The Federal Government is set to fix 44 roads with the Sukuk funds raised in the bond market.
This was disclosed by the Minister for Works and Housing, Mr Babatunde Fashola, when the sovereign Sukuk Symbolic cheque of N162.55 billion was presented to him by the Minister of Finance, Mrs Zainab Ahmed in Abuja.
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What it means: It means that with the release of N162.557 billion to the Federal Ministry of Works and Housing, the amount appropriated for Road Projects in 2020 Budget has been fully released. The finance minister explained that with the deployment of the Sukuk funds coupled with other capital releases and various interventions by government, the economy would soon be on the path to economic development.
Mrs Ahmed added development of federal infrastructure with the development of rail, roads and power is needed for Nigeria’s economic growth and helps ease of doing business.
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“The Debt Management Office (DMO) has raised the sum of N162.557 billion from investors in June 2020. This is strictly dedicated to the financing of road projects in the Revised 2020 Appropriation Act,” she said.
Mr Fashola, in his presentation, said the people who put money in the Sukuk were fund managers and the owners of the funds, adding that it was a matter of trust which they had for the administration that made them release their hard-earned money.
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Fashola added that investors in Nigeria’s Sukuk bonds were mostly fund managers, and it was done through a trust agreement they had with the government.
“I assure you that we value that trust from the evidence of what has happened in Sukuk one, and Sukuk two, your trust is not misplaced and it will not be misplaced in the 44 road projects that will benefit from this Sukuk,” he said.
He said the public roads that will benefit from the fund would come from all 6 geopolitical areas, with the North-Central getting eight roads, eight roads for the Northeast, North-West seven roads, South-East five roads, South-South 10 roads, and South-West six roads.
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DMO had announced that this would be Nigeria’s 3rd Sukuk bond, with the first being an N100 billion bond in 2017 and another N100 billion by 2018.
The office says the bonds, with the Green bonds, would be used for the development and rehabilitation of critical infrastructure in the country depending on budget allocations.