FG’s N100b Sukuk vindicates Aregbesola, says aide

The decision by the Federal Government to float a N100 billion Sukuk for infrastructure has been described as vindication of Governor Rauf Aregbesola’s administration for accessing the credit facility for development of Osun State.

Special Adviser on Information and Strategy to the governor, Mr. Semiu Okanlawon, stated this yesterday against the backdrop of the move by the Federal Government to raise funds for roads construction through the interest-free bond.

Okanlawon thanked the Federal Government for looking in the direction of Sukuk as an alternative revenue source for infrastructure provision. He said Nigerians have reasons to give kudos to Aregbesola for his ability to identify and raise the awareness on Sukuk as an easier avenue of raising funds for life-changing projects.

Osun, under Aregbesola, had in 2013 floated a N11.4 billion Sukuk to fund government’s massive education infrastructure provision projects.“It is gratifying to note that another in the chains of ideas that emanated from Osun has provided avenue for solving one of Nigeria’s national challenges. The news that the Federal Government is seeking to issue a N100b Sukuk bond reminds us of how Osun under Aregbesola blazed the trail in 2013,” he stressed.

Okanlawon advised the Secretary General of the Christian Association of Nigeria, Musa Asake, who described the adoption of Sukuk as an aberration, to come to the state and see what fruits have come out of the Sukuk initiative by the Aregbesola administration.

He added: “In June 2014, Britain, two clear years after the Osun experience, went the way of Osun for Sukuk to raise funds. Britain is not an Islamic country. And three years after that, we have not heard of any religious complication as a result of Sukuk.”