President Muhammadu Buhari, on Thursday renewed the appointment of Uchechi X. Orji as managing director of the Nigeria Sovereign Investment Authority (NSIA) also known as the Sovereign Wealth Fund, for another five-year term.
Orji was first appointed in October 2012 for an initial term of five years, and will be in office until October 2022.
Under his leadership, NSIA played a pivotal role in implementation of the Presidential Fertilizer Initiative (PFI), which recorded 17,000 truck movements in its first six months, selling seven million bags.
The fund plans to revamp 20 fertiliser-blending plants by September 2018, up from 11 this year’s 11, which delivered six million bags of fertiliser at 30 per cent below market prices, thereby saving the country of huge foreign exchange as part of the Federal Government’s plan to boost agric output and reduce the dependence on oil.
The initiative has so far created 50,000 jobs, while saving the government N50 billion ($139 million) in would-be subsidies.
Orji was quoted as saying in an interview that the government’s contribution stands at $1.5 billion, with the rest including funds owned by the institution and those managed for several government agencies.
“At the moment, agriculture is our number one area of investment,” he said.
He put Nigeria’s sovereign wealth fund at $2bn this month with the investment agency seeking further growth through agriculture and the addition of asset management, the report showed.
“That’s the major line of conversation we are having with various agencies and various arms of the government,” Mr. Orji said.
Globally acknowledged as one of the best brokerage analysts, Orji graduated from the University of Port Harcourt with a Bachelor’s degree in Engineering, after which he obtained an MBA from Harvard University.
He began his banking financial industry career at Diamond Bank Plc, Lagos and Arthur Andersen, Lagos and joined NSIA from Switzerland’s UBS Securities, where he was Managing Director in the New York branch of its Equities Division, after spending six years at JP Morgan in London, 2001-2006, rising from the position of Vice President to Managing Director within the Equities Division.
Prior to JP Morgan, he worked for Goldman Sachs Asset Management, London, 1998-2001, as an Analyst/Portfolio Manager.
Also, President Buhari also approved the nomination of Prof Isa Hayatou Chiroma as Director General of the Nigerian Law School.
He is currently the Deputy Director-General in charge of the Yola Campus of the Nigerian Law School.