Nigeria’s Securities and Exchange Commisision announced on February 18 the implementation of a committee in charge of advising authorities regarding the issuance of the nation’s first sovereign sukuk.

The spokesperson of the Committee, Nalf Abdulsalam said the institution, which regroups representatives of the National Office for Debt Management, was to provide the amount of the sukuk as well as timeframe for its issuance, but also all regulatory aspects of the transaction which is to be carried out before the end of the year.

As oil prices are plunging and Naira is depreciating, Nigeria plans to borrow about $5 billion in 2016 to plug its budget deficit.

Islamic financing in Nigeria is still struggling to take off, despite half of Nigeria’s population (178 million residents) being Muslim. In 2013, the Osun State (South-West) issued a N10 billion sukuk ($62 million). However, no such transaction has been recorded since.