Business

TAJBank, ICD seal pact on capital projects’ financing in Nigeria

Published

2 years ago

June 14, 2022

Joel Ajayi
TAJBank Limited, Nigeria’s leading non-interest bank, has signed a Memorandum of Understanding(MoU) with the Islamic Corporation for the Development of the Private Sector (ICD), a member of theIslamic Development Bank (IsDB) Group, aimed at attracting funding for major infrastructure projects inNigeria.

The MOU signing between TAJBank and the ICD is to express a convergence of will between both entities and build a relationship between the Nigerian lender and the international organization toexplore avenues of financing key capital projects in the Country.

According to the bank’s board, the Sukuk will be offered in tranches of N10 billion each as soon as regulatory approvals are secured.

Speaking on the MOU after the signing, TAJBank’s Managing Director/CEO, Mr. Hamid Joda, enthused: “We are deeply delighted to have crossed another milestone with the signing of this MOU and especially with the Islamic Corporation for the Development of the Private Sector (ICD), it only further buttresses our intention of stimulating investments in critical sectors of the economy leading to national development.

“As we all know, Nigeria has a huge infrastructure gap that requires funding through long-term fundslike that of the ICD”, Joda added.

In his remarks on the deal, the bank’s Executive Director, Mr. Sherif Idi, also expressed his joy over thedevelopment, stressing that the signing of the MoU further demonstrates that “TAJBank is sustaining its giant strides, and this is seen in this partnership as we hope to do more in securing investments that will further bring about creation of jobs and production for better national advancement.”

TAJBank, a leading non-interest bank in the country, commenced operations about two years ago and has accomplished several milestones, including expanding its branch network to 22 within its franchisearea during the period.

The non-interest banking services provider had a few days ago unveiled plans to launch a private sector targeted N100 billion Sukuk programme under a Mudaraba structure that will afford it the opportunity to grow its capital base and by so doing, position it on a strong pedestal to finance large and long-term projects in Nigeria.

The ICD is a multilateral development financial institution under the IsDB saddled with the responsibilityof supporting the development of its member-countries through the provision of finance for private sector projects, promoting competition and entrepreneurship and encouraging cross border investments, amongst other key responsibilities

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Business

FG To Pin Down Ways, Means To Address Liquidity In The System

Published

18 hours ago

April 19, 2024

The Gleamer

Joel Ajayi

In its avowed determination to alleviate the pressure of excess money in the system, the Federal Government has said that it will pin down Ways and Means to deal with the problem of too much liquidity in the system

The Honourable Minister of Finance and Co-ordinating Minister of the Economy, Mr Wale Edun, disclosed this in Washington DC, United States of America, while answering questions from journalists shortly
after a meeting with investors at the on-going Spring Meetings of the IMF and World Bank.

He informed the global gathering that the President Bola Ahmed Tinubu-led Administration was fully determined to
pinning down on Ways and Means to alleviate the pressure of the excess money in the system, adding that in the light of this, the fiscal and monetary authorities were also working towards bringing down inflation.

Mr. Edun added that by so doing, the two authorities are working hand in hand to bring down inflation and pressure on price stability and stabilising the exchange rate with the target of bringing down interest rates so that investors can borrow at a more affordable rate with a view to getting the economy going the right direction again.

We need to borrow less and focus more on domestic resource mobilization. We want long-term resources to avoid repayment and refinancing pressures, he said.

The Minister added further that the nation’s tax/GDP was too low, even lower than the African region’s average and that as such, reforms were underway to streamline the number of taxes, deploy technology and implement policies that would double tax revenue in the next three years

At 10 percent to GDP, what should I say? It would appear as if some people are not paying their taxes. Our strategy is to increase the tax revenue without increasing the rate of taxes. We want to deploy technology to make tax collection more efficient.

Our analysis has shown that 90 percent of tax revenue comes from nine tax heads while we have over 80 taxes from federal through states to local councils.
If we eliminate the large number of these taxes and concentrate on the nine that yield the current 90 percent revenue and deploy technology, there will be more efficiency and we will be able to double our tax revenue in about three years, Edun said

He stated further that if we eliminate the large number of taxes and bill people properly, we will gain in terms of the peoples’ willingness to pay and you will collect more revenue. The Minister assured.

While addressing a question on food security, the Minister said that the present administration was dealing with the problem so as to provide farmers’ access to their farms, especially in parts of the country where insecurity has played a major role in reducing food production.

Mr. Wale Edun added that agro clusters were being developed in collaboration with the African Development Bank so as to increase food production in the country.

Alongside the Minister at the meeting were the former Minister of Finance Zainab Ahmed, Permanent Secretary, Federal Ministry of Finance Mrs Lydia Shehu Jafiya, Governor of the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) Mr Olayemi Cardoso and some other top government officials.

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