THE Governor of the Central Bank of Nigeria, Godwin Emefiele, on Thursday, presented a dummy cheque of N268.6m for a 12.5kg London Bullion Market Association Gold to the Chief of Staff, Ibrahim Gambari.
The virtual launch of the Gold Purchase, under the Presidential Artisanal Gold Mining Initiative, took place before President Buhari at the Council Chambers, State House, Abuja.
The CBN, in a tweet, said it paid a total of N268.6million to purchase the gold bar, which now belongs to Nigeria’s external reserves.
Nigeria, for the first time ever, in June 2020, acquired the artisanally-mined gold that was processed and refined, according to the London Bullion Market Association standards, required for the use of gold as a reserve instrument.
The launch is the culmination of 24 months of efforts between the Solid Minerals Development Fund, Kebbi and Osun State Governments, Ministry of Mines and Steel Development, and the Ministry of Finance, Budget, and National Planning, under a Steering Committee, led by the Chief of Staff to the President.
The Presidential Artisanal Gold Mining Development Initiative is a comprehensive artisanal and small-scale gold mining development programme, launched in 2019.
The PAGMI is aimed at fostering the formalisation and integration of artisanal gold mining activities into Nigeria’s legal, economic, and institutional framework.
It has been designed to result in the creation of over 500,000 new mining and formalised jobs, leading to poverty alleviation for more than one million households.
The initiative will also allow the apex bank to purchase locally produced gold in Naira to boost the nation’s foreign reserves.
