The Debt Management Office (DMO), yesterday, said the oversubscribed portion of the N250 billion of the 2021 Sovereign Sukuk, which attracted N865 billion, was returned to investors.
The Director-General, DMO, Patience Oniha, made this known in Abuja, at a ceremony to present cheques to beneficiary-ministries of the Sukuk.
They are the Federal Ministry of Works and Housing (FMWH); Federal Capital Territory Administration (FCTA); and the Ministry of Niger Delta Affairs (MNDA).
While FMWH was allocated N210.5 billion, FCTA got N29 billion, and MNDA got N10.4 billion.
The News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) reports that the sovereign Sukuk, which was issued in December 2021, to finance various road projects by three Federal ministries.
Oniha explained that the 2021 Sukuk was part of the Federal Government’s borrowing plan in the budget, and so could not accommodate over subscription.
She said: “Based on all the investor engagements we have done, and the popularity of the Sukuk product, we decided to go for N250 billion and we got N865 billion.
“Sukuk is part of domestic borrowing in the budget; it is not an extra borrowing, so we took only the N250 billion that was available in the budget and returned the rest to investors.
“But we made sure that each investor who bid got something.”
Oniha described the over-subscription as an indication that the Sukuk product had become attractive to Nigerians as a viable instrument for financing road infrastructure that benefits all Nigerians.
“When we raised the money, it goes to the contractors after they have done the job,” she explained.
Sukuk is part of domestic borrowing in the budget; it is not an extra borrowing, so we took only the N250 billion that was available in the budget and returned the rest to investors.
