By David Agba
Abuja
With the issuance of Sukuk by the federal government to finance infrastructure and projects in the country, the era of abandoned projects would come to end, the Managing Director of Jaiz Bank Plc, Hassan Usman has said.
He said this yesterday in Abuja at the 3rd African International Conference on Islamic Finance organised by the Metropolitan Skills Limited.
Th e organiser awarded Jaiz the non-interest bank of the year award.
He said issuance of Sukuk ensures discipline in the management of resources because there would be structure to guide the process.
federal government recently issued a Sukuk of N100 billion to fi nance roads across the country.
It was oversubscribed by N5 billion.
Usman said more sukuk are needed to raise quantum of funds to address infrastructural problems in the country.
He said: “One of the major challenges we have in Nigeria is infrastructure and as you could see, the last issuance of sukuk by the federal government was to raise N100bn which was over-subscribed.
You can say that is not much in Nigeria but you can use it eff ectively in developing roads, and others.
For me it is just a starter.
“We have so many things that needed to be addressed.
From roads, the railways, the port, the airports, the hospitals, the education and so many other things yearning for attention and the normal budgeting system cannot address these things.
We need to raise quantum of funds to address them.
Issuing Sukuk gives you two things, you get the resources and get disciplined around it.
Money from sukuk are dedicated for what they are intended for.
It is very unlikely for that money to be diverted out of those projects.
“There is some discipline around issuance of Sukuk.
You need to have a structure and that structure would follow through to ensure that the purpose for which Sukuk was raised in the fi rst place is realized.
That for me is something Nigeria needs to grab because it would mean the end of abandoned projects.
Before you raise it you must have done your homework – you have got the contractors, you have done the bills of quantity- money is available and the contractor would go to the site and every certificate is paid for.
So, sukuk for me is the way to go to address many of our challenges.
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