The federal government has reacted to claims by the Zamfara state government over ownership of gold deposits in the state.
Olamilekan Adegbite, minister of mines and steel development, who issued the warning on Friday, said mineral products remain exclusively that of the federal government.
Zamfara government on had on Tuesday said it started its gold reserve to reduce dependence on federal allocations.
Rabiu Garba, the state commissioner for finance, told journalists that, though, there was a federal government ban on mining activities in the country, “the state government was able to purchase the commodity from licensed miners”.
“At the moment, we have a pure gold reserve of over 30 kilos and as time goes by, we will continue to invest in this regard so that, like other states and other nations, we will be having our mineral reserves and ours will be in gold,” Garba said.
“When the ban is lifted and mining activities resume fully, we are hopeful that we will be receiving royalties from miners while the federal government will also be giving us something.”
Joseph Onu Silas, a lawyer, had accused the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) of trading in gold with the state government, seeking the cancellation of the purchase of gold worth N5 billion from Zamfara by the apex bank.
But while briefing the press on the forthcoming 5th Nigerian mining week, Adegbite said what the state government is doing is right but the portrayal to the public is wrong.
“I had a meeting with the Zamfara people yesterday or day before yesterday, they need to get their narrative right to the public,” Adegbite said.
