NSIA Employees Salary Rose to N46.6m Per Annum as Efficiency Fell

Employees of the Nigeria Sovereign Investment Authority (NSIA), who manage Nigeria’s sovereign wealth fund (SWF) on average earned N46.6 million ($104,000) per annum in 2021, even as efficiency fell.

The NSIA boosted its staff strength by 21% to 57 people last year, while operating income per staff fell by 25% to N2.58 billion compared to 2020 levels, according to MoneyCentral calculations.

Income per employee is an efficiency ratio that measures the operating income of an organization divided by its current number of employees.

Staff costs as a percentage of operating income rose to 1.8% (from 1.3% in 2020), while they made up 53% of total operating expenses.

NSIA’s Return on average equity (ROAE), fell to 17.7% (24.7% in 2020), Return on average assets (ROAA) fell to 13.6% (21.3% in 2020), while return on average earning assets dropped to 33.2% (60.1% in 2020).

Nigeria’s sovereign wealth fund (SWF) also under performed global peers in 2021 as its total comprehensive income fell by 8% to N146.9 billion, despite it being a year of rally in global equities, leading to outperformance by other SWFs.

Total comprehensive income for the Nigeria Sovereign Investment Authority or NSIA which manages Nigeria’s SWF was affected by a slide in interest income, gains on financial assets and net foreign exchange gains, compared to the year ago period, data seen by MoneyCentral shows.

An increase in costs such as investment management and custodian fees as well as depreciation and amortization costs also affected the bottom-line.

By comparison, Norway’s SWF returned 14.5% in 2021, driven by positive equity and real estate returns, Norges Bank said in March.

Aminu Umar-Sadiq, was appointed as the new MD/CEO of the NSIA in October, after the expiration of the tenure of the erstwhile MD, Mr. Uche Orji, whose tenure expired on the 30th of September, 2022 after serving two five-year terms, following his appointment on 2nd October, 2012.