Finance Minister, Mrs Kemi Adeosun, on Thursday handed over the cheque for proceeds of the recently concluded N100bn Sukuk bond for fixing of 25 key economic road projects across the six geo-political zones to her Power, Works and Housing counterpart- Babatunde Fashola.
The Sukuk bond with a seven-year tenor, issued last month, was successfully completed last week, achieving N105.87bn or 6% over-subscription, a milestone Adeosun said is a sign of investor confidence in the Nigerian economy and the President Muhammadu Buhari administration.
Mrs. Adeosun expressed confidence that proceeds of Nigeria’s maiden Sukuk bond issuance would unlock the nation’s huge economic potentials.
While assuring that the proceeds would be used to further support the administration’s 2017 capital expenditure, the bond, she noted, “is about financial inclusion and deepening of our financial markets.
“The roads will ease commuting, spur economic activities across the country and further close our infrastructure gap,” she was quoted as saying in a statement by the ministry.
Continuing, the Minister said a total of N16.67bn would be spent to fix road projects in each geo-political zone, with five each of the roads projects are located in the North Central and South-South respectively.
Three of the projects are to be funded with proceeds of the Sukuk bond in the South West zone; the North West, East and South East have four road projects each.
Speaking earlier, Fashola commended Mrs. Adeosun and Ms. Patience Oniha, director-general of the Debt Management Office (DMO), as well as the financial advisers for the success of the bond issuance.
He assured the Ministry’s contractors of the Federal Government’s commitment to fund infrastructure projects nationwide.
Reacting to the development, representative of the contractors, Mousa Nahkia, managing director of Reynold Construction Company (RCC), expressed the gratitude of his colleagues to the administration, describing the cash-backing of the projects as “a great development and accomplishment.”