The Minister of Solid Minerals Development, Dele Alake, has said that the National Gold Purchase Programme (NGPP) will help increase Nigeria’s foreign reserves and improve the value of the naira.
Alake made this known at the Nigeria Gold Day Celebration held on the sidelines of the 10th edition of Nigeria’s Mining Week in Abuja. The event, themed “Nigeria Mining: From Progress to Global Relevance,” brought together stakeholders to discuss how the country can use its gold resources to achieve economic stability.
The minister described gold as an international currency accepted worldwide for trade and investment. According to him, the NGPP gives Nigeria a chance to use gold as a tool to strengthen the country’s foreign reserves.
“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,” Alake 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.”
The National Gold Purchase Programme is part of the Presidential Artisanal Gold Mining Initiative (PAGMI). It creates structured markets for gold produced by artisanal miners through licensed buying centres and aggregators. Under this scheme, the refined gold is supplied to the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) to be added to the nation’s external reserves.
Alake explained that the programme is also helping to reduce gold smuggling and reposition the solid minerals sector for better transparency and productivity. He noted that the initiative will allow Nigeria to reduce its dependence on foreign exchange for economic growth.
“This year, we are allocating more money into that programme so that as we use naira to mop up gold locally, since this gold is found and mined locally, then we don’t need to go outside to look for dollars,” he said. “We use our naira and get naira back from CBN, for the gold itself becomes foreign reserves for the bank. 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.”
The minister said the Solid Minerals Development Fund (SMDF) is driving the implementation of the NGPP, with increased funding expected in 2025. He emphasized that the initiative would have a direct impact on the country’s economy by improving liquidity and reducing pressure on the naira.
In her remarks, the Executive Director of SMDF, Fatima Shinkafi, highlighted that gold exploration funding in Nigeria is increasing, unlike global trends where investment in the sector is slowing.
“In the broader macro-economic context, gold is a safe haven,” Shinkafi said. “We implore everyone here to examine Nigeria’s gold resources and support the minister’s efforts to make Nigeria a premier destination for junior miners. In another year or so, let’s look at this Nigeria’s Gold Day 2025 as a pivotal turning point.”
The Nigeria Mining Week, held from October 13 to 15, is organized by the Miners Association of Nigeria in partnership with PricewaterhouseCoopers (PwC) and the VUKA Group. The event focuses on opportunities in the mining sector and strategies to enhance Nigeria’s global mining relevance.