In four years covering September 2017 to December 2021, Nigeria’s Debt Management Office (DMO) raised N615.557 billion Sukuk debt for the rehabilitation and construction of new roads across the country, data from the Debt Office has shown.
 
A Sukuk bond is an interest-free Islamic financial certificate that complies with Islamic religious law commonly known as Sharia. It involves the means by which corporations or governments raise capital and the forms of investments that are made in accordance with Shariah.
 
In a presentation titled: “Nigeria Public Debt – Some Considerations,” the Director-General, DMO, Patience Oniha said that N365.557 billion of the total sum was deployed for the construction of 1,881km of roads and six bridges.
 
The last Sukuk bond issued in December 2021 targeted 71 road projects including the reconstruction of the Bida-Lambata road in Niger State, the rehabilitation of the Lagos-Ota-Abeokuta road in Lagos and Ogun states as well as the rehabilitation of Enugu-Port Harcourt road section III Enugu-Lokpanta, in Enugu State.
 
Others are the rehabilitation and reconstruction of Enugu-Port Harcourt dual carriageway section II Umuahia-Aba in Abia State and the rehabilitation of Kano-Katsina road Phase I, Kano State, among others.
 
From Sovereign Green Bonds also, a total of N25.69 billion was raised from December 2017 to June 2019 to fund seven selected projects in various sectors including renewable energy, agriculture, water, transport, and afforestation.

Speaking on purpose for borrowing, Oniha said that governments borrow to finance not only budget deficits but also specific viable projects and for refinancing maturing debt obligations.