Following the Federal Government’s aspiration to make the economy green, investors in the Nigerian capital market have lauded its effort to revive the economy with the 2017 sovereign green bonds initiative.
The Sovereign Green Bonds project is part of a strategic process by the Federal Government to add to the nation’s funding options to catalyse the rebound of the economy and offer vast majority of Nigerians a new alternative.
A Nigerian investor based in Turkey, Ms. Tina Ahmet, disclosed that the Green Bonds issuance, which will be the first stage in enabling Nigerian tap into the growing global market for green bonds, worth about $576 billion of unlabeled climate-aligned bonds and $118 billion of labeled green bonds as at the end of 2016, represents a new stage in development of Nigerian capital markets and opens the way for further corporate issuance and international investment.
Another investor, Mr. Bayo Osho said, “Stakeholders should play key role to help develop this enormous opportunity for Nigeria and fulfill one of the key objectives of members of the United Nations Sustainable Stock Exchange Initiative. It is the first green bond issuance in an emerging market like ours.
“The project presents such an opportunity in the diversification of our economy and it will bring together institutional investors, banking finance and young social entrepreneurs that will ensure this initial bond launch is a success, enabling the development of a green bond market while building our national climate finance capabilities.”
Meanwhile, the Federal Ministries of Environment and Finance and the Debt Management Office had organised a Green Bonds conference themed: “Green Bonds: Investing in Nigeria’s Sustainable Development,” scheduled for yesterday to sensitise the investing public on the initiative.
