The Islamic Development Bank (ISDB) has committed to disbursing $150 million in a matter of days to Nigeria to enhance the development of Special Agro-Processing Zones (SAPZs) in the country.
Mansur Muhtar, vice president, Country Operations, ISDB, made the disclosure during a panel session at the recently held 5th African International Conference on Islamic Finance held in Abuja.
Muhtar, who spoke on the topic “Infrastructure Financing, Sustainability and the Future of African Markets”, emphasised that islamic finance offers several features and practices that could support infrastructural growth in the country.
According to him, islamic banking is asset backed and based on participation and risk sharing, including social and environmental sustainability that are consistent with Islamic principles of supporting infrastructure.
He added that ISDB focuses on projects in social and fiscal infrastructure which the bank implements by placing emphasis on regional connectivity.
“For example, in Nigeria in the next couple of days, the ISDB will be making a contribution to a project that is aimed at supporting the development of special agricultural processing zones and we will be committing $150 billion. We have also been involved in several other projects in Nigeria,” he said.
Also speaking at the event, Zainab Ahmed, minister of finance, budget and national planning, pointed out that one of the challenges hindering the development of Islamic finance in Nigeria is the wrong notion that Islamic finance is just for Muslims.
To address the challenge, the minister called for the establishment of comprehensive operational frameworks for Islamic financial products and services and increased awareness of these financing options to the real sector.
