Mohammed Munirat Nasir, Gusau.
Zamfara Government has purchased 31 kilograms of raw gold from local miners to serve as gold reserve for the state.
Governor Bello Mohammed Matawalle, stated this while addressing journalists at Government House, Gusau, yesterday.
He said the gold reserve programme would no doubt have numerous multiplier effects both in the short and the long run as it would empower artisanal miners who are often shortchanged by the merchants who sponsor their operations.
“For a start, we have purchased 31 kilogrammes of gold, wholly mined and refined by our artisanal miners. We will subsequently continue to buy gold from our local miners so as to gradually improve the reserve. The precious metal would be deposited in a bank,” he said.
The governor said the gesture which was the first of its kind by any state in the federation was a novelty which had a better guarantee of returns compared to financial equities such as stocks.
“The establishment of the gold reserve, therefore, is part of the relentless efforts by my administration to diversify the state’s economy by exploring all potentials of the state and maximally utilising them for the benefit of both the present and future generations.
“It will also stem the influx of illegal aliens who sponsor illegal mining activities and reduce the export of the commodity by miscreants who use the proceeds of their exports to buy weapons with which trouble is fomented in some parts of the state,” he said.
Matawalle said the recent collapse of the oil market had further shown the need to diversify the country’s economy as a safeguard from the uncertainties of the market.
“One of the lessons we have learnt from the global COVID-19 pandemic is the lack of resilience of the oil market in the wake of a crisis that affects industrial production,” he said.
He said the state had also signed a N5 billion deal with the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) to purchase raw gold from local miners as means of cutting out middle men and foreigners who exploit the miners by under paying them.