An Islamic finance expert from South Carolina, United States of America, Professor Monzer Khaf has urged the federal government of Nigeria to adopt sukuk financial system to stimulate rapid infrastructural development across the country.
He said the existing bond system is prune to corruption and therefore not amenable to meeting the current infrastructural development needs of the country.
He gave the charge in Kano in a presentation at a public lecture organized by the Institute of Islamic Banking and Finance (IIBF), Bayero University, Kano on the topic: “The role of Sukuk in Sustainable Development”.
According to him debt securities are wrong, “they give the issuer rights to do whatever he likes with it at the detriment of the developmental needs that are beneficial to the people, that has led to the accumulation of government debts because is easy to take out and sip it to personal pockets.”
He described sukuk as a formidable system that truly gears towards real social development.
“Fundamental to sukuk is to bring about development, as such it is devoid of any corrupt tendencies, it is equipped with some control mechanisms with it such that no a single penny can be taken out of the project it was meant for, it is project specific” Kahf said.
The Director, IIBF, Prof. Binta Jibril added that both Muslim and non Muslim countries have benefited from the system, and therefore urged the government to adopt it so as to raise funds for its infrastructural development initiatives.