IslamicFinance.de

A Chartered Accountant and Tax Administrator, Mr. Bicci Alli has said that the federal government as well as states cannot shun Islamic financial instruments whose market is valued at over $2.6 trillion, because it has the capability to bridge the infrastructure deficit in the country.
The federal government is presently looking for financial and legal advisers and trustee firms to organise its first Islamic bond in the domestic market, the Debt Management Office (DMO) said on Monday. Nigeria is working on a debut sovereign sukuk but has yet to determine the size of a potential deal. Issuance of a sovereign sukuk is part of a plan by Nigeria’s debt office to develop alternative sources of funding and to establish a benchmark curve.

The Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) and the Debt Management Office (DMO) have inaugurated a committee for the nation’s first sovereign Sukuk. Mr Mounir Gwarzo, SEC Director-General, who confirmed the committee’s inauguration, said it comprised staff of the commission and DMO, and would set up modalities for the first sovereign bond. He said that Sukuk had not been approved by the commission at the moment. Gwarzo said that recently, the commission was working with the DMO to ensure issuance of the bond in the second quarter of 2016. He said that the commission would support DMO in capacity building to ensure successful issuance of the bond.

The Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) has reached an agreement with the Debt Management Office (DMO) to issue Nigeria’s maiden sovereign Sukuk. The decision by the two government agencies to collaborate to issue the Sukuk was a major outcome of the visit of the Director General of SEC, Mounir Gwarzo to the DMO on Wednesday. The visit was a return gesture to a similar exercise by the Director General of DMO, Abraham Nwankwo, in November last year. Mr. Nwankwo revealed that issuing a sovereign Sukuk has been part of the institution’s strategic plan drawn three years ago, urging Nigerians to support SEC to building capacity in order to realize the goal of issuing Nigeria’s first sovereign Sukuk in 2016.

The Directors General of the Infrastructure Concession Regulatory Commission (ICRC) Aminu Diko and Debt Management Office (DMO) Dr. Abraham Nwakwo have said that Nigeria would not be left behind in benefiting from the growing global Sukuk. They gave the assurance on Tuesday in Abuja at the two-day 2015 International Conference on Islamic Finance themed: "Islamic Capital Market: Infrastructure, Sukuk and Asset Management in Africa". Based on a 30-year National Integrated Infrastructure Master plan (NIIMP), Nigeria requires an expenditure of US$ 3.10 trillion in 30 years covering energy, transport, agriculture and water resources, social infrastructure and vital registration and security.