The Chief Executive Officer, Gold and Co., United Kingdom, Amjad Ali, has told a United Kingdom newspaper, The Independent,
that the Federal Government has ordered 53 gold-plated iPhone 5S mobile
handsets from his firm as part of the memorabilia for the nation’s
53rd Independence anniversary on October 1, 2013.
The gold iphones are said to worth £2.65 million (about N682m).
Each of the gold-plated iPhones costs up to £50,000, said The Independent, in its report on Wednesday.
The minimum cost of basic models of iPhone in gold or rose gold is £3,000.
The 53 special phones are to be supplied by Amjad Ali, a Bristol-born owner of Gold and Co. based in Dubai.
Ali, who told The Independent that his
firm was “fulfilling an order from the Nigerian government for 53
gold-plated iPhones, added, “We will engrave them with the coat of arms,
a shield and two horses. “
However, he neither disclosed when he
received the order for the item nor the Federal Government agency or
ministry that contracted him.
Gold and Co supplies royal families,
governments, and minted customers across Russia, China and the Middle
East with special phones.
Some of its customers include the Saudi
royal family, which, Ali said, ordered a gold iPhone studded with
hundreds of diamonds, including a giant piece that serves as the
device’s “home” button.
He explained that before such phones
were delivered, “We strip them down and then plate them in copper,
nickel and then pure gold.”
The company, according to him, has
“limited units per region and each is numbered and placed in a handmade
wooden box with a certificate of authenticity and wax seal.”
The Academic Staff Union of Universities
on Wednesday said the alleged plan to purchase the iPhones showed the
government’s insensitivity to the plight of its citizens.
The union, which spoke through its
Ibadan zonal coordinator, Dr. Nassir Adesola, urged the Federal
Government to first fulfil its electoral promises to the people before
engaging in such an “extravagance.”
He said, “It sums up the insensitivity
of the Federal Government. For the administration to think of doing this
at a time the Minister of Finance is saying that the FG has not enough
money to run the country is unfortunate. It seems that the government
has gone to sleep and not in tune with the society, it is governing.
“The Federal Government should first
cater for its citizens roaming the streets, and rehabilitate its
collapsed industries before spending so much for phones. Any government
that engages in such a frivolity and extravagance is not serious and its
people should reject it.”
However, the Federal on Wednesday denied
ever ordering 53 iPhones from the businessman or anybody in
commemoration of the nation’s 53 independence.
The Special Assistant (Media and
Communication) to the Secretary to the Government of the Federation, Mr.
Sam Nwaobasi, told The PUNCH that the report by the foreign newspaper
was a lie.
He said, “The Federal Government has not
ordered for any 53 iPhones from any businessman anywhere. That is my
answer to your question; it is not true, the Federal Government did not
order, is not ordering for and has not ordered for 53 iPhones from
anybody or anywhere,” Nwaobasi told one of our correspondents.
Culled from The Punch
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