PRESS RELEASE
2018 NEW YEAR MMESSAGE
Good morning Members of the Press.
On behalf of all the members of the esteemed Alumni of the International Institute of Islamic Banking and Finance, Bayero University Kano, I send our goodwill and best wishes to fellow Nigerians especially those in the financial industry.
We are aware and concerned, the Nigerian economy is facing a hard time, which impacts on the ordinary Nigerians. The Alumni is confident that the Federal Government is working tirelessly and would ensure that the economy is viable once again.
As professionals in the field of ethical or non-profit finance, we once again express our deep gratitude to the Federal Government in embracing the Islamic Sukuk in its road construction.
The Nigerian economy is in a critical stage and therefore requires all hands to be on deck to salvage it for the improved livelihood conditions of the general populace. In view of this, Islamic finance is the most appropriate instrument to apply, at this material time, in rescuing and revamping the economy.
The Alumni IIIBF-BUK as a body is calling on the Federal and State governments and investors to fully open up to Islamic banking and finance and utilize its products. This is the best time for State governments to set-up and establish Islamic microfinance banks, which has a direct impact on the poor and financially excluded members of the society.
In the same vein, the Federal Government should make a Sukuk public offer of the Nigerian refineries, so as to revitalize, expand, modernize and turn them around. This will increase future output and hence stop further draining of funds from government coffers in the name of repairs or maintenance. The funds can equally be used in reconstructing new refineries as means of expansion.
State governments can also explore sukuk in order to raise enough funds in stepping up steady electricity supply, as well as turn-around their ailing and dilapidated industries. This is a way of creating employment opportunities for the teeming Nigerian youths.
In terms of agriculture, we are calling on both Federal and State governments to apply the product called salam. It is an Islamic finance product that can help poor farmers to cultivate without the usual constraints and unnecessary difficulties faced by farmers in the third world.
Nigeria is a great country and therefore should direct its financial and economic bearing in the direction pursued by bigger and richer countries, who are presently moving and aligning towards Islamic banking and finance. Worldwide business moguls, financial bodies and governments have understood Islamic banking and finance as a medium of achieving sound and viable economy for a country, or as an investment of high profit and lesser risk.
We at the Alumni IIIBF-BUK wishes the leaders of thought, captains of industries, capital investors, financial policy makers, the press and indeed all Nigerians a year of tranquility and buoyancy.
Thank you.
Ahmad S. Gimba
NATIONAL PRESIDENT
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