Experts agreed that Islamic finance holds immense opportunities for financing of critical infrastructure and unlocking dormant capital in Nigeria.
The IFN Nigeria Forum 2019 featured a mix of panel sessions, onstage interviews and interactive sessions on a number of themes in Islamic finance including corporate financing and capital raising in Nigeria; funding infrastructure and social welfare requirements in West Africa and Islamic finance, investment, banking and takaful in Nigeria.
Chiemeka, who represented the Chief Executive Officer of NSE, Mr Oscar Onyema, said Islamic finance marked a turning point and new paradigm for the financing of infrastructure in Nigeria with issuances such as the 2013 raising of N11.4 billion in a seven-year Sukuk by the Osun State Government to finance construction and rehabilitation of 27 schools in the state.
According to him, the ability for fund managers seeking Shari’ah-compliant investment products to diversify into the Nigerian markets will facilitate more foreign inflows which has implications for the economy through the attraction of low-cost funds for development. “We have already started executing on these pillars and recently hosted a training exercise for the market. We will also continue to provide an efficient and liquid market for investors and businesses in Africa, to save and access capital. We promise to continue our collaboration with all market stakeholders, to collectively contribute towards the enhancement of this new asset class, and ultimately towards the growth Islamic finance in Nigeria and Africa at large,” Chiemeka said.