Gold Reserves More Viable Alternative To Foreign Reserves — US-based Nigerian Expert – Independent Newspaper Nigeria

In a statement titled, ‘Tinubu­nomics: We Are Not Thinking Clearly’, which he made avail­able to Sunday Independent from his base on Saturday, Dr Jo­seph, a power engineer with the University of Pittsburgh, USA, urged the National Assembly to pass a bill for the stockpiling of the nation’s earnings in gold, instead of foreign reserves.

According to him, it is more profitable to stockpile gold at the rate of 80-85% per year of the foreign reserve for the next 20 years.

He stressed: “This would mean we’re investing in our future generations, thereby sal­vaging the economy from years of economic stagnation.

“Hard assets such as gold are also safe haven against money laundering, corruption, amidst several other financial malprac­tices.”

Joseph asked: “What kind of economy still keeps all its reserves in dollars in the 21st century? Dollar is a depreciat­ing fiat, which has lost 10% of its value since January this year 2025.

“Then the FG would pride itself in recently growing the foreign reserve to $41billion. This would continue to happen on an annual basis, making it irresponsible to do.

“What happened to the gold reserve? I would think the Na­tional Assembly should pass a bill to stockpile gold at the rate of 80-85% per year instead of the foreign reserves for the next 20yrs.”

While he noted the gains from fuel subsidy removal, he lamented that rather than in­vesting the money well, the gov­ernors only storm the foreign exchange market with their state’s shares, thereby exerting more demand on the dollar.

Joseph stated that while it is not bad for the subsidy gains to be shared, said it is wrong for the governors to use it to buy for­eign exchange, thereby leading to the downward market trend for the Naira, even as they end up looting the hard currency.

He stated, “The money saved from subsidy removal should have been used to increase sal­aries well enough (states paid enough for salary increment only), to absorb the high cost of living pressure from the more than quadruple increase in fuel price, electricity hike, food infla­tion amongst others.”

He faulted the argument that this would result in infla­tion, stressing that the driver of inflation in Nigeria is different from advanced countries.

He stressed: “In fact, when Adams Smith and other econ­omists posited their theories, they never knew an (a funny) economy like this would exist. In fact, there was no country called Nigeria at the time.

“As of today, the driver of inflation in Nigeria is importa­tion tariffs. If the government should allow for tariff cuts in es­sentials like food commodities, clothing/shoes, then, there will be significant reduction in infla­tion…the people will be able to feed and be happy.”

Joseph maintained that the government exists for both families (individuals) and busi­nesses, adding that cars, wines and other luxuries may retain a higher import duty, even as he said that mass transit buses should be excluded.

Joseph stated: “Further­more, more disposable income in the hands of the populace would further drive spend­ing and then fuel economic growth.

“One could imagine the Cen­tral Bank of Nigeria (CBN) hik­ing interest rates to a ridiculous 27.50% to curb inflation.

“How do you expect busi­nesses to prosper in such strin­gent conditions? Who’s going to borrow such expensive money to establish a business?

“A reason why there are only a handful of successful startups in a growing economy.”