Minister urges FG to use green bonds to finance infrastructure

The Minister of State for Environment, Mallam Ibrahim Usman Jibril, has called on the Federal Government and other relevant stakeholders in the capital market to take advantage of the opportunities in green bonds programme to drive infrastructural development.

The minister spoke at the maiden Investors’ Capacity Building and Training Session on green bonds organised by the FMDQ OTC Securities Exchange in conjunction with Financial Sector Deepening Africa (FSD Africa) and Climate Bonds Initiative (CBI) in Lagos.

The capacity building followed the issuance of N10 billion green bonds by the federal government on December last year under its N150 billion issuance programme and subsequent launch of the Nigerian Green Bond Market Development Programme by the FMDQ in June 2018.

Represented by Dr. Peter Tarfa, Director of Climate Change at the Ministry, Usman Jibril stated that the tenets of sustainable finance and green bonds issuances have come to stay and enjoined participants to leverage the partnership to build a pool of green bonds issuances.

“The tenets of sustainable finance and indeed, green bonds issuances have come to stay, and that Nigeria should leverage the opportunities provided by this formidable partnership which is geared to build a pool of green bond demonstration issues that will be used to finance key infrastructure and environmental-friendly projects,” he said.

Also speaking, Ms. Tumi Sekoni, Associate Executive Director at FMDQ, expressed delight in the formidable partnership between FMDQ, FSD Africa and CBI, noting that investors are a critical part of the market and in no small measure, play a defining role in green investments.

Credit: NNU POST