The N100 billion seven-year debut Sukuk offer by the Debt Management Office, which closed last week Friday, has been oversubscribed.
Sukuk, a project-tied investment facility, attracted investors from across a broad spectrum of the public comprising pension funds, banks, fund managers, institutional and retail investors.
Reacting to the development, the Director General of the DMO, Patience Oniha, said the acceptance of the offer was an indication of the viability of the instrument as an investment option as well as a demonstration of utmost faith in the economy.
Oniha commended the Federal Government and in particular the Minister of Finance, Kemi Adeosun, for the policy support that led to the success of this initial offer, which industry watchers accept as another window that has opened for the government to raise funds to fill the nation’s yawning infrastructure gap.
In the run up to the offer, Nigerians developed tremendous enthusiasm as they embraced the investment instrument advertised nationwide through roadshows by officials from the DMO, Ministry of Power, Works and Housing, and Central Bank of Nigeria in Lagos, Port Harcourt, Kano, Abuja and Kaduna.