cut across core sectors of focus and the implementation of specialised federal government initiatives.

They include projects in the agriculture sector, like the Presidential Fertiliser Initiative and the opening of the Pandagric Novum farm, a joint venture between NSIA and Signature Agri Investment for the cultivation of maize and soybeans and connected to a 147,000 metric tons per annum capacity poultry feed mill. In the technology sector, NSIA said it introduced the NSIA Prize for Innovation as a measure to stimulate the ingenuity of Nigerian innovators and technopreneurs to develop solutions that address real-world challenges with global application.

The NPI programme is a business enhancement initiative to support early-stage, growth-driven tech solutions through education, mentorship, and financing and recorded milestones in the gas industrialisation sector, healthcare, power and road.