By Ngozi Onyeakusi — The Debt Management Office has disclosed that it listed its third sovereign Sukuk, N162.557bn seven-year 11.200 per cent AL Ijarah Sovereign Sukuk due 2027, on the Nigerian Stock Exchange and the FMDQ Securities Exchange. The Sukuk, which at the time of issuance was massively subscribed to the tune of N669.124bn or 446 per cent, was issued to finance 44 economic road projects across the six-geopolitical zones, it stated. With the listing, it said, investors who were already holding the Sukuk could trade them while new investors had an opportunity to buy the Sukuk in the secondary market. The DMO said it started the issuance of sovereign Sukuk in September 2017 as one of the measures towards attaining its strategic objective of bridging the infrastructure gap in Nigeria to promote job creation and economic growth. Through the sovereign Sukuk initiative, the DMO said it had raised a total sum of N362.57bn in less than three years for the rehabilitation and construction of major economic roads across the country. It said by issuing sovereign Sukuk, the product range available to investors in the domestic financial market had increased, while several retail investors had been attracted to the financial markets.