FG directs DMO to seek cheaper sources of fund

 

Friday, 2 Jul 2010    

 

Vice-President Namadi Sambo has charged the Debt Management Office to source cheap funds to enhance national economic growth and development.He said this on Thursday, while chairing the meeting of the DMO supervisory Board at the State House, Abuja.

 

The vice-president said, “The need for potential sources of cheap funds, the amounts available, as well as the terms and conditions of such funds, which posed a challenge, must be surmounted and a strategy evolved for sourcing of funds for national growth and development.”He further charged the DMO to solicit the services of specialist consultants to assist it in the task.

 

The DMO is saddled with the responsibility of devising ways of reducing Nigeria’s debt burden, exploring options of sourcing cheaper long-term capital and encouraging inflow of additional resources.The meeting also discussed a wide range of issues, ranging from staff promotion, FGN bonds for Nigerians in the Diaspora, to debt data re-structuring for states.

 

On the issue of the promotion of employees, the meeting advised the office to wait until the ongoing full appraisal of its workers was completed.Earlier, the DMO had, at a forum in London, presented FGN bonds to Nigerians in the United Kingdom with the aim of broadening the investor base for the bond market.

 

Such interaction with Nigerian professionals afforded the DMO the opportunity of meeting with registered Primary Dealer Market Makers.The DMO said it would organise similar fora in other countries with high concentration of Nigerians.

 

The ongoing debt data reconstruction exercise in the 36 states of the federation is targeted at equipping the officers of the debt management units to acquire sufficient skills to correctly collate and validate domestic debt data and information from ministries, departments and agencies.To date, the DMO, reflecting the recommendations on appropriate strategies to be adopted in order to reduce Nigeria’s debt in the medium and long term, has carried out a domestic debt data reconstruction exercise in Ekiti, Kaduna, Niger, Imo, Oyo and Osun states. It is envisaged that this exercise would have been conducted in 14 more states by the end of the year.

 

In attendance at the meeting were the Minister of Finance, Mr. Olusegun Aganga; Director-General, DMO, Mr. Abraham Nwankwo; Solicitor-General, Federal Ministry of Justice, Mr. Abdullahi Ahmed Yola; Accountant-General of the Federation, Mr. Ibrahim Dankwambo, Director, Central Bank of Nigeria, Mr. Suleiman Bardu; and Director, DMO, Mrs. A. M. Mohammed.

 

(Source:Punch)

 

 

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