A research project by the AFP Foundation, Africa Check has found holes in the claims by the Kaduna state governor, Nasir El-Rufai about gold in his state.

El-Rufai had in April said that a single local government area in Kaduna state has more gold than the entire nation of South Africa. However, the research by Africa Check says that there’s no data to verify the governor’s claims.

According to The Cable, Africa Check said “sought to get hold of spokesman Samuel Arwuan to ask for the data El Rufai had based his claim on, but Arwuan neither took calls nor responded to text messages”.

“Eventually, we dialled from a UK-based number and then Arwuan personally called back after missing the call. But he hung up immediately on hearing the reason for the call.”

A 2010 report by the federal ministry of solid minerals showed that the production of gold within Nigeria was about 6 tonnes since the 1930 while that of South Africa in 2014 alone was 152 tonnes and the quantity of the gold reserves at 6, 000 -making them the 3rd highest in the world after Australia and Russia.