.Publishes maiden Development Impact Report
The Nigeria Sovereign Investment Authority (NSIA), and the National Council on Climate Change (NCCC), yesterday, signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU), to take urgent action to address climate.
The NSIA, managers of Nigeria’s sovereign wealth fund, and NCCC, the implementing entity for climate action, also agreed to explore potential areas of collaboration that will enable the attainment of the shared objectives.
The MoU, also coincides with the launch of the maiden Impact Report, which highlights the development impact of NSIA’s operations and investments since inception.
The report shows that the Authority delivered impactful initiatives consistent with the target outcomes for 15 of the 17 Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs).
The MoU emphasizes the urgency of immediate and ambitious action to address climate risks and enable the attainment of the shared objectives between the NSIA and NCCC. It also serves to allow the signing parties to further explore potential
A statement from the Authority listed three broad areas of collaboration with the NCCC, including:
- The development of a climate change framework to provide guidelines for regulating emissions in Nigeria;
- The implementation of a carbon emissions trading mechanism in Nigeria; and,
- The management of a National Carbon Registry as well as a Climate Change Fund.
A core pillar of our Environmental, Social and Governance (ESG) strategy is to actively build strategic partnerships with relevant organizations to support climate change actions and Nigeria’s energy transition ambitions of achieving net zero emissions by 2060.
Support for climate action
Commenting on the agreement, the MD & CEO of the NSIA, Aminu Umar-Sadiq, was quoted as saying: “A core pillar of our Environmental, Social and Governance (ESG) strategy is to actively build strategic partnerships with relevant organizations to support climate change actions and Nigeria’s energy transition ambitions of achieving net zero emissions by 2060.
“The agreement with our partner, NCCC is one of the strategic steps we are taking to meet our social impact goals and sustainability commitments.”
He added that “NSIA’s maiden Impact Report highlights the Authority’s development agenda and impact over several years of operations as well as the Authority’s efforts to safeguard the environment and address relevant climate-related risks and opportunities in line with best practices.”
In his remarks, the Director-General, NCCC, Dr. Salisu Dahiru, said: “This partnership is a bold signal to the global audience that the Government of Nigeria is serious about its climate commitments. By committing resources from its sovereign wealth fund to support climate action and an inclusive green economic growth, Nigeria is investing in its future, especially in a vastly decarbonizing world.
“This partnership between two of Nigeria’s flagship institutions is expected to catalyse private finance to accelerate Nigeria’s ambitious climate and national development agenda.”
The DG also commended the transformational leadership of President Muhammadu Buhari by demonstrating executive ownership of Nigeria’s climate policies through the Climate Change Act of 2021, the establishment of the National Council on Climate Change and the commitment toward a net zero economy by 2060.
He calls upon Nigerians to embrace the opportunities offered by climate change to build a resilient economy and improve the adaptive capacities of our communities to extreme weather events, now and in the future.
Other parts of the agreement are to also develop and implement climate-sensitive projects across all sectors, while institutionalizing climate change in Nigeria’s development agenda.
By committing resources from its sovereign wealth fund to support climate action and an inclusive green economic growth, Nigeria is investing in its future, especially in a vastly decarbonizing world.
The NSIA 2021 Impact Report reveals its interventions across sectors:
- Created over 500,000 direct and indirect jobs through various initiatives and projects.
- Supported over 230,000 farmers through various agri-projects across the country with over 68% of the primary beneficiaries being women.
- Recorded significant progress on 3 high-priority national road projects which have a combined road length of 515.4km.
- Continued to set standards in oncology (cancer) and diagnostics services in Nigeria with NSIA’s healthcare interventions through the medical centres of excellence located in Lagos, Kano and Umuahia. The two diagnostics centres located in Kano and Umuahia have served nearly 300,000 patients while the cancer centre in Lagos held over 150,000 chemotherapy sessions to cater to cancer patients.
- Commenced field work on site of 10MW solar farm in Kumbotso, Kano State (now completed in 2023)
- Sustained trajectory on Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion. Maintained gender and ethnic pay equity and achieved growth in female workforce to roughly 36.3 % of total full-time employees across grade levels amongst other achievements.
- Launched the NSIA Graduate Analyst Programme to build capabilities within the country in the areas of Asset Management, Infrastructure Project Management, Portfolio Management & Reporting, Finance, Treasury Management and Risk. A total of 36 Nigerian professionals benefitted from the first programme.
