Was 1960 the last time CBN bought gold bars as claimed by Natasha Akpoti?

The senator representing Kogi Central in the 10th Senate, Natasha Akpoti, has said that the last time the Central Bank of Nigeria bought gold bars was in 1960, which is the year the country got its independence.

Akpoti, who recently appeared on a flagship programme, Politics Today on Channels TV, said the development was the rationale behind her sponsorship of the gold reserve bill.

Verdict: Largely False

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Speaking to the anchor of the programme, Seun Okinbaloye, Sen. Akpoti said the idea behind the gold reserve bill came earlier in the year when she and her colleagues were screening members of the Monetary Policy Committee of the CBN

Her words: “During the screening, I asked the former DG of SEC, Yuguda, what he will do as an MPC member to boost our gold reserves and to our greatest shock, he said that indeed the CBN has a gold reserve, but the last time they bought gold was in 1960

“So I said it was important to bring up the bill as it will bring about economic prosperity and the CBN subsequently can even tell us how much is in our golf reserve. It took me almost for months to come up with the 40-page document where the bill also seeks the establishment of a Gold Reserve Authority that will also cater for the needs of artisanal miners.”

Verification

Checks by Daily Trust showed that although the CBN has not been consistent in purchasing gold, it, however, did that in 2020, during the tenure of then President Muhammadu Buhari.

Precisely on Thursday, July 16, 2020, the former Central Bank Governor, Godwin Emefiele, presented the dummy check of the purchase of 12.5kg gold bars to President Muhammadu Buhari which was received by then chief of staff, Ibrahim Gambari.

During a presentation of locally mined gold bars by the Presidential Artisanal Gold Mining Development Initiative (PAGMDI), at the Presidential Villa, Abuja, Buhari lamented that Nigeria lost about $3 billion in six years to illegal smuggling of gold.

He said that improved gold mining operations in the country will generate no fewer than 250,000 jobs and over $500m annually in royalties and taxes to the federal government.

Buhari said the laudable initiative would support efforts at the creation of jobs for Nigerians, diversifying the revenue base, and improving foreign exchange reserves, while stating the determination of the federal government to combat illegal mining activities.

A statement by former presidential spokesman, Femi Adesina, quoted the former president  as also saying, ‘‘With the implementation of the PAGDMI scheme, which will result in the setting up of accredited gold buying centres across key mining areas, while artisanal miners and SMEs engaged in mining will be able to capture the value of their work.

‘‘These developments will also help in improving our foreign reserves by enabling the Central Bank of Nigeria to increase the amount of gold in its reserves.”

Buhari also noted that in addition to the potential revenue gains that will occur from mining operations, efforts were being made to enable the setting up of gold refineries in Nigeria.”

On environmental degradation, the former president pledged that the government would pay close attention to safety and environmental measures to protect workers and the environment.

Also speaking, Central Bank Governor Godwin Emefiele said with the purchase of the 12.5kg purified gold bars into the country’s reserves, the dream of economic diversification has been actualised.

He added: “As you all know, for several years and decades, we have been talking about the need to diversify the revenue base of the Nigerian economy and we will say that today, this has been actualised in the sense that other than receiving dollar revenue from proceeds of the sale of crude oil, we have today received into our reserves through the purchase of this 12.5kg purified gold bar into our reserves, we have today received gold into our reserves,” Emefiele explained.

Daily Trust checks show that the PAGMI was launched in 2019.

Conclusion: Daily Trust concludes that although CBN does not buy gold frequently, the claim by Senator Natasha that it last bought gold in 1960 is inaccurate as the bank purchased gold bars in 2020, which is only four years ago.