Aminu Umar-Sadiq replaced Uche Orji as the Managing Director/Chief Executive Officer of Nigeria Sovereign Investment Authority (NSIA) just last week.
He is now the organization’s second in command, managing Nigeria’s sovereign wealth fund. There are high expectations from him because he will now take the lead in promoting sustained economic growth for the good of all Nigerians. Here is w hat you need to know about Umar-Sadiq.
As a seasoned investment banker, Umar-Sadiq is ideally qualified to head the federal government’s investment institution. With Morgan Stanley’s mergers and acquisitions division, where he executed numerous deals centered on infrastructure, energy, and utilities, his career got off to a strong start.
Umar-Sadiq then transferred to Denham Capital Management, an investment company with a natural resources specialist, and this time his work shifted to Infrastructure focused private equity for the next couple of years. He finally joined Société Générale’s mergers and acquisitions department for about a year. All of these experiences being garnered across different sectors and organizations would prove very critical in the later part of his career.
His work with NSIA has primarily focused on planning, carrying out, and managing important domestic infrastructure projects in key industries like healthcare, transportation, and energy. Years spent as the Portfolio Manager of the Nigeria Infrastructure Fund, where he oversaw investments in toll roads, healthcare, agriculture, power, and real estate, are among the factors that contribute to his extensive experience.
He worked for the Nigeria Sovereign Investment Authority (NSIA), where he held positions as the Deputy Head of the Nigeria Infrastructure Fund and a member of the NSIA Executive Committee and Board. In these roles, he was in charge of initiating, carrying out, and managing infrastructure (directs) and private equity investments (funds and direct co-investments) in Nigeria. Additionally, he held the positions of Executive Director & Head of Direct Investments, and his recent appointment came after over a decade in the establishment. Umar-Sadiq also worked as Executive Director, Subsidiaries and Investment at the Authority.
He is a non-executive member of numerous boards, such as the Multipurpose Industrial Platform Limited, the Fund for Agricultural Finance in Nigeria (FAFIN), and NSIA Healthcare Development and Investment Company (MIPL).
He is a Nigeria Leadership Initiative Associate, an Archbishop Tutu Leadership Fellow (ATLF), and a Mandela Washington Fellow (MWF). Umar-Sadiq also works with Endeavor as a mentor. Since January 2018, he has volunteered at the African Leadership Institute, and since October 2021, at the Most Influential People of African Descent (MIPAD). He serves as a board member for NLI in addition to being a member of the Nigerian Institute of Directors (IoD).
Aminu graduated with a Bachelor’s and Master’s degree in Engineering Sciences from Saint John’s College at the University of Oxford in Oxford, United Kingdom. Moreover, he has a Leadership Diploma, from the Saïd Business School, Oxford.
The NSIA Act (2011) empowers the establishment to receive, manage and invest funds in a diversified portfolio of medium and long-term assets on behalf of the Federal Government, State Governments, Federal Capital Territory, and Local Governments Area Councils in preparation for the eventual depletion of Nigeria’s hydrocarbon resources.
NSIA executes this mandate through the three main funds: the Stabilisation Fund, the Future Generations Fund, and the Nigeria Infrastructure Fund (which Umar-Sadiq has managed as Director in the past). As MD/CEO of the investment establishment, Umar Sadiq will have to oversee all three funds.
This means that he will play a critical role in providing budget support in times of economic stress; saving funds for future generations of Nigerians, and investing in domestic infrastructure. Would it be too far-reaching to say Umar-Sadiq might now be one of the tripod stands on which Nigeria’s future leans heavily? At least for as long as he is NSIA boss.
