Finance Minister Olusegun Aganga says the Sovereign Wealth Fund (SWF) is needed for stronger fiscal framework to manage the nation’s resources.

Aganga said this while featuring on a “Finance and Economic” programme on the Nigerian Television Authority (NTA) in Lagos. SWF is meant to divert more oil revenues to infrastructure development, save for future generations and establish a financial reserve to weather economic downturns.

Aganga said that SWF was the first leg of the fiscal reform to maximise, diversify and project the nation’s revenues. He said that Nigeria was the only country among the Organisation of Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC) that did not have SWF which made it to depend solely on oil.

The minister said that the fund would be managed outside the country by a private company with the collaboration of both the private and the public sectors. Aganga said that instability in the price of oil and the sole dependence on oil had made the excess crude account to be depleting, adding that Nigeria had to adopt SWF as another source of savings.

He said that the funds would be invested in fixed account, equities and bonds, adding that there were a lot of distortions as regards the external debts profile. The minister said that 90 per cent of the debts were concessionary.