The Managing Director of Greenwich Merchant Bank, Bayo Rotimi has said that the Nigerian government needs to embrace partnerships to overcome the challenge of the country’s infrastructure deficit.
Rotimi, who was speaking during a media chat in Lagos noted that the best strategy the country can use right now to finance infrastructure is to look for investors who are willing to finance the projects under partnership agreements.
According to Rotimi, whose bank has been assisting the federal government in raising money for infrastructure, a number of investors are eager to collaborate with the government in a variety of economic areas.
He acknowledged that Nigeria has a substantial infrastructure deficit but asserted that neither the federal nor state governments are producing enough revenue to address the issue.
“You are all aware that the expense of paying down our debt has almost completely eliminated all of our national revenues. Therefore, the government must embrace partnerships if critical infrastructure is to be built.
He claimed Greenwich Merchant Bank had raised more than $2 billion for the federal government over the previous two years, while emphasizing that the bank had chosen to concentrate on the alternative financing markets, including non-interest financing for things like the issuing of Sukuk securities.
We take pride in the work we’ve done to assist the federal government in the housing industry. We have issued two back-to-back Sukuk for the Family Homes Fund. Both of them received excessive interest, once again having an effect and strengthening the financial markets.
We plan to introduce one more Islamic bank to the market this year; it’ll be a no-interest bank. So, he continued, “Greenwich has proven itself to be a leader in the issuance of non-interest financial products.
Greenwich Merchant Bank, which is owned by respected businesses and individual investors, was initially established as Greenwich Trust Limited in February 1992. It started operating in June 1994 and offered advisory services for the debt and equity markets as well as investment banking. After receiving its merchant banking license from CBN in September 2020, it became a merchant bank.
