The Debt Management Office (DMO) has stated that the Federal Government will become a more active issuer in the FMDQ green exchange, which is aimed at encouraging green financing and a sustainability drive in Nigeria.
This was disclosed by the Director-General of DMO, Patience Oniha, while speaking at the FMDQ Green Exchange launch and partnership deal with the Luxembourg Green Exchange (LGX) in Lagos.
The DMO boss stated that the present trend of green bonds indicates that demand for funding to support such initiatives and finance infrastructure would expand.
What the DMO is saying
Patience Oniha expressed the need to raise funds to sponsor debt projects meant for the development of Nigeria.
She said, “As there is more awareness and more pressure on the government to look at those projects, it means we have to raise funds in our own case. Revenues will be there but we may also need to borrow to finance those projects and this means that we will be issuing securities that comply with those requirements.”
She added that the DMO would be more focused on raising funds for public projects like green bonds. She said, “It means that our initial activity, the domestic green bond market, should increase. While we have a total of N25.69 billion outstanding, we still plan to be in the market, sometime, next year.”
“Going forward, the FG would be an active issuer in the FMDQ green exchange and what we need to do is to do a lot of sensitization to make those projects approved and the funding arrangement,” Oniha added.
Bola Onadele, Chief Executive Officer of FMDQ Group, said the company recognizes the opportunities its business presents in terms of promoting sustainable economic growth and development, and that it understands that long-term business success, value creation, and prosperity are dependent not only on financial performance but also on environmental and social performance.
