The Ministry of Solid Minerals Development (MSMD) has dismissed claims by the Northern Elders Forum (NEF) alleging that the Nigerian Government sited a gold refinery in Lagos State in violation of the federal character principle.
In a statement issued by the Special Assistant on Media to the Minister of Solid Minerals Development, Mr. Segun Tomori, the Ministry described the allegation contained in a statement signed by NEF spokesperson, Professor Abubakar Jika Jiddere as “false and misleading”.
“There is no federal government–owned gold refinery in Lagos State or anywhere else in the country,” the statement clarified.
According to the Ministry, the newly established gold refinery referenced by NEF is a private-sector initiative of Kian Smith, a 100 percent privately owned mining company.
The refinery was developed to support the growth of Nigeria’s local gold industry through innovation and value addition.
The Ministry clarified that “at no point did the Minister of Solid Minerals Development, Dr. Dele Alake, announce that the Federal Government had established or owned a gold refinery in Lagos. Rather, the Minister clearly stated that multiple gold refineries are being developed across the country by different private investors.”
The Federal Government congratulated the Founder and Managing Director of Kian Smith, Ms. Nere Emiko, for her resilience and leadership in delivering what it described as a dream project after years of perseverance and enterprise.
The Ministry further noted that the refinery is a direct outcome of the value-addition policy introduced by MSMD two years ago, which discourages the export of raw minerals and promotes local processing and manufacturing.
“This policy has stimulated the conversion of raw minerals export to processing factories across the country, generating massive inflow of foreign capital and provision of thousands of jobs to Nigerians. These include the $600 million lithium plant in Nasarawa State, the $400 million rare earth plant also in Nasarawa State and the $200 million ASBA lithium plant in Abuja.
“We are shocked at the debilitating degeneration in the quality of leadership of the NEF, an organisation that used to act as a think-tank of serious discourse decades ago, which, by its recent utterances has become a parody of its pioneers.
“How could the NEF expect the Federal Government to force a private company to locate its operations in a particular area of the federation when each company has its operational and marketing strategy to ensure its profitability?” Mr. Tomori emphasised.
According to the Ministry, its reforms over the past two years have “focused on creating an enabling environment for private investment to thrive in the mining sector, with the Lagos gold refinery and other processing plants serving as evidence of the success of these policies.”
Speaking further he said “How could the NEF fail to conduct basic due diligence and research before displaying such embarrassing ignorance while purporting to act on behalf of the North, a region that boasts of accomplished academics and professionals? This negligence could only have been the result of deliberate mischief, orchestration of mistrust and acceleration of irresponsible militancy.”
The Ministry reaffirmed its commitment to encouraging more mining companies to establish processing and manufacturing facilities across Nigeria.
It called on NEF to support the efforts of President Bola Tinubu in building a stronger, self-reliant economy for the benefit of all Nigerians.