Extractive Industry and Nigerian economy

One of the highlights of the Buhari administration’s 2016 budget is the plan to diversify the Nigerian economy from its over reliance on crude oil to solid minerals. In presenting the immediate past budget, the President expressed optimism that its funding and implementation would partly be from the solid minerals in due course.
The Nigerian Extractive Industries and Transparency Initiative (NEITI) report suggest “there are about 40 different kinds of solid minerals and precious metals in the country with estimated commercial value running into trillions of naira. The report states that more than 40 million tonnes of talc deposits exist in Niger, Osun, Kogi, Ogun and Kaduna states, even as there are huge deposits of coal ranging from bituminous to lignite in the Anambra Basin of South-Eastern Nigeria.
In addition, there are identified deposits of lead-zinc ores within the Asaba Area of Niger Delta, while tin, niobium, and lead, exist in Oyo and Igbeti, even as more than a billion tonnes of gypsum have been discovered in Sokoto, Niger, Ondo and Ekiti states. Studies by geologists reveal that limestone deposits occur in Cross River, Ogun, Benue, Gombe, Ebonyi, Sokoto, Edo and Kogi states, as there is existence of magnesite in Adamawa and Kebbi states, while manganese are in Kebbi, Katsina and Zamfara.
Moreover experts state that columbite, ilmenite, mica, barytes, pyrite, galena, limestone, sodium chloride, ephalerite, silica sand, granites, tantalite, mica, sphalerite, talc, gemstone (tourmaline, aquamarine and sapphire), halcopyrite, topaz, cassiterite, columbite, tantalite, emerald, heliodor, amethyst, quartz, coking coal, marble, and iron ore are found in abundance in Nasarawa State.

Industry analysts believe that Nigeria loses more than N8trillion annually in unexploited gold alone. Incidentally, Nigerians are at loss in knowing why successive federal administrations had paid little or no attention to the solid minerals sector for so long, despite its massive revenue yielding potentials. Experts posit that the lack of foreign and domestic investments in the sector is due to the structure, which vest ownership of all solid minerals in the federal government, especially through the 2007 Minerals Act. We believe this should not be so. For the country to come out of the present recession, this vital sector should be decentralised to allow the states to explore and mine minerals within their jurisdiction. This should be done through amendment of the present Minerals Act.

It is a fact that the new Solid Minerals Ministry is the last frontier at diversifying the country’s economy. Nigeria’s failure since independence to put in place structure that will make the benefits of the exploitation of solid minerals available is responsible for the lack of economic development in the country.
Presently, mining of minerals accounts for a miniscule 0.3 per cent GDP. We believe exploitation and utilisation of these resources will create more than one million direct and indirect jobs for Nigeria’s teeming unemployed. Therefore, what the country needs is a clear policy framework to create an enabling environment for the exploitation of these minerals.
However, government should also address the problem of illegal mining and the poor funding of the sector. There is no denying that perceived social and political instability in the country pose obstacles to the realisation of an enduring mining regime, even as addressing these challenges would be a magnet to attracting  investors to the solid minerals sector