Nigeria’s SWF Enters 2026 with Financials Stuck in Early 2025

As of January 10, 2026, the Nigeria Sovereign Investment Authority (NSIA) finds itself under renewed scrutiny for what some market observers call a “reporting lag.”

While the Authority claims it achieved a historic milestone by crossing the $3.10 billion net asset mark in June 2025 (without providing financial reports to back it up), the availability of comprehensive public data remains stuck in the early months of last year.

Currently, the most granular public data remains limited to Q1 2025, leaving a gap in transparency as the market enters the second week of 2026.

The Q1, 2025 financials posted on the NSIA website analysed by MoneyCentral showed Nigeria’s SWF recorded a 97% plunge in profit in the first quarter (Q1) of 2025 largely due to losses incurred from its hedge fund and trading strategy as well as non-recurring foreign exchange (FX) gains, compared to a year-ago.

Profit for the NSIA fell to N30.58 billion ($20 million) in Q1, 2025, compared to N1.185 trillion ($790 million) in Q1, 2024.

NSIA reported fair value loss on financial assets of N43.93 billion in Q1, 2025, compared to gains of N573.8 billion in Q1, 2024.

The losses were comprised of Unrealized fair value (loss) on collateralised securities of N21.69 billion, realized fair value (loss) on collateralised securities (net of derivative cost) of N10.7 billion and an N11.56 billion loss from fair value changes on private equity, hedge funds and other securities.

The Transparency Gap: Nigeria vs. Peers

While NSIA maintains a high score of 9/10 on the Linaburg-Maduell Transparency Index, its actual speed of reporting often trails behind top-tier global peers and some African counterparts like Morocco’s Ithmar Capital or the Public Investment Fund (PIF) of Saudi Arabia, which provide more frequent digital dashboards.

• The “Lag” Reality: In early 2026, analysts are still working with annualized projections based on the Q1 2025 numbers.

• Governance Score: Paradoxically, NSIA recorded a 100% score on the 2025 Global SWF Governance, Sustainability, and Resilience (GSR) Index, suggesting that while its internal processes are ok, its external communication speed has not yet matched its institutional maturity.

Why the Delay?

Several structural factors in 2025 may be contributing to the slower pace of 2026 reporting, according to analysts MoneyCentral spoke to.

NSIA has transitioned from a “pure fund manager” to an “asset manager,” overseeing complex projects like the Renewed Hope Cities (75% complete in Kano) and the MedServe healthcare rollouts. Consolidating these infrastructure assets takes longer than reporting simple equity gains.

Because NSIA manages dollar-denominated assets but reports in Naira, results may have required more rigorous auditing to provide an accurate view of “Core Earnings” versus “Revaluation Gains.”

Lack of effective communication and poor transparency are also issues dogging the NSIA, analysts said.

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