SEC Says Sukuk, Others Can Bridge Nigeria’s Infrastructure Gap
The Securities and Exchange Commission has outlined Sukuk and other investment schemes as financing instruments on the capital market to bridge the infrastructure gap in the country and also aid economic development.
The Executive Commissioner Operations of the SEC, Dayo Obisan said Sukuk has been explored for some projects for which the credits have been deployed to fund infrastructure to grow the nation’s economy.
Obisan, speaking at the 30th anniversary of the Finance Correspondents Association of Nigeria with the theme: Financing Infrastructure & SMEs for inclusive growth in the post-Covid-19 economy, held in Lagos weekend said Sukuk has been used in the last three to four years to raise funding for critical projects in various sectors of the economy.
“We also have collective investment schemes, these are individual monies maybe by some institutions, of which over N100bn has been done. We have about three surviving infrastructure-focused funds in Nigeria totalling almost N100bn and there are some that are registered programmes. One of them has a programme of N200bn and they have only launched N76 billion so there is still a lot of room for growth”.
“We have allowed for crowdfunding platforms, that means people that do not even know each other can come together and fund a business, these are the kind of things we have available, not only for the government but also for individuals”.
While admitting that there are quite a couple of instruments available in the capital market, The SEC Commissioner stated that the major thing to note is that infrastructure development is a long term thing.
“If in developed countries they are still having constant discussions not only in maintaining but in enhancing the level of infrastructure they have, it is essential for us in Nigeria to connect the right donation of money which is long term capital and which is what capital market provides.
He reiterated the commitment of the SEC as a regulatory agency to creating an enabling environment for everyone to be able to access the capital market.
“We know that one of the problems we have in this country is trust deficiency, if someone puts money in a company and it goes down it affects the trust people have in the market.
