Nigerian Sovereign Investment Authority
(NSIA) has intensified its shift toward
Asia and European markets.
Gatekeepers News reports that Aminu Umar-Sadiq, NSIA’s Managing Director and CEO, revealed this during an interview with Bloomberg on Tuesday.
He noted that the agency has repositioned its Future Generations Fund to favour both defensive and growth-oriented assets, while reducing its exposure to United States equities.
According to Umar-Sadiq, the move reflects a strategic realignment in response to ongoing global market instability and growing fiscal uncertainty in the United States.
He said, “At the end of last year, valuation levels were high, so we pivoted to cash.”
“That allowed us to move away from alternatives into defensive assets like investment-grade corporate bonds, and we increased our exposure to Japan, Australia, and Europe within our long-only developed markets portfolio.”
The MD clarified that the pivot away from US-focused assets was purely an investment decision rather than a response to political developments or the new American administration.
He added, “We had no political considerations. It was important to diversify and build a more robust portfolio even as the US markets remained buoyant.”
The NSIA, which oversees Nigeria’s sovereign wealth fund, manages three distinct portfolios: the Stabilisation Fund, the Future Generations Fund, and the Nigeria Infrastructure Fund. Its operations are supported by the Petroleum Industry Act, which allows for increased funding when oil prices exceed $50 per barrel.
Umar-Sadiq added, “Inflows to the fund vary with oil prices, and that influences our investment capacity.”
Umar-Sadiq highlighted the authority’s commitment to major domestic and continental initiatives, stressing the importance of mobilising local capital, particularly from pension funds, for infrastructure financing on the continent.
He said, “When you look at the size of local pension funds relative to our infrastructure gap, it becomes clear that this is the kind of capital we need to mobilise.”
The MD disclosed that NSIA is aiming to raise between $1.5 billion and $2 billion by year-end, leveraging collaborations with at least 15 African sovereign wealth funds.
