By Adedapo Adesanya
The Minister of Solid Minerals Development, Mr Dele Alake says the National Gold Purchase programme will increase the country’s reserve and boost the Naira’s value.
This was disclosed when he presented the latest gold bar sourced from artisanal and small gold miners and refined in the country to President Bola Tinubu, according to a statement on Sunday.
Mr Alake said the refined gold meets the London Bullion Market Association Good Delivery Standard and would be sold to the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) to bolster foreign reserves.
The Minister said the production marked the first commercial transaction under the National Gold Purchase Programme (NGPP), the centralised offtake scheme supported by a decentralised aggregation and production network of artisanal and small-scale miners and cooperatives.
“The successful completion of the first commercial transaction demonstrates the National Gold Purchase Programme’s effectiveness.
“It has increased the nation’s foreign reserves assets and shown that using the Nigerian Naira to purchase a liquid asset traded in United States Dollars, such as gold, is a viable strategy. This transaction has also underscored the potential of the National Gold Purchase Programme to enhance fiscal and monetary stability,” he said.
Mr Alake said the first commercial transaction has delivered a +US$5 million increase in Nigerian’s foreign reserves assets, 70+ kilograms of gold refined to the London Bullion Market Good Delivery Standard and successful aggregation of locally mined gold thereby injecting about 6 billion naira into the rural economy.
Receiving the symbolic bar, President Tinubu commended the Ministry for achieving a major milestone in the administration’s drive to diversify the economy.
“This is another concrete step towards the diversification process under the Renewed Hope Agenda,” the President said.
In her presentation, the Executive Secretary of the Solid Minerals Development Fund, Mrs Fatimah Shinkafi, said the London Bullion Market Good Delivery Standard is the globally recognised stringent and trusted standard that enables the global trade in gold and silver bars.
“Only gold and silver bars that meet our Good Delivery standards are acceptable in the settlement of a Loco London contract – where the bullion traded is physically held in London,” she said.
This is coming after a bill for an Act to make provision for Nigeria’s Gold Reserve Industry passed a second reading in the Senate.
The bill sponsored by Mrs Natasha Akpoti seeks a robust framework for the harnessing, exploitation and marketing of gold which is about 600,000 tonnes in reserves in the country worth $45 billion.
She said the bill would attract both domestic and foreign investors, stimulate job creation, and boost revenue streams for the government.