Preparations for Nigeria’s 53rd Independence Anniversary celebration has begun in earnest with the Nigerian government reportedly placing an order for 53 customized gold-plated iPhones from British luxury products company, Gold and Co.
According to a report by PREMIUM TIMES, the founder of Gold and Co, Amjad Ali, was quoted as telling the UK’s Independent newspaper that the Nigerian government has made an order of “53 gold iPhones to mark the country’s 53rd year of independence from Britain next month.”
According to Mr. Ali, his company “will engrave them with [Nigeria’s] the coat of arms, a shield and two horses.”
Mr. Ali’s Gold and Co clients include royal families, governments, and wealthy individuals across Russia, China and the Middle East.
The basic models of the iPhone 5S in gold or rose gold according to Ali, range from between £3000 (N750,000) and £50,000 (N12.5 million) if studded with hundreds of diamonds including a giant piece that serves as the device’s “home” button.
However, in response to a question posed on Twitter by a concerned Nigerian, Gold and Co denies that the order for the gold-plated iPhones are from the Nigerian government.
Maintaining that its founder was misquoted in the report by the UK’s Independent newspaper, Gold and Co tweeted “…These [iPhones] have been ordered not by the government but by an individual who is gifting them to people there to celebrate the 53 anniversary.”
