Lagos floats N60bn bond for development

 




The Lagos State Government says it is set to go to the capital market to float N60bn bond for infrastructural development. The government explained that the bond was the first tranche of the N500bn bond that the Lagos State House of Assembly approved for the Governor Akinwunmi Ambode-led administration a few months ago. The Commissioner for Finance, Akinyemi Ashade, stated this on Friday at the Annual General Meeting of Bond Series and Rating at the Civic Centre, Victoria Island, adding that the state would go to the capital market to raise the N60bn in December. Ashade said the state government needed deficit financing for “massive infrastructural development” across the state, adding that the strength of the state’s Internally Generated Revenue qualified it for deficit financing because means of paying back were on ground. The commissioner said, “The government is drawing N60bn bond from the N500bn bond approved by the state Assembly. The bond will be floated any moment from now. “Next year, the government will draw another N100bn bond. The N500bn bond is throughout the period of the current administration.” Ashade stated that the Securities and Exchange Commission had visited the state to assess the projects that the bond would cater to, adding that once the state got the nod in the month, it would float the bond. The commissioner, who noted that the AGM was on the three previous bonds floated by the state government, said the bonds were used to execute worthwhile projects. Some of the projects executed through the bonds, according to the commissioner, are the rehabilitation of the Alimosho General Hospital, Funsho Williams Avenue, construction of Ago Palace Way and the reconstruction of part of the Lagos-Ibadan Expressway, among others.