DMO kicks off investors sensitization on Green Bond in Abuja

Debt Management Office (DMO) kicked off a sensitisation roadshow in Abuja on Thursday as part of preparations towards the issuance of the first Sovereign Green Bond by the Federal Government of Nigeria.

The Green Bond is being issued following Nigeria’s endorsement of the Paris Agreement on Climate Change on September 21, 2016.

The agreement aims to strengthen the global response to the threat of Climate Change. Since the signing of the agreement, various countries who are parties to the agreement have initiated several steps aimed at making the environment better.

Director General of the DMO, Patience Oniha, said the roadshow will continue in Lagos on Friday, in order to sensitise prospective investors in the Green Bond.

Oniha explained that the essence of the roadshow was to ensure that the people or organisations who will invest in the Green Bond have some understanding of what the project is about.

She noted further that government will use proceeds from the Green Bond to finance projects in the 2017 Appropriation Act which have been certified as Green because of their positive effects on the environment.

According to her, among the projects to be financed with the proceeds of the Green Bond are the Renewable Energy Micro Utilities and Afforestation Programmes.

She added that the Offer for the Green Bond is N10.69 billion, adding that the Bond will be issued from Monday, December 18, 2017.

Also speaking, Halima Abubakar, a representative of the Department of Climate Change, Federal Ministry of Finance, explained that Nigeria is prone to coastal environmental hazards, and that this was one of the reasons President Buhari signed the Paris Agreement for a global response to environmental challenges facing the nation.

Abubakar said the Green Bond project has five priority areas which require funding. She listed the areas as Agriculture, Forestry and Land Use, Industry, Oil and Gas, Power and Transportation.

Responding to a question by Bankole Ganiyu from Trust Fund Pensions, on the servicing of the Green Bonds, she said the Bond will be serviced from the 2017 Budget.

With the issuance of the Green Bond, Nigeria will become one of the few countries in the world and indeed the first African country to issue a Green Bond. Moody’s Investors Service has assigned a GB1 (Excellent) Green Bond Assessment to the Issuance.

The DMO is working with the Federal Ministry of Environment towards the Issuance while Chapel Hill Denham is the Financial Advisers to the Transaction