Islamic finance, fastest growing area in global and finance - Sanusi Lamido

The Emir of Kano, Sanusi Lamido Sanusi (II) who was the keynote speaker at the 4th African International Conference on Islamic Finance (AICIF), has said that Islamic finance is an alternative finance industry that is now generally accepted in the world, regardless of the challenges if faces with licensing, statement that it was not only a non-interest finance solution but also a tool that addresses the fundamental problems we have around the world.

Sanusi made this statement Monday, during the 4th African International Conference on Islamic Finance (AICIF), organised by the Metropolitan Law Firm in Lagos.

Speaking on the future of Islamic Financing he said that Islamic Finance as at today is the fastest growing area in global finance, which is why most world leaders are interested in having their countries as the center of Islamic finance. He believes that the potential of the product is very huge as tangible results can be seen in areas the

SUKUK funds were utilised.

“SUKUK (bonds) for example, show Nigerians where the money is going to by making sure the money is used in the actual project it was meant for, it makes sure we have cash backing for projects, and takes care of the problem of inflated contracts as a result of the ethical and responsible nature of the finance.

“The problem with the government is that Money taken long term are used majorly for overheads and we see a situation where there is little set aside for infrastructural development. This is where SUKUK comes in, to take care of the Infrastructural financing gap we have in the country today, the Emir said.

To ensure that one in four Africans who do not have access to banking-and finance can access it then there is need to tackle the problems in these ways, “How we delivery our financial services, Invest more in financial literacy and enlightenment,

“On the part of delivery, Using FINTECH is a major way to deal with some of these challenges. We have not done enough even in delivering mobile financial services. He added.

Speaking further he said that there is a huge need to create awareness of these products across the country.

“When I was the Governor of the CBN, we approved $5 million for training in capacity building. There needs to be a big investment in capacity building in the finance industry. This takes care of that,” Sanusi said.