Nigeria is one of the exemplary countries that is blessed with so many resources. A few examples are agriculture, solid minerals, fossils fuel, solar energy, water resources etc. Many countries of the world have only one or two of the resources but seldom all as we have in Nigeria. Saudi Arabia and many of the middle East countries have abundant oil deposits but degraded soil to support agriculture.
Mineral resources are defined as the “concentration of naturally occurring solid, liquid or gaseous material in or on the Earth’s crust in such form and amount that economic extraction of a commodity from the concentration is currently or potentially feasible”. ¬US geological survey
Nigerian geology is favourable enough to accumulate lots of resources. The country is blessed with about seven sedimentary basins (environment favourable for formation and accumulation of hydrocarbon) namely: Niger Delta, Benue trough, Anambra Basin, Sokoto Basin, Bida Basin, Bornu Basin, Dahomey Embayment. Except for Niger Delta, exploration is still at infancy level or not at all. All these basins have demonstrated the potential to accumulate some minerals as well. Although with the effort of the present government, exploration is extended into more frontier basins, and so far, the findings seem to be promising. According to state minister of petroleum (February 12, 2020), over one billion barrels of crude oil is discovered in the Kolmani river (part of Benue Trough) by Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC) through its frontier exploration services team. Also, recent 2D seismic survey in Bida, Sokoto and Mid Benue basins is indeed commendable.
In addition to that, many geological, geophysical, and geochemical analyses show above threshold concentration of solid minerals, some have even been exploited illegally (artisanal) or improperly. Orazulike (2002) divided the Nigerian solid minerals resource into five groups, namely: iron and iron-alloy metals (e.g goethite, hematite, magnetite, pyrite, manganese, etc), non-ferrous industrial metals (copper, lead, zinc, to, etc.), Precious metals ( gold, silver, please, etc.), Metal fuel (uranium and coal) and industrial minerals (kaoline, gypsum, limestone, marbles, etc.). Almost all the adjacent environment of schist belt in Nigeria have placer deposits of gold. For example, in Niger, Oyo and Kwara states, while in some places occur as vein deposits. Likewise, galena, topaz, tourmaline, uranium, to name but a few, all reside in Bauchi, Taraba, Adamawa, Plateau, Gombe, Nasarawa and many other states of Nigeria.
Furthermore, when it comes to agriculture Nigeria has it all. Our land is fertile to support many cash crops and economic trees, in which many countries don’t have the privilege. Nigeria has a total area of about 923, 768 sq km. The vast majority of the land has never been tilled for agriculture, especially in the northern part of the country. As of 2019, Nigeria produced about 55 per cent of Africa’s total rice production. The question is, if majority of the arable land in Nigeria will be exploited what do you think? I think Nigeria will compete globally.
However, many of those resources still remain as potential since our forefathers era up till today, nothing has been done to turn it to fully rigid industry. Should the government take responsibility to develop each of the sectors above to fully developed industry, I am sure most of today’s unemployment saga would be history.
In America, for example, most of the above-mentioned minerals have agencies whose main job is to just concentrate on a particular mineral. With that any head of agency will ensure to the best of his ability the agency continue to grow. Also, there are many government research institutes apart from higher institutions of learning, where they continue researching and inventing a cutting edge technology so as to discover even more potential and find out more ways the resources can effectively be used. However, Nigeria does have some agencies like Nigerian Atomic Energy Commission (NAEC) to take control of radioactive minerals adhering to world standard. In fact, prior to oil discovery, Nigeria had been the largest exporter of tin and columbite. But how developed is the sector up till today? To what extent? What result does it produce? We want a fully developed, rigid industry in every aspect of our resources so we can effectively harness and discover even more of it.
In conclusion, to tap our potential effectively, government must take its full responsibilities in all ramifications. Government needs to believe and support our tertiary institutions, create even more research centers, bring new suitable policy that will favour development, so we can have a fully grown industry for each resource, thereby reducing unemployment and adding more revenue to the government.
Abdullahi Muhammed
twitter: @Abdulla59122171
