Nigeria’s commodities market set to list first gold asset

THE Lagos Commodities and Futures Exchange ( LCFE), the first commodities exchange to be licenced to trade gold in Nigeria by the Securities and Exchange Commission ( SEC), is set to admit Dukia Gold‘ s diversified financial instruments backed by gold as the underlying assets in a sector worth over N300 trillion.

As a prelude to the listing, Dukia Gold explained that the instruments which would be in form of exchange- traded notes ( ETN), commercial papers ( CP) and other gold- backed securities would enable the company to deepen the commodities market in Nigeria, increase capacity, generate foreign exchanges and create massive employment across the metal production value chain.

Addressing journalists at the pre- listing media interactive session in Lagos today, Dukia Gold’s Chairman, Tunde Fagbemi noted that the listing remained one of the ways to diversify Nigeria’s sources of foreign exchange at this critical period of Nigeria’s economy.

“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 to facilitate our infrastructure development, expand capacity and create fungible products. This has the potential to shore up Nigeria’s foreign reserve and create an alternative window for preservation of pension funds. Goldbacked security is a hedge against inflation and convenient preservation of capital.

“We have refinery services to smelt metals with the capacity to meet local and international demand. As a global player, we comply with the practices and procedures of the London Bullion Market Association ( LBMA) 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,” says Fagbemi.