The President, Major General Muhammadu Buhari (retd.), on Thursday said improved gold mining operations in the country would generate 250,000 jobs and over $500m annually in royalties and taxes to the Federal Government.

He also said the country lost about $3bn to the smuggling of the product between 2012 and 2018.

According to a statement by his Special Adviser on Media and Publicty, Femi Adesina, the President disclosed these at the presentation of locally mined gold bars by the Presidential Artisanal Gold Mining Development Initiative in Abuja.

The statement was titled “Improved gold mining operations to generate 250,000 jobs, $500m annually in royalties, says Buhari.”

Buhari was said to have also at the presentation affirmed his regime’s commitment to the establishment of gold refineries in Nigeria.

He said the initiative would support efforts at the creation of jobs for Nigerians, diversifying the revenue base, and improving foreign exchange reserves.

The President said, ‘‘With the implementation of the PAGDMI schemes which will result in the set-up of accredited gold buying centres across key mining areas, artisanal miners and SMEs engaged in mining will be able to capture the value of their work.

‘‘These operations will help in diversifying our revenue base. The sale of gold by artisanal miners and SMEs at accredited centres will help the government in realising royalties and taxes from the sale of these assets.

‘‘These developments will also help in improving our foreign reserves by enabling the Central Bank of Nigeria to increase the amount of gold in its reserves.

‘‘These gold assets which will be purchased in Naira, will not only help to bolster our international reserves, it will also provide a hedge against inflation and other economic volatilities associated with foreign currencies that are held in our reserves.”

Buhari said efforts were being made to enable the setting up of gold refineries in Nigeria.