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In terms of impact, the footprints of the Nigerian Sovereign Investment Authority (NSIA) under the guidance and leadership of Uche Orji, from agriculture, healthcare, road infrastructure to financial servicing, infrastructure companies are indelible and signposts a paradigm shift in the perception of the public sector in our clime.
It is an apparent paradox that the establishment of an agency envisioned by the Goodluck Jonathan administration to manage surplus income derived from excess oil reserves for the benefit of future generations was mired in controversy at inception. There was an open hostility against the young agency from the executive and legislative branch of government when it commenced operations in 2012; there were indeed speculations as to whether or not it was legal and whether or not it would survive.
But the vast experience of Orji, working for some of the most diverse and complex organisations in the global financial market coupled with his progressive and brilliant mind substantially prepared him for the moment. He came to the job at NSIA with 14 years of a hugely successful international banking career as an analyst at UBS Securities in New York, United States. At Goldman Sachs Asset Management in London, he managed the global technology sector; he was also a sales analyst, a position which gave him the opportunity to think deeply about sub-segments of the economy. His sector was ranked number one in Europe and number three in the United States. This was indeed an extraordinary feat considering the fact that in the semi-conductor sector, this does not happen because franchises do not travel across countries.
Bearing in mind this seething controversy at the onset of its operations, it was clear to the Managing Director that the survival of NSIA would depend to some extent on its investment performance and its impact. He was determined that the agency under his guidance would earn both local and global recognition through accountability and transparency and in the process, change the narrative around the public sector in the country.
Ten years at the helm at NSIA, he has transformed the agency into a world class institution, respected at home and abroad. With the core mandate to manage the Nigerian Sovereign Wealth Fund, government allocated an initial sum of US$1 billion in seed capital in 2013. Since then, there has been additional fund injection in three tranches of $600 million. Towards the realisation of its mission of playing a critical and leading role of driving sustained economic development for the benefit of all Nigerians, NSIA for the past decade has funneled its interventions through the Nigerian Infrastructure Fund which is focused entirely on domestic investments in critical areas such as power, agriculture, healthcare, motorways, etc.; Future Generations Fund the vision to grow and preserve the value of assets transferred into it by investing in diversified portfolios in order to provide future generations with solid savings base for such a time Nigeria’s hydrocarbon reserves are depleted and a Stabilisation Fund whose purpose is to act as a buffer against short term macr0-economic instability associated with considerable government revenues derived from hydrocarbon exports. In addition, the agency has set up a department dedicated to revamping moribund industrial assets.
The investment footprint of NSIA under the leadership of Uche Orji is impressive with the sole aim to build, provide and sustain economic stability for all Nigerians. The fifteen landmark projects running into trillions of naira include are in diverse fields. These include the Lagos-Ibadan Expressway, Abuja-Kaduna Road, Second Niger Bridge, Abuja-Kano Road; under agriculture the Presidential Fertilizer Initiative for the local production of 1million metric tons of blended NPK fertilizer; Project Arena, Multi- Purpose Industrial Platform Project, the Kano Solar Project, NSIA Umuahia Diagnostics Centre, NSIA Kano Diagnostics Centre, the NSIA LUTH Cancer Centre and Infra Credit.
Under the present leadership at NSIA, healthcare is an area of maximum impact. In the last eighteen months, the LUTH Cancer Centre has had over 200,000 patients’ encounters. The Presidential Fertiliser Initiative (PFI) is envisioned to stimulate local production and enable the projected annual savings of $200 million foreign exchange by maximizing local content. The commissioning of a big agric project by the agency in Nasarawa state is aimed at raising farm yields to about seven tons per hectare as against the present two tons per hectare for the average Nigerian farmer. The project is in partnership with Old Mutual and a Dutch Investment Company.
As a result of the accountability and transparency threshold put in place by Orji, NSIA has proven itself to be a steady profitable entity. For the past eight years in a row, it has been ranked top quartile by the Sovereign Wealth Fund Institute in terms of transparency and governance. At inception, the leadership of the agency had a clear vision and strategy of what the agency wanted to accomplish. Orji believed that the agency would gain credibility by demonstrating the capacity to get things done. His appointment as MD/CEO of NSIA for second and final five year term in 2017 was largely seen be industry watchers as endorsement of his work by government.
The exemplary work of Orji at NSIA which has earned the agency local and international respect is the product of a progressive and brilliant mind. By his training, he had always felt that what is important is the ability to have a small but effective team. From the onset, he was determined to hire the smartest people around. Today, he has motivated and turned them into champions of his visionary agenda. The key to the success he achieved at the agency is the fact that he has built a work culture that has no place for the big man. This has engendered robust debate and the interrogation of ideas within the organisation. Under his leadership, NSIA is a clear example of a flat structure in action.
It is not surprising that NSIA has gained the trust of Nigerians and the respect of players in the global arena through the exceptional performance of Orji, the high transparency and accountability threshold that he has entrenched, the service delivery and high impact projects that continues to impact the Nigerian economy. Today, Nigerians perceive the agency as a vehicle for the delivery of key high impact infrastructure projects.
As the curtain falls on a ten-year eventful value loaded tenure, Orji is leaving behind a well -run organisation that he has carefully groomed and positioned to take on the challenges of the present and future. With limited assets, he has through prudence and profound vision accomplished a lot. He leaves behind an impressive record of service that will remain a reference point and a marker for his successor.
Ume, the founder of Unubiko Foundation wrote in from Abuja.
