- London Has More Capital for Nigeria – Lord Mayor
The Lord Mayor of London, Charles Bowman, on Thursday, said the City of London has the ability to provide more access to finance for the development of Nigeria’s infrastructure.
Bowman, who stated this in Lagos at an event, described Nigeria as an important bilateral partner “with whom the UK already enjoys a special bond as evidenced by the important contribution the 200,000-strong Nigerian diaspora make to the UK.”
He said, “We are here to work in partnership and collaboration to innovate on financing solutions underlined by the strong partnership with the London and Nigerian Stock Exchanges.”
He said the two stock exchanges had created an innovative platform for dual listing of equity and bonds which had already proved successful, as the heavily oversubscribed Eurobond and Diaspora bonds showed last year, in raising £6.5bn.
Bowman stated, “The massive demand is a strong statement of international investor interest in building exposure to Nigeria’s economy. It demonstrates the City’s ability to provide a deep additional channel of finance for the development of Nigerian infrastructure and the growth of its economy.
“The City of London also recognises the need to finance Nigeria’s infrastructure using naira-denominated financial instruments.”
He said engagement had begun with the City of London and key Nigerian institutions to develop “the concept of a Jollof Bond.
“Similar instrument have already been used successfully in India and China. And will eliminate foreign exchange risk for Nigerian issuers – from the government down to Small and Medium Eneterprises and provide even greater access to capital for this key sector,” Bowman added.
He said the key objectives of his visit to Nigeria was to provide assurance that the City of London would remain the pre-eminent global financial centre well into the future; to advance the strong ties that exist between the UK and Nigeria, and to harness this relationship to improve bilateral trade, investment and business-to-business opportunities.
Bowman said, “The relationship between Nigeria and the UK is strong. Our bilateral trade is strong, currently standing at around £3.4bn per annum. And it is set to become even stronger – forecast to reach £7bn by 2030.
“This is a great foundation on which to build future success, but in my view, we can do much more. As I have travelled in Abuja and Lagos these past few days, it has become abundantly clear that Nigeria – already Africa’s largest and most populous country – is at an important point.”
He stated that Nigeria needed to sustain three to four million jobs each year, adding that to achieve that, economic growth must rise from the current two per cent to a least six to seven per cent.
“I have been hearing during my three days in Nigeria that in order to achieve this, four things need to happen; creating investable infrastructure assets, improving access to capital, promoting financial inclusion, and developing an enabling and compliance-based business environment,” the lord mayor said, adding that the city was well-positioned to be Nigeria’s partner of choice.
He said, “First, Nigeria needs to finance and create the modern infrastructure that every successful economy needs, specifically in the areas of power, gas distribution, transport, information technology and broadband, while not forgetting the softer areas of health and education.”
According to him, London hosts the largest cluster of professional and financial services required for large-scale infrastructure projects.
Bowman said, “We can finance projects, advise on their legal and regulatory framework, deliver the projects through our civil engineering and project management experts, and insure final product.
“Nigeria’s second priority should be improving access to capital – moving away from an over-reliance on the banks and unlocking dead capital – be it in pensions or real estate, finding innovative solutions and unleashing the capital market. And Nigeria is and can further benefit from access to London’s capital markets.”
