$311m Abacha fund for infra, agric

THE NIGERIAN SOVEREIGN INVEST MENT AUTHORITY (NSIA) has said that proceeds from the $311 million recovered Abacha funds from the United States will be reinvested into infrastructural and...

THE NIGERIAN SOVEREIGN IN VESTMENT AU THORITY (NSIA) has said that proceeds from the $311 million recovered Abacha funds from the United States will be reinvested into infrastructural and agricultural projects which have been stalled by the ongoing global pandemic across the country.

Uche Orji, NSIA’s chief executive officer, made the declaration while fielding questions from journalists during the authority’s 2019 financial statement press briefing held online, on Friday, and stressed that the recovered $311 million will be focused on the nation’s developmental projects.

A breakdown of the numbers given by Orji showed that a total of $300 million have been set aside to be invested into various sectors such as healthcare, food, agriculture, road construction and power, amongst others, in the current year.

The CEO, in his address, highA lighted some major ongoing infrastructure projects across the country which are in different phases of completion but were, however, put on hold as a result of the covid-19 pandemic, and the earlier federal government’s lockdown directive nationwide.

Speaking on the ongoing infrastructure, Uche further emphasized that the Lagos-Ibadan expressway has been slated for completion by July 2022 while the second Niger Bridge has also been scheduled for completion in the first quarter of the same year. Meanwhile, the Mambilla Power project has yet to be started as discussions are underway between the contractors and relevant authorities on the project.

He, however, pointed at the setbacks on these projects as the major disruption caused by the global pandemic, which has halted economic activities nationwide. “Major challenge stalling the completion of these projects include the interstate lockdown order arising from the covid-19 pandemic restricting contractors from engaging in projects as suppliers are unable to supply needed materials,” Uche said.

Stressing the major projects in the nation’s agricultural sector, the NSIA boss said that the Presidential Investment Development Fund (PIDF), which is a public-private partnership involving the federal government, NSIA and other third party private investors, through the Presidential Fertilizer Initiative (PFI) has a net investment of about N21 billion to the sector in 2019. He further stressed that the fund constitutes about N16.6 billion and N4.6 billion in receivables and inventories respectively, while the total balance sheet size of NPK fertilizer investment stands at N57 billion in 2019, from N53 billion in 2018.

Nigeria’s economy has been impinged on by low spending in the areas of infrastructures and agriculture which, over time has become major concerns to stakeholders and the public. Therefore, direct investment into the sector will see the increased importation of fertilizers which will, in turn, be distributed to farmers to boost food production as that could help mitigate the looming food crises, which could result in high food prices post covid.

According to the NSIA boss, “Nigeria’s fertilizer consumption currently sits at 2 million metric tonnes (MT) while her blending capacities is over 7 million metric tonnes (MT); meanwhile, 290,000 MT, which is equivalent to 6 million bags of fertilizer have been produced and released into the market. Though the challenges within the agricultural sector are not far-fetched, getting products to the blending plants, the lack of blending plants in some states which call for more infrastructure to bolster production, the interstate lockdown as a result of covid-19, which has seen the shutdown of the Indorama plant, amongst others, have posed threats to the accomplishment of fertilizer projects in Nigeria.”

Experts who are familiar with the matter within these sectors have, however, called on the federal government to drastically concentrate on the direct investment into power and roads construction, agriculture, and mining which can translate the nation into non-import dependent and open these sectors for private investment.