(Ecofin Agency) - The Nigeria Sovereign Investment Authority (NSIA) has revealed plans to adjust the investment structure of the federation’s $1.25bn Sovereign Wealth Fund to now include more domestic commitments.

According to NSIA Managing Director, Uche Orji (photo), the investments would include huge commitments in infrastructure, in the agriculture, real estate, power, health care system, water resources, mainstream oil and gas amongst other major sectors of the economy.

“We are balancing social and commercial returns. We want the investments to be opportunity driven. The reality is that currently, we are less than 10% in domestic market and we plan to increase that significantly. We have a broad area of possible investments but we focused on agriculture, health care, real estate and power,” he said.

The official added that in line with the authority’s outlook for this year, it plans to deliver one metric tons of fertilizer to farmers at a price that is 30-40% below market price. “Today, the farmers pay about N8, 000 to N9,000 per bag of fertilizer but we intend to sell at N5, 500 per bag around May, June at the peak of rainy season”, Orji said.

NSIA is tasked with managing Nigeria’s sovereign wealth fund where surplus revenues from the country’s excess oil reserves are deposited and invest this money on behalf of the government. To date, NSIA has attracted more than $375 million investments into the country between 2012 and September 2016 and has earned the country over $573.4million from its Sovereign Wealth Investments.

Anita Fatunji