Minister of Works and Housing, Babatunde Fashola has commended the partnership between the government and the private sector in the provision of SUKUK financing in road projects across the country. Fashola spoke during a presentation of N162, 557,000,000 Sovereign Sukuk Symbolic Cheque to the Federal Ministry of Works and Housing in Abuja.
According to Fashola, forty-four (44) Federal Roads spread across the six geo-political zones are being financed under this SUKUK road project. He listed the number of roads project being executed per geo-political zone as follows: North Central having eight, North East Eight, North West Seven, South West Six, South East Five and South-South having Ten road each with the breakdown of the financial implication as follows: North Central N26.5b, North East N30.5bn, North West N26.5bn, Southeast N26bn, South-South N26bn, and southwest N27.05bn.
Speaking on the recent public debate on government borrowing and the concerns being raised by Nigerians, Fashola explained that, with this Sukuk project distribution, Nigerians will now see where and how the monies were being spent. Fashola also listed the many economic benefits of road construction to the people, saying that a lot of jobs have been created for labourers, artisans, suppliers of building materials, sand suppliers, farmers and even food vendors who make their daily earnings from the construction sides.
Earlier in her remarks, the Minister of Finance, Zainab Ahmed, said one of the key pillars of the Economic Recovery and Growth Plan (ERGP), is the development of critical infrastructure projects with a view to removing the impediments to growth and development in the economy.
