The Minister of Mines and Steel Development, Olamilekan Adegbite, says the Kano Gold Souk and other regional projects being executed by his ministry will become operational by 2023.
The minister said this when he was featured at the News Agency of Nigeria forum in Abuja.
Adegbite said the souk would make the country to become a world destination for gold.
He said the government had trained people who will make pieces of jewellery, adding that they would be residents in that gold souk.
“In Kano, our gold is being taken out of Nigeria to places like Dubai and others where they turn them into pieces of jewellery.
“You buy them at expensive prices there but when those gold leave Nigeria in their raw form, they pay next to nothing for it.
“So, we said ‘lets have a gold souk in Kano which can rival any souk in the world’.
“They will turn the gold in Nigeria into pieces of jewellery. They can make bangles, straps, earrings necklaces, and pendants.
“People are trained to do this now. So, we are adding value to Nigeria and we are saying that Kano Gold souk can join the world calendar of souks.
“This will enable people to know that at a certain time of the year, we will organise a gold festival in the Kano gold souk so that women and men from all over the world can come to Kano and buy gold.
“That is why we have done all these six regional projects and those projects are at advanced stages of completion.
`We should be commissioning them very soon. We will look at suitable dates to inaugurate these projects early in the New Year,’’ the minister said.
