3 months ago
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The Lagos Chamber of Commerce and Industry has urged the newly appointed managers of the $10bn Nigeria Global Investment Fund to be accountable.
The LCCI noted that the 23 companies selected by the Federal Government must hold themselves accountable as they develop a framework to drive investment.
On Tuesday, the Federal Government said it had selected 23 fund managers out of 55 applications received by the Ministry of Industry, Trade and Investment after an evaluation by the Securities Exchange Commission.
The selected companies, including AFC, Coronation Asset Management, Stanbic IBTC, AIICO Capital, FBNQuest Asset Management, and others, were picked based on their experience managing public-sector partnerships.
The $10bn investment fund is geared towards bringing capital into Nigeria’s real sector to reduce over-reliance on the oil sector.
The fund managers were tasked with raising an average of $500m in 14 sub-funds, including automotive/light manufacturing, agriculture, pharmaceuticals/healthcare, oil and gas, energy, fintech/banking, heavy industries, real estate, mines/solid minerals, creative economy/tourism, aviation, infrastructure, education, and IT.
According to the Director-General of the LCCI, Dr Chinyere Almona, a framework for implementing the $10bn investment fund would employ direct contact with the businesses best positioned in each sub-fund through the activities of business groups and chambers.
She observed that the NGIF was a good policy, but needed to be carefully followed for implementation.
She recommended a periodic report on the activities of the fund managers, which should be published to help investors and businesses keep in touch with the NGIF.
Also, an economist and former President of the Chartered Institute of Banking of Nigeria, Prof. Segun Ajibola, held a similar position on the private companies selected to manage the $10bn investment fund.
Ajibola told The PUNCH that some of the named institutions had global experience and their approach would be different from bureaucrats and politicians.
He noted that the success of the fund managers would be when the funds are driven down to the direct sector operators.
“It is hoped that the funds will be in place and they will be able to drive down to the field workers and foot soldiers that operate in those respective sectors so that they will impact the source.
“Not passing funds through a ministry that will go to an agency; that will go to another layer and by the time you are talking about those who are operators in that sector, there will be little or nothing to account for,” he added.
The economist urged the fund managers to maintain integrity and ethics to be able to make a difference.
