The Managing Director of Nigeria Sovereign Investment Authority, Aminu Umar-Sadiq, has said that the agency, through its stake in Family Homes Fund, has developed 500,000 affordable homes for low-income families in Nigeria.
He added that the NSIA had in 12 years created 245,000 direct jobs across the diverse sectors of the economy as part of its contribution to national development.
The NSIA boss disclosed this on Wednesday when he hosted members of the House of Representative Committee on Finance who visited the agency on an oversight duty.
According to him, 236,000 farmers spread across the six geo-political zones of the country were supported through the implementation of the agency’s agricultural programmes.
NSIA, Umar-Sadiq added, served as project manager for the development of a 10MW solar project in Kano State, creating over 500 direct and indirect jobs as a result.
He said, “Through its stake in Family Homes Fund, NSIA has significantly improved the quality of life of Nigerians from low-income families through the development of 500,000 affordable homes to low-income families in Nigeria.
“Additionally, NSIA continues to demonstrate its commitment to positive socio-economic outcomes through key platforms like the Nigerian Mortgage Refinance Company, through which it improves the liquidity of the mortgage market to further promote affordable housing in Nigeria.
“To revalidate its commitment to climate adaptive solutions, NSIA set up an innovative $500m Renewable Investment Platform for Limitless Energy to expand energy access, enhance energy efficiency, and ensure energy security in Nigeria.
“RIPLE’s pilot initiative involves setting up a generation and distribution system to meet the 70MW of unsuppressed energy demands in an area covering 9,000 connections.
“Through these interventions across key sectors, NSIA continues to enhance prevailing socio-economic reality and create value for the current and future generations of Nigerians.”
On healthcare delivery, he added that the agency completed three hospital projects with over 282,100 unique patients attended to and 150,000 chemotherapy sessions delivered since its establishment 12 years ago.
“Following the successful operationalisation of its three demonstration projects: NSIA-LUTH Cancer Centre, NSIA-Umuahia Diagnostic Centre and NSIA – Kano Diagnostic Centre; NSIA has commenced the healthcare expansion programme which aims to establish 23 modern medical diagnostic centers, three additional oncology centres and 7 catheterisation laboratories across the six geopolitical zones of Nigeria.
“The first phase of the programme is currently under way with the construction of 10 centres,” he said.
Speaking with newsmen, the Deputy Chairman of the House Committee on Finance, Saidu Abdullahi, said the visit was the first to the agency.
He said, “Year in, year out, we have always had huge deficits, which made financing major projects in the country difficult. Nigeria has greater potential than what is going on in the country today and I hope we can close the gap. We have what it takes as a country and we cannot continue like this.”
He tasked the agency to increase its share of investment in agriculture, particularly in the sugarcane value chain, which is currently generating over $40bn annually for Brazil.
He lamented the non-profitability of sugar factories in the country years after their privatisation.
