The Minister of Finance, Mrs. Kemi Adeosun, has advised Nigerians to disregard the allegation by the Christian Association of Nigeria (CAN) that the N100 billion Sukuk bond recently offered by the federal government was meant to Islamise the country.
Adeosun said this in an interview with journalists on the sidelines of an investors’ conference organised by Stanbic IBTC in Lagos at the weekend.
According to her, the bond offering which closed last Friday, was issued to raise funds for infrastructure development.
Adeosun said the government had identified projects the funds raised would be deployed to.
She explained: “So, there is no religious driver behind it. It is really a financial product to meet the financial needs. This particular one of N100 billion is going to be used for road projects.
“We have identified the road projects that it is going to be tied to and there is no religious attachment to it. South Africa even did a sovereign Sukuk before Nigeria. So, there is no Islamisation agenda at all.”
The minister stressed that the Sukuk was part of the government’s programme to deepen the financial market.
Furthermore, Adeosun disclosed that the framework for the debt instrument predated the present government.
“The committee started work in 2011. So, they have been working on it for six years, to structure products that would be compliant. Really, the Sukuk is about two things -one it is about raising money and deepening the financial market.
No comments:
Post a Comment