The Ministry of Solid Minerals Development has presented to President Bola Tinubu a gold bar sourced from artisanal and small gold miners, to be sold to the Central Bank of Nigeria to bolster foreign reserves.
Presenting the bar to the President in Abuja, the Minister, Dr. Dele Alake, said it was refined by the Solid Minerals Development Fund, an agency of the Ministry, to meet the London Bullion Market Association Good Delivery Standard.
The Minister commended President Tinubu for supporting reforms in the solid minerals sector, assuring that the National Gold Purchase Programme, NGPP, will increase the country’s reserve and boost the value of the Naira.
Dr. Alake said the selling of the bar would mark the first commercial transaction under the NGPP, the centralised offtake scheme supported by a decentralised aggregation and production network of artisanal and small-scale miners and co-operatives.
“The successful completion of the first commercial transaction will clearly demonstrate the National Gold Purchase Programme’s effectiveness. It will increase the nation’s foreign reserves assets and show that using the Nigerian Naira to purchase a liquid asset traded in United States Dollars, such as gold, is a viable strategy.
This transaction will also underscore the potential of the National Gold Purchase Program to enhance fiscal and monetary stability”, the. Minister said.
Dr. Alake said the first commercial transaction would deliver five million dollars increase in Nigeria’s foreign reserves assets, noting that 70+ kilograms of gold refined to the London Bullion Market Good Delivery Standard will successfully aggregate locally-mined gold, thereby injecting about 6 billion Naira into the rural economy.
Symbolically receiving and displaying the gold 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.
The Executive Secretary of the Solid Minerals Development Fund, Hajia Fatimah Shinkafi, had said the London Bullion Market Good Delivery Standard was the globally recognised stringent and trusted standard that enabled 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.
Hajia Shinkafi said through the efforts of the National Gold Purchase Program under the Ministry of Solid Minerals Development, Nigeria had joined a select group of countries bolstering their gold reserves by purchasing gold in local currency to foster economic confidence, enhance currency stability, and create a more attractive environment for foreign investment.
Bello Wakili
