Nigeria has completed its first commercial transaction of raw gold sales on the London Bullion Market Association (LBMA). The county earned $5 million, or N6 billion into its treasury, according to Minister of Solid Minerals Development, Mr. Dele Alake.
The 70 kilograms of gold were refined to the LBMA Good Delivery Standard by the Solid Minerals Development Fund – a parastatal within the Ministry of Mines.
Alake announced the milestone while presenting President Bola Tinubu with a newly refined gold bar from artisanal and small-scale miners.
He said refined gold would now be sold to the Central Bank of Nigeria under the new National Gold Purchase Program (NGPP) to boost Nigeria’s foreign reserves further.
“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,” the minister remarked.
In her presentation, the Executive Secretary of the Solid Minerals Development Fund, Mrs Fatimah Shinkafi, said the London Bullion Market Good Delivery Standard is a globally recognized, 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.
Diversifying The Economy
A delighted President Bola Tinubu, while receiving the symbolic gold bar, took credit and described the milestone as “another concrete step towards the diversification process under the Renewed Hope Agenda.”
According to CEIC data, Nigeria’s annual gold production was reported at 350.000 kg as at December 2022, and with new investments in the sector, production should ramp up quickly. JolibaLive News! has not yet found if previous gold earnings found its way to the federation account. Nigeria’s gold reserves as at 2023 stand at about 22 Tonnes, according to Trading Economies.
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