Works Ministry gets N110bn Sukuk funding for roads.

By AKOR SYLVESTER-Abuja

The Federal Ministry of Works and Housing on Monday received a cheque of N110 billion of SUKUK funding for the execution of critical road projects across the six geo-political zones of the country.

Two Ministries benefited from a total of N130 billion  2022 SUKUK Fund ,these are: Federal Ministry of Works and Housing and the Federal Capital Territory.

While the Federal Ministry of Works and Housing received N110 billion, the Ministry of the  Federal Capital Territory received N20 billion.

The SUKUK fund is a form of Public Private Partnership (PPP) which was among the funding options adopted by the Federal Government under President Muhammadu Buhari to fund the construction of critical roads in Nigeria.

Receiving the cheque on behalf of the Ministry, the Minister of Works and Housing, Babatunde Fashola,  gave an account of the nature of the nation’s road before the introduction of the SUKUK funding.

According to him, the total capital  budget for road projects across the nation for Federal Ministry of Works and Housing in year 2015 was N18 billion.

He  said: “As of 2015 the Capital budget for Works was just N18 billion for all Nigerian roads at the time oil prices were just dropping shy of a hundred dollar per barrel and all that could be committed to Nigerian roads was just N18 billion.”

Explaining the impact of the meager amount spent on Nigerian roads then, he said that construction companies were therefore laying off staff because the  Federal Government was owning these companies. “That was the story before SUKUK,” he said.

Fashola stated that this development could not fund the nation’s road projects adequately, adding that despite the fact that the Capital budget position of the Ministry was moved from N18 billion to over N260 billion in 2016, Federal Government had to look into alternative sources of funding road projects because that was not still enough.

“That is where the SUKUK funding came in and through the SUKUK, we have completed several road and bridge projects across the six geo-political zones of the country,”

According to him, SUKUK financing has enhanced the completion of some of the priority road and bridge projects across the country.

Earlier the host, Minister of Finance, Budget & National Planning, Dr. Zainab Shamsuna Ahmed while presenting the cheque to the two Ministries said that President Muhammadu Buhari was committed to the development of road infrastructure of the country.

In a statement signed by the Director, Press and Public Relations, Blessing Lere-Adams, while listing the intervention of the Federal Government of Nigeria Sovereign SUKUK Fund in the Nation’s road infrastructure, Ahmed disclosed that in 2017, the sum of N100 Billion was expended on the nation’s road infrastructure, N200 Billion in 2018, N362.56 Billion in 2020, N612.56 Billion in 2021, and N742.56 Billion in 2022 respectively.

She said: “This symbolic event therefore is part of the celebration of the contribution of the Sovereign SUKUK Fund to road infrastructure development over the years.”