Through the Sovereign Sukuk initiative, the DMO has demonstrated its strong alignment with the policy of President Muhammadu Buhari, GCFR on infrastructural development. 

Pat Oniha the Director-General of the Debt Management Office disclosed this at the 2022 Sovereign Sukuk N130 Billion Cheque Presentation Ceremony in Abuja.

According to her the DMO has positioned itself not only as an agency for managing the public debt including borrowing on behalf of the Federal Government, but as an active stakeholder in the domestic capital market through innovation, investor engagement and collaboration with other stakeholders. 

She added “These have deepened the market, created benchmarks for other borrowers and promoted financial inclusion by providing a retail product, FGN Savings Bond, as well as Sukuk and Green Bonds for ethical investors”.

“The DMO has issued Sukuk four (4) more times bringing the total amount raised as at December 2022 to N742.56bn. From the Sukuk issued between 2017 and 2021, a total of N612.56bn was raised and deployed to the construction and rehabilitation of sections of seventy-one (71) roads and four (4) bridges covering a total of 2,820.06km”. 

The DG stated that DMO remains committed to its mandate and market development activities.  

In her remarks the Minister of Finance, Budget, and National Planning Mrs. Zainab Ahmed said this administration has invested the sum of N612.557bn raised through Sovereign Sukuk between 2017 and 2021 for the construction and rehabilitation of key economic road projects in the six (6) geo-political zones and the Federal Capital Territory (FCT). 

She noted that in real terms, the amount has been used to construct and rehabilitate sections of 71 road projects covering 2,808.06km and 4 bridges by the Federal Ministry of Works and Housing and sections of six (6) road projects covering 99km and 19 bridges by the FCTA. 

The Minister also noted that the 2022 Sovereign Sukuk of N130 billion will be released as part of the Capital Expenditure in the 2022 Appropriation Act, which has been extended by the National Assembly to March 31, 2023. 

“As at November 2022, N1.88trn had been released as Capital Expenditure, which represents about 40% performance when compared to the total Capital Budget of N4.7 trillion. This informed the need to extend the period to implement the capital component of the 2022 Budget”. 

The event had in attendance the Minister of Works and Housing Mr. Babatunde Fashola, SAN and the Minister for Minister, Federal Capital Territory, Mr. Muhammad Bello.