LAGOS — Nigeria plans to go ahead with its delayed $500 million debut Eurobond in two to three weeks and it expects a bill to create a sovereign wealth fund to pass under the current administration, the finance minister said weekend.

“Very soon, in the next two to three weeks, we will be going…to the market with the $500 million Eurobond that was supposed to happen last year,” Finance Minister Olusegun Aganga told journalists.

Nigeria first announced plans to borrow  from the international bond market in September 2008 but later put the issue on hold, citing adverse market conditions.

The aim of the 10-year bond is to set a benchmark in the global market for Nigeria rather than to raise funds, meaning the pricing was more important than the timing.

Nigeria last year appointed Deutsche Bank and Citigroup as bookrunners for the Eurobond and named Barclays Capital and FBN Capital, a subsidiary of Nigeria’s First Bank, as its financial advisers.

Analysts have grown increasingly concern about the state of the public finances in Africa’s top oil exporter and its third biggest economy, particularly as April elections approach and costly campaigns get under way.

But most analysts say the relatively small size of the issue, appetite for high-yielding assets, and the paucity of West African debt issues means investors would be ready to shrug off those short-term risks.

Aganga and Citi’s Chief Executive Vikram Pandit have said there will be significant demand for the issue. Separately, Aganga said on Friday he expected parliament to pass a bill to create a sovereign wealth fund within the tenure of the current administration.

The federal and state governments had set aside $1 billion in seed capital for the fund. “I expect and hope that we will get the bill passed before the end of this administration,” Aganga said.

Nigeria wants to establish the fund to divert more of its revenues towards badly-needed infrastructure development, save for future generations, and set aside a financial reserve to weather any economic downturns.

The wealth fund would replace the current system by which the OPEC member is meant to save oil revenues above a benchmark price into an excess crude account (ECA).

The account held $20 billion when the late President Umaru Yar’Adua began the current presidential term four years ago. It now holds $300 million after the latest $1 billion disbursal to the three tiers of government in December.