The Lagos Commodities and Futures Exchange (LCFE) has concluded plans to admit Dukia Gold‘s diversified financial instruments, backed by gold as the underlying asset in a sector worth over N300 trillion.
Dukia Gold Chairman, Mr Tunde Fagbemi, said this at a media parley on Thursday in Lagos. Fagbemi said the instruments which would be in the form of Exchange Traded Notes (ETN), Commercial Papers (CP) and other gold-backed securities would enable the company deepen the commodities market in Nigeria. He added that it would increase capacity, generate foreign exchange for the government to diversify external reserves and create massive employment across the metal production value chain.
He noted that the crude oil and cocoa market would have had a better outing if there were strategies put in place to regulate it right from inception. Fagbemi who applauded the Ministry of Mines and Steel Development and the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) for supporting trading of gold in Nigeria noted it remained one of the ways to diversify Nigeria’s sources of foreign exchange. “We are proud to be the first gold company whose products would be listed on the Lagos Futures and Commodities Exchange. The listing shall enable us facilitate our infrastructure development, expand capacity and create fungible products. This has potential to shore up Nigeria’s foreign reserve and create an alternative window for preservation of pension funds,” he said. He explained that a gold-backed security was a hedge against inflation and convenient preservation of capital.
“We have refinery services to smelt metals with capacity to meet local and international demand. As a global player, we comply with the practices and procedures of London Bullion Market Association and many other international bodies. Our refinery will also have multiplier effects on the development of rural areas anywhere it is located. There must be constant power supply, good road network and other social amenities, apart from employment opportunities for the rural dwellers,” he said. Also speaking, Divisional Head, Strategy and Business Solutions, Heritage Bank, Mr Olusegun Akanji, said the bank had created a buying centre for verification of quality and quantity of gold and reference price to ensure price discovery in line with the global standard.
Akanji said every transaction was auditable to protect investors.
The Managing Director, LCFE, Mr Akin Akeredolu-Ale, commended SEC for issuing the Exchange a licence to trade gold. He added that commodities exchanges played strategic roles introducing structures into the ecosystem, which was in urgent need for regulation, funding and data collation “Nigeria’s International Trade in Solid Minerals and commodities is behind par and the absence of a listed gold investible instrument on a commodities exchange limits export potential for the exploration of solid minerals in Nigeria, particularly Gold. The need to harness the potential growth in the Nigerian solid mineral/ gold sector and commodity trades justifies the timely establishment of a gold trading platform and the objectives of the promoters of Dukia Gold,” said Akeredolu-Ale.
He said the LCFE was ready to support all the stakeholders in the gold sector in the areas of market creation, price discovery, dissemination of market information, among others. Corroborating him, the Chief Technical Officer, Dukia Gold, Akin Akintola, said the company was determined to put the nation on the map and at par with the world’s major gold and precious metals refining and producing nations. Akintola noted that the firm had the capability, technicalities and the necessary accreditation to operate in the gold value chain. (NAN)
