The hub, that is, for Sharia finance — and with Sharia finance comes Sharia, which bodes ill for the country’s non-Muslims. “Nigeria Plans Sukuk Debut Targeting Role as Shariah Hub: Islamic Finance,” by Dana El Baltaji for Bloomberg, September 28:
Nigeria, Africa’s second-largest economy and home to 75 million Muslims, plans to sell its first Islamic debt within 12 months as part of a bid to become the continent’s center for Shariah-compliant financing.
“Nigeria will be the Islamic hub by 2020,” central bank Governor Lamido Sanusi said in a Sept. 24 telephone interview from the capital, Abuja. The government has yet to decide on a size for the sukuk sale, he said….
International sales of Islamic debt, which comply with the religion’s ban on interest by paying asset-based returns, declined 24 percent to $10.7 billion so far this year, according to data compiled by Bloomberg. Issuance is rebounding after Dubai World, one of the emirates’ three main state-controlled holding companies, reached an agreement this month with creditors to change terms on $24.9 billion of debt….
Nigeria’s population, which is 50 percent Muslim, “remains largely unbanked,” Razia Khan, head of Africa research at Standard Chartered Bank Plc in London, wrote in an e-mailed response to questions yesterday. “So yes, Nigeria has the right demographics to emerge as a hub for Islamic banking in Sub- Saharan Africa.”…
The country in a “few weeks” will issue guidelines to allow conventional banks to open so-called Islamic windows and subsidiaries, Sanusi said. “There is a very strong desire among the population for Islamic financial products.”…