If there should be any debate on the Nigeria’s SWF, it should be that of growing and not scrapping it. The NSIA which presently has total assets of $1.4bn is, according to the September 2014 SWFI Fund Rankings, the 5th largest in Africa. It ranks behind Algeria’s Revenue Regulation Fund (RRF), Libya’s Libyan Investment Authority (LIA), Botswana’s Pula Fund (PF), and the Angola’s Fund Soberano de Angola (FSDEA); which respectively boast of assets worth $77.2bn, $66bn, $6.9bn and $5bn. These statistics are in sharp contrast to Nigeria’s profile as Africa’s biggest economy, largest exporter of crude oil and most populous.

Nigeria is not alone in building sovereign wealth from excess oil revenue for stabilization and development purposes. If anything, we are a late comer and a small player. The 3 biggest SWFs in the world are also oil-based. These are Norway’s Government Pension Fund–Global (GPFG); UAE-Abu Dhabi’s Abu Dhabi Investment Authority (AIA); and the Saudi Arabia’s SAMA Foreign Holdings (SAMA-FH) which respectively have assets worth $893bn, $773bn, and $737.6bn by latest available data. The oldest SWF in the world, Kuwait’s Kuwait Investment Authority (KIA) with assets worth $410bn is also notably oil-based.

By its rebased GDP, Nigeria is now the 26th biggest economy in the world with a further dream to become one of the biggest 20 economies by 2020. It can therefore not afford to go in opposite direction to global economic trends. It can not also afford to waste its present wealth and put its future young generations into economic jeopardy. Savings and investments are the engine of job and wealth creation.

On a global scale, SWFs are now more understood, respected and many investment frontiers made opened to them. Even previously antagonistic voices and policy think tanks have given them a pat on the back.

In a publication by Mckinsey & Co., “A growing role for Sovereign Wealth Funds”, Gerard Lyons, influential economist and foremost global forecaster, who is reputed for accurately predicting doom for popular economic policies and financial vehicles in the past, has described SWFs as “new and important element in innovative finance that is, quite literally, bringing power (and water and roads) to the people.”

The NSIA should no doubt be contextualized within the ambit of the rule of law. This is itself the first condition of the Santiago Principles (GAPP1. Principle). But whatever is the outcome of the case before the court, our government must find an amicable way of nurturing this initiative that works to enhance our collective well being, and that of our unborn children.

Oluwatoba Oguntuase

Oguntuase, a lawyer and development–policy analyst, is the founder; Oladog Policy and Research Communications. The original title was: SWF: Between constitutional and development imperatives