By Abbanobi – Eku Onyekachi
The representative of Kogi Central Senatorial District, Senator Natasha Akpoti-Uduaghan, has urged the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) to increase its gold reserve to substantial levels, according to a press release from her Chief Press Secretary, Arogbonlo Israel on Thursday.
The lawmaker made the call on Wednesday when the Senate Committee on Banking, Insurance, and other Financial Institutions met to screen the CBN board members.
Emphasizing the importance of storing the country’s currency in tangible measures, as is done in developed countries around the world, she said: “I don’t think we have an actual place where golds are being processed, refined, and stored by the Central Bank vault. The Western Euro Central Bank has the largest gold reserve in the world, followed by North America, Central Eastern Euro, and Asia. In Africa, the Central Banks with established gold reserves are Algeria, Libya, Egypt, Jordan, and Morocco. I wonder why we shouldn’t begin to store our currency in tangible measures, and have values.
Reacting, the Director General (DG), the Securities & Exchange Commission (SEC) and one of the Nominees for Board members of CBN, Lamido Abubakar Yuguda, confirmed Nigeria did have gold reserve, but in a very small quantity, even as they added that his department was in charge of overseeing the gold reserve during his time as a director in CBN.
Corroborating with Senator Natasha’s recommendation, the SEC DG said the CBN needs to do more and store the currency in tangible measures, adding that the gold reserves of CBN are the ones bought in the 1960s.
“Not many people are aware that Nigeria has gold reserve. Part of the job that I had done at the Central Bank of Nigeria, my department was responsible for the gold reserve, not in terms of its custody but in making sure that the gold reserve actually existed. But I think where your question is getting to is that our gold reserve is actually very small relative to what other countries like the United States and even some African countries have. Our gold reserve is not among the highest in Africa, the gold reserve we have now are the ones that were bought since the 1960s,” he said.
