The Federal Government on Thursday announced that arrangements had been completed for the issuance of its second green bond in December 2018 to facilitate the funding of climate change projects across the country.
The Minister of State for Environment, Ibrahim Jibril, announced the government’s readiness to issue the second green bond at a two-day national stakeholders retreat organised by the Federal Ministry of Environment ahead of the planned issuance.
The government had in 2017 issued a maiden N10.69bn green bond with a five-year tenor to fund projects for the development of renewable energy.
Jibril, who spoke through his Senior Technical Assistance, Ishiyaku Mohammed, said the retreat was designed to sensitise and galvanise the active participation of stakeholders in the issuance process.
He said the event was equally meant to review the grey areas from the first insurance with a view to consolidating and strengthening the process towards a hitch-free second phase.
According to him, the issuance of green bonds was one of the ways that the country had adopted to meet its obligations to the Paris Agreement as well as fast-track the reduction of emissions in line with the Paris Treaty.
With the successful first issuance in 2017, Nigeria became the first country in Africa to take such initiative.
In July 2018, Jibril stated that the capital market could see issues of around N208bn this year to fund projects in order to reduce carbon emissions.
The FME had explained that the total figure was not fixed and would depend on an evaluation of the projects that need funding.
It also stated that a bond programme for environmental projects was part of the government’s aim to align with a global objective of expanding the market for finance in efforts to fight climate change.
Posted by Juliet Ekwebelam (NAN)
