Esther Oritse
Lagos — The Nigerian Stock Exchange, NGX, has commenced moves to fund the Nigeria Blue Economy sector through a proposed issuance of Blue Bond.
Speaking on the sidelines of the quarterly citizens and stakeholders’ engagement organized by the Ministry of Marine and Blue Economy in Lagos, the Chief Executive Officer of the Nigerian Exchange Limited (NGX), Jude Chiemeka, announced that the Exchange, in collaboration with the Ministry, will issue Blue Bonds to mobilize funding for economic activities in the maritime sector.
Chiemeka further explained that the bond would be issued through the Ministry of Finance on behalf of the Ministry of Marine and Blue Economy, with the proceeds directed towards funding maritime activities which according to him mirrors all the key areas the Minister spoke about.
He noted that the objective is to promote sustainability, enhance security, and support aquaculture, with the necessary capital for these infrastructures to be raised from the public.
He said: “We do recognise that the government budgetary allocations might be enough and because there are investors, international and domestic investors who are looking for instruments that aligned with Environmental, Sustainability and Governance, ASG, where the Blue Bonds clearly meets these objectives.
“So, those investors will subscribe to the fund and they will be able to raise the money. We believe this is achievable because, if you look at the domestic Pension Fund Administrators (PFAs), they manage about N25 trillion, and five percent of that fund can be applied to enable the issuance.
“Green Bonds have been issued by both the private sector and the Federal government and they have been oversubscribed and we are over confident that issuing a Blue Bond will not be any different.
“The government can a N300million programme and issue them in tranches. We were very instrumental in helping the Federal government in issuing the first green Bonds in as far back in 2019 and it is something we believe we can also assist to do on the Blue Bond side.”
He revealed that the Nigerian Exchange (NGX) has held several discussions with the Federal Ministry of Marine and Blue Economy on the initiative.
