Chief Executive Officer of Nigeria’s Sovereign Wealth fund (SWF), Uche Orji, has announced that the SWF will begin full operations by the end of next month.
He disclosed this to State House correspondents yesterday at the end of the National Economic Council (NEC) meeting presided over by Vice President Namadi Sambo at the Presidential Villa, Abuja.
Orji said the Fund was in the process of putting its full complement of staff in place by March, when limited security investment would begin.
He said: “The strategies we are going to deploy is obviously hybrid. We will have some external managers managing some of the funds for us and some would be run in-house. JP Morgan has been selected as our custodian. We also have investment consultants.”
The Finance Minister; Dr. Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala, said that a lot of developments had been recorded since the appointment of the Fund’s CEO.
She added that investment strategies have already been prepared for the Fund’s three windows, comprising the stabilization window, infrastructure investment window and the future generation window.
“The $1bn that has been put aside will be allocated into the three windows and investments can begin shortly according to the strategy,” she said.
Okonjo-Iweala said NEC’s position on corruption is in line with that of President Goodluck Jonathan.
“On the issue of corruption, the NEC is saying what we can do to ensure that in every sector, there is transparency and accountability. From the finance point of view, this is something the President wants. The fact that it was debated and it would further be debated is a good omen,” she stated
Anambra Governor, Peter Obi said that the NEC expressed concern over the growing cases of corruption in the country.
Obi revealed that a session would soon be organized that would afford stakeholders to speak up against the scourge.