ShareDetermined to aid development in critical sectors, the Debt Management Office (DMO) has said it is developing a sovereign guaranteed product as a way to assist the funding of critical sectors of the nation's economy, even as it explained that the product would enable it serve as a guarantor for projects that were of significant value to development. According to the Director, Market Development Department, DMO, Mrs Patience Oniha, who disclosed this at a parley recently, the product is meant for selective projects that the private sector of the economy would embark upon. She noted that the products would not guarantee projects that did not have huge developmental implications for the government. Oniha said: “The Debt Management Office is developing a product around sovereign guarantee. The product can only guarantee real critical projects, as against the projects that are of less importance to government. “You know that private public partner-ship (PPP) activities are taking place all over the world to foster economic growth. So, the projects must fall along that line before it can be guaranteed by DMO.” She said the product would not guarantee small projects such as shoe making, among others, because they were not going to have huge macro economic implications for the government. She cited the on-going construction of the 10 lane Lagos-Badagry expressway as one of the projects that can be guaranteed by the product. “Lagos-Badagry expressway project is a big one in all ramifications. You know the terrain is water logged, and this implies that they need to borrow capital to construct the project,” she said. According to her, the product is not going to be advertised like the Federal Government of Nigeria (FGN) bonds, Treasury Bills (TBs), among other fixed-income securities. “It is not FGN bonds that are issued publicly to finance infrastruc-tures. So, the product is something that would be presented to the public,” she added.