Schools charging fees in foreign currencies should be shut — Minister

The Minister of Solid Minerals Development, Dr Dele Alake, says Schools in Nigeria charging tuition fees in foreign currencies should be closed.

Alake made the call at the Nigeria Gold Day Celebration on the sidelines of the 10th edition of Nigeria’s Mining Week, themed Nigeria Mining: From Progress to Global Relevance, on Wednesday in Abuja.

He criticised the practice and described it as a part of the leakages and loopholes in Nigeria’s economy, threatening its growth.

“I am still going to make a proposal to the Federal Executive Council that all those schools in Nigeria that are charging in foreign currencies should be closed.

“These are some of these leakages and loopholes that we say exist in our economy that people do not really take these things very seriously,” he said.

“If you look at the foreign currency that goes into some of this, it is humongous

“If your child is attending a school in Abuja or Lagos or somewhere in the country and is paying 10,000 pounds or 10,000 dollars as their fees, that means you will be looking for naira to go and buy dollars.

“Driving the value of dollar up, whereas this school is in Abuja in Nigeria, you can’t go to UK, establish a school, and then be charging naira, it’s not done.

“It’s only in this country that I see so many contradictory things that really demolish the economy,” he said.

The minister said the Federal Government was introducing various measures, including digital mechanisms, to ensure that all leakages in Nigeria’s gold value chain were blocked and every loophole sealed.

He said the move would reduce room for interpersonal transactions, thereby reducing the propensity of corruption, which would further position Nigeria’s gold as one of the global pillars of means of exchange of value.

He said the Federal Government’s National Gold Purchase Programme (NGPP), implemented through the Solid Minerals Development Fund (SMDF), was designed to shore up Nigeria’s foreign reserves and strengthen the naira.

Alake explained that the NGPP, a component of the Presidential Artisanal Gold Mining Initiative, allows the government to buy gold directly from artisanal miners in naira, rather than spending foreign exchange to purchase gold internationally.

In her remarks, the Executive Director of SMDF, Fatima Shinkafi, said that, unlike global trends, gold exploration funding in Nigeria was on an upward trajectory.

Shinkafi explained that, within the broader macroeconomic context, gold serves as a safe-haven asset and encouraged conference participants to explore Nigeria’s gold opportunities.

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“We implore everyone here to examine Nigeria’s gold resources and support the minister’s efforts to make Nigeria a premier destination for junior miners.

“In another year or so, let’s look at Nigeria’s Gold Day 2025 as a pivotal turning point, “ she said.

NAN reports that the Nigeria Mining Week, holding from October 13 to 15, is organised by the Miners Association of Nigeria in partnership with PricewaterhouseCoopers and the VUKA Group.

(NAN)