By Gloria Ikibah
Managing Director of the Nigeria Sovereign Investment Authority, Aminu Umar-Sadiq, has said that the agency has developed 500,000 affordable homes to low-income families in Nigeria, through the Family Homes Fund.
The NSIA MD who stated this when members of the House Committee on Finance visited the agency on oversight duty on Wednesday, said 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.
Umar-Sadiq said about 236,000 farmers spread across the six geo-political zones of the country were supported through the implementation of the agency’s agricultural programmes.
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 70MW of unsuppressed energy demands in an area covering 9,000 connections.
“Through these interventions across key sectors, NSIA’s continues to enhance prevailing socio-economic reality and create value for the current and future generations of Nigerians.”
On Healthcare delivery, the MD stated that the agency had successfully 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 added.
The Deputy Chairman, House Committee on Finance, Rep. Saidu Abdullahi, speaking with journalists that 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 decried the non-profitability of sugar factories in the country, years after privitization.
He therefore directed the NSIA to increase its share of investment in agriculture, particularly in the sugarcane value chain, which according to him, is currently generating over $40bn annually for Brazil.