The Nigeria Governors Forum (NGF), said local government areas cannot be direct beneficiaries of funds from the Nigeria Sovereign Investment Authority (NSIA) because they were mere appendages of the states and not federating units.
The NGF director general, Asishana Okuaru, stated this in response to a presentation by the Association of Local Government Of Nigeria (ALGON) before the House of Representatives Ad-hoc Committee, investigating the activities of the NSIA in Abuja yesterday.
The NSIA is an investment institution of the federation set up to manage funds in excess of budgeted hydrocarbon revenues and as part of its mandate operates the Stabilisation Fund, the Future Generations Fund, and the Nigeria Infrastructure Fund.
The House had last month to set up an Ad-hoc Committee to investigate the activities of the NSIA from inception to date and other managed funds, and assess its compliance with the Establishment Act of 2011.
Speaking at the Committee’s meeting, the ALGON National President, Kolade David Alabi said the Local Government Councils were not aware of the activities of the NSIA.
But the NGF director general, represented by the forum’s executive director, Strategy and Research, Lateef Shittu, said since the states are satisfied with the operations of the NSIA, the third tier cannot claim to be unaware of projects being executive by the Authority.
The NGF boss said technically, the states were real owners of the NSIA since they control over 54 percent of the shares of the agency alongside the local government.
He said the composition of the NSIA, the Federal Government and the Federal Capital Territory, has about 49.96% of the investment, while the 36 states and their local government control about 54%
“The states and local government are the real owners only NSIA because we are the majority shareholders,” the Director General’s representative stressed.
He revealed that in 2022, the Governors requested a presentation on the operations of the NSIA from the management, adding that; “We were satisfied with the presentation and what they are doing.
“If you look at the Constitution, the country is run as a federal system. We have only two federation units- the Federal and State Government.
“The local government is not a federating unit, but an appendage of the states, even though it is recognised in the Constitution as a third tier of government. That is why you have a states and local government joint accounts. They don’t get money directly from the Federations Account.
“Every single project executed by the NSIA is located in a local government and so, they are beneficiaries of the NSIA projects and we are satisfied with what they have been doing”.
Earlier in his presentation, the managing director, Nigeria Sovereign Investment Authority (NSIA), Aminu Sadiq, said the agency invested over $500 million in domestic infrastructure.
Sadiq also stated that the Authority invested $1 billion in what he called ‘third party investment’, adding that NSIA’s net assets have grown from N156 billion in 2013 to N1.017 trillion at the end of 2022.
He said the NSIA has carried out a robust infrastructure investment portfolio covering several critical sectors such as agriculture, healthcare and power, while developing over 10 institutions and platforms to improve the financial market ecosystem.
Chairman of the Committee, Hon. Ademorin Kuye said the aim of the investigation was to ensure that the statutory provisions of the law establishing the agency were adhered to as mandated by the House through a motion.
Kuye said the House intend to get answers to questions from Nigerians on how the funds of the NSIA were being managed, adding that the Committee may visit sites of projects being handled by the agency to ensure value for money.
