The minister of solid mineral development, Dele Alake, says the National Gold Purchase Programme (NGPP) will shore up Nigeria`s foreign reserves and boost the value of the naira.

Mr Alake stated this at the Nigeria Gold Day Celebration on the sidelines of the 10th edition of Nigeria’s Mining Week, with the theme, `Nigeria Mining: From Progress to Global Relevance`, on Wednesday in Abuja.

He described gold as an international currency acceptable for various exchanges, which Nigeria, through the NGPP, can leverage to increase its foreign reserves.

NGPP is part of the Presidential Artisanal Gold Mining Initiative (PAGMI), which creates structured markets for gold produced by artisanal miners through licensed buying centres and aggregators.

Under the scheme, the refined gold is supplied to the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) for inclusion in the nation’s external reserves.

He said that the programme, besides boosting Nigeria’s foreign reserves, was curbing the smuggling of gold to other countries, thereby repositioning 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.

“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,” he said.

He said that the programme was being driven by the Solid Mineral Development Fund (SMDF), which had begun in earnest with increased allocation in 2025.

“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.

“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,“ he said.

In her remarks, the executive director of SMDF, Fatima Shinkafi, said that, unlike global trends, gold exploration funding in Nigeria was on an upward trajectory.

Ms Shinkafi, who said that in the broader macro-economic context, gold was a safe haven, urged participants to explore Nigeria`s gold opportunities.

“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,” she said.

Nigeria Mining Week, holding from October 13 to 15, is organised by the Miners Association of Nigeria in partnership with PricewaterhouseCoopers (PwC) and the VUKA Group.

(NAN)