The Debt Management Office (DMO) says the Federal Government of Nigeria (FGN) savings bond has received subscriptions of N45.135 billion between its inception in 2017 and 2022.

The director-general of the DMO, Patience Oniha, said this on Tuesday in Lagos at the unveiling and demonstration of the securities subscription portal at a stakeholders meeting.

Ms Oniha said the FGN savings bond, specifically designed to encourage retail investors, had done well across the country’s six geo-political zones, going by the numbers.

She said the stakeholders’ meeting was arranged to review the FGN savings bond’s performance and present the portal.

She said the DMO worked with the Central Securities Clearing System (CSCS) to develop the portal.

“This explains why the Primary Dealers Market Makers, Central Bank of Nigeria, Securities and Exchange Commission, Nigeria Exchange Limited and stockbroking firms have been invited.

“The DMO believes that the product has more potential than what has been achieved so far and has, for now, identified two ways to achieve much higher volumes and numbers of investors,” she said.

According to the director-general, in 2022, the DMO embarked on investor sensitisation programmes across several cities in Nigeria.

“This strategy proved successful as total subscriptions almost doubled from N8.396 billion in 2021 to N16.589 billion in 2022.

“Given this outcome, the DMO plans more of such sensitisation, as well as wider publicity.

“The other strategy is to deploy technology to the process to make the subscription fast, easy and overall, more convenient,” she said.

She said the portal had been tested with distribution agents for the FGN savings bond, adding that the presentation was to expose it to a wider group of stakeholders.

In a paper presentation, Bose Olafisoye from the DMO said the FGN savings bond was introduced as part of the market development initiatives of the office.

According to Ms Olafisoye, there is a higher and increasing investor appetite for the three-year FGN savings bond relative to the two-year bond, based on the subscription level.

“This could be due to the 100 basis points difference in the coupons and investors’ preference for longer maturities,” she said.

(NAN)