The Minister of Mines and Steel Development Olamilekan Adegbite has called for increased participation in gold exportation in Nigeria.
He said that the royalty rate in the country remains one of the lowest in the world at 3 percent.
This was disclosed by the minister at an event tagged ‘Lagos Love Gold’ convened by Kian Smith Refinery in partnership with the mines and steel development ministry.
Adegbite stated that his first task when he assumed office, was to create awareness about the viability of gold exportation by publishing a pamphlet that was shared “all over the country”.
He, however, said that despite the fact that gold exportation is legal, it must be carried out the right.
The minister noted that all that is required of the exporter is to fulfill some requirements and an export certificate would be issued to enable them to sell gold anywhere in the world.
He said, “One of the first things I did when I assumed office was to publish a pamphlet about the right way to export gold and we distributed the pamphlet all over the country and especially at the airport.
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“It is perfectly legal for people to export gold out of the country. However it must be done in the right way,’ he said. The Minister added that the process of exporting gold had been streamlined.
“You pay a royalty and our royalty rate is about the lowest all over the world . It’s just 3% of the value of the gold you want to take.
“After you have fulfilled all the requirements, you would be given an export certificate which allows you to sell it anywhere in the world at the ongoing market rate.”
He said that those who refuse to pay royalty to the government will not be given the export certificate, adding that this would lead to their exploitation by foreign buyers who would shortchange them.
He added, “You cannot have export certificate if you don’t pay royalty and because you don’t have the certificate you would be exploited by the foreign buyers who would buy it at a very low rate.
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“Nigeria as a country is blessed with so many minerals. Though the economy of Nigeria has been largely dependent on oil and gas but we are coming to a situation where we need to diversify the economy away from oil and gas and that’s what we are doing through the mining sector.
“Since I have been in office we have been trying to deepen our activities in the sector and we have been encouraging the private sector to come along with us as we act as facilitators to entrepreneurs. There is a lot of gold trading that has been going on in Nigeria although in the informal sector. What we have done is to come up with policies that would harness all activities and bring out people from the shadows.”
