The Minister of Works and Housing, Babatunde Fashola, has dismissed insinuation that followed the present administration’s sourcing of infrastructure funds from Sukuk, which assumed that it was part of the plan by President Muhammadu Buhari to Islamise the country.
Addressing a press conference to showcase the achievements of the administration in Abuja on Wednesday, the Minister remarked that the government merely resorted to Sukuk as an alternative funding arrangement because of the paucity of resources to implement planned capital projects.
Sukuk is a Sharia-compliant Bond-like financial instrument that requires no interest on loans.
Fashola stated that many of the ongoing and completed projects have benefitted from the financial initiative, noting that those who suspected that it was a move to Islamize the country are now using the roads as well in one form or the other.
The Minister conceded that concerns about being expressed by Nigerians about constant resort to loans are legitimate, asking, “but should we not do the things we do?”
He said that at the time Buhari took over the government in 2015, the budget allocation to the Ministry of Works for road projects was N19 billion but that has now increased by over 1000% in public spending to N200 billion.
Fashola remarked that because of the volume of roads to deliver, the government had to resort to alternative funding such as Sukuk, which he said was not faith-based.
He said the government had also ensured a level of transparency by mounting Sukuk signboards on all the road projects being implemented through the initiative.
Details later…
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