The Debt Management Office (DMO) has emphasized the need for issuers and investors to key into funds mobilisation focused towards promoting green financing and sustainability drive in Nigeria.
Director-General of DMO, Patience Oniha, while speaking at FMDQ Green Exchange Launch and partnership deal with the Luxembourg Green Exchange (LGX) in Lagos on Monday, stated that the current trend suggests that there will be an increase in the demand for funds to support such projects and finance infrastructure.
She said: “As there is more awareness and more pressure on the government to look at those projects, it means we have to raise funds in our own case. Revenues will be there but we may also need to borrow to finance those projects and this means that we will be issuing securities that comply with those requirements.
“It means that our initial activity, the domestic green bond market, should increase. While we have a total of N25.69 billion outstanding, we still plan to be in the market, sometime, next year.
“Going forward, the FG would be an active issuer in the FMDQ green exchange and what we need to do is to do a lot of sensitization to make those projects approved and the funding arrangement”, Oniha said.
In his keynote address at the event, Governor, Lagos state, Babajide Sanwo-Olu, noted that the launch of the green exchange is a step in the right direction for mainstreaming finance and development in Africa.
Sanwo-Olu who was represented by the Special Adviser on Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) and Investments in Lagos state, Solape Hammond, said the LGX, which was the first green exchange, has since become the world’s leading platform for sustainable securities issuing about 50 per cent of green securities in the total of 32 currencies.
Support InfoStride News' Credible Journalism: Only credible journalism can guarantee a fair, accountable and transparent society, including democracy and government. It involves a lot of efforts and money. We need your support. Click here to Donate