Fakoyejo OlalekanPresident Muhammadu Buhari will hand over N130 billion to Senate and the House of Representatives as part of the capital expenditure in the 2022 appropriation act.
The N130 billion was raised from the sovereign Sukuk and presented to the Minister of Finance, Zainab Ahmed, by the Debt Management Office (DMO) on Monday in Abuja.
According to Ahmed, the fund would be passed on to the National Assembly “as part of the capital expenditure in the 2022 appropriation act, which has been extended to March 31, 2023.”
She stated further, “I am proud to say that the issuance of sovereign Sukuk, a project-tied debt instrument, is one of the many innovative and very successful initiatives of this administration towards financing the development of critical infrastructure in the country.”
The minister also revealed that about N600 billion has been raised through the sovereign Sukuk to finance 71 road projects under President Buhari’s administration.
“The facts on how much the initiative has helped to improve road infrastructure across the country speak for themselves.
“As at date, this administration has invested the sum of N612.557 billion 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).
“In real terms, the amount has been used to construct and rehabilitate sections of 71 road projects covering 2,808.06 kilometers and four bridges by the FMWH and sections of six road projects covering 99 kilometers and 19 bridges by the FCTA.
“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, N1.88 trillion had been released as capital expenditure, which represents about 40 per cent 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.
“It is important to add that besides the immense contributions of Sukuk to the funding of critical road infrastructure, the objectives of deepening the domestic capital market and financial inclusion are being achieved by the government.”
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