Dele Alake, the minister of solid minerals development, says
the national gold purchase programme (NGPP) will boost the country’s foreign
reserves and strengthen the naira.
Alake spoke on Wednesday at the Nigeria gold day celebration
on the sidelines of the 10th edition of the Nigeria mining week, themed
‘Nigeria Mining: From Progress to Global Relevance’, in Abuja.
Alake said gold as an international currency acceptable for
various exchanges, which Nigeria, through the NGPP, can leverage to increase
its foreign reserves.
The NGPP is a centralised offtake scheme supported by a
decentralised aggregation and production network of artisanal and small-scale
miners and cooperatives.
The minister said the programme will also curb gold
smuggling and reposition the solid minerals sector for greater productivity and
transparency.
“The philosophy of that programme, how salutary it is, is
that, we use our local naira, not foreign exchange, to mop up gold, then sell
it to the CBN,” he said.
“The CBN in turn, makes part of the payment in naira but the
gold kept in its vault becomes a foreign currency asset.
“The process thereby, increases the value of our foreign
reserves and reduces the pressure on the local currency.”
Alake said the solid mineral development fund (SMDF) is
driving the programme, with increased allocation in 2025 to purchase locally
mined gold with naira, reducing reliance on dollars.
“We use our naira and get naira back from CBN for the gold
itself becomes foreign reserves for the bank,” he said.
“This is to say that there is no amount of economic
calculation you can do that will be faster in terms of shoring up our foreign
reserves than this particular gold programme.”
Fatima Shinkafi, the executive director of the SMDF, said
gold exploration funding in Nigeria is trending upwards, contrary to global
trends.
She encouraged participants at the summit to explore
Nigeria’s gold opportunities.
Earlier at the event, Shuaibu Abubakar, the minister of
steel development, said the federal government has initiated talks with the
Republic of China to take over the revitalisation of the Ajaokuta Steel Company
Limited (ASCL) and the National Iron Ore Mining Company (NIOMCO).
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