EMEA Finance, a United-Kingdom-based magazine, has honoured the Lagos State government for successfully floating N80bn bond in November last year.
For this achievement, it gave the state government the best local currency bond award for 2012.
The award, the first to be conferred on any organisation in Nigeria, was presented to the state government in London.
EMEA linked the success of the bond issue to the ‘financial prudence and debt management drive’ of the state government.
Published by Exporta Publishing and Events Limited, the magazine took special recognition of the N80bn bond, and commended the state for taking the bold step to address its infrastructure regeneration projects.
The N80bn bond is the first tranche of the total N167.5bn second bond
programme of the government, the largest sub-national bond ever issued on the Nigerian bond market.
A statement by the Special Adviser to the Governor on Media, Mr. Hakeem Bello, said the award was presented the Commissioner for Finance, Mr. Tokunbo Abiru, during the EMEA Finance’s presentation of achievements 2013 awards dinner.
The statement quoted the Publisher and Chief Executive Officer of EMEA Finance, Mr. Christopher Moore, as noting that the state had won the award across three continents namely Europe, the Middle East and Africa.
Moore said, “The magazine has a vision to be an independent voice, that speaks at the highest level of integrity and journalistic ethics for the financial community and others across the EMEA region namely, Europe, the Middle East and Africa. Lagos State Government is, therefore, not only a national or continental winner but an inter-continental winner.”
Abiru said part of the credibility of the bond was the way the state had managed its debt management strategy.
The commissioner noted, “Essentially part of the credibility of the bond is the way and manner Lagos State has managed its debt management strategy, which has been adjudged to be very efficient. This is also influenced by the fact the debt that we raised provided the fund that we used to expand the economy of Lagos because they are essentially monies that are channelled to capital expenditure.”
He also said, “The qualification would also include the fact that Lagos State boasts of very strong fiscal strategy in terms of fiscal revenue.