Reviving Nigeria’s mining industry

No Nigerian is oblivious of the fact that the country is going through hard times. This parlous predicament is the result of both years of economic mismanagement and dwindling revenue from oil.  Due to this, most economic activities are slowly halting with attendant increasing unemployment among able-bodied Nigerians. Experts have posited that the country’s present situation could have been avoided if it had not relied solely on oil as its economic mainstay but diversified into other areas such as the mining sector. The monoculture nature of the country’s economy has left it at the whims and mercy of price fluctuations in the world’s crude oil markets.  Incidentally, all indicators point to the fact that price of oil would remain depressed for the near future. That is why the call for a revival of the mining and minerals sector should be heeded.
Economists, geologists and surveyors agree that Nigeria is blessed with enormous mineral resources such as coal, lignite, barite, marble, clay, tantalite, cassiterite, gold, lead, zinc, dolomite, limestone, kaolin, gypsum, bentonite, uranium, phosphate, iron-ore, feldspar, copper, barites, tin and bauxite. They also posit that, these minerals would not only fetch the country bountiful financial returns from their extraction, refining and sales, but also generate hundreds of thousands of jobs for Nigerians. Before the discovery of oil in 1956, the country depended on coal for generating much of its electricity and rail transportation. In addition, products like iron-ore, tin,lead,zinc  and bauxites were exported for much needed foreign currency.
There was time when Nigeria was the world’s largest exporter of columbite. Today, all that remains are relics of these once mighty industries and a sad reminder of their neglect by successive administrations. For too long, the federal and state governments have ignored well-reasoned calls for the immediate exploitation of solid minerals, which, unlike oil that occurs in a few enclaves, are available in commercial quantities in every state.
Estimates put it that Nigeria loses more than N10 trillion annually in unexploited gold alone. At moment mining of minerals accounts for only 0.3 per cent of Nigeria’s GDP, due to the influence of oil resources. Moreover, the domestic mining industry is underdeveloped; leading to the country having to import such commodities such as salt or iron sheets and billets that can be produced locally.
Paradoxically, most bitumen used in road construction in Nigeria is currently imported.
Government’s lack of attention to the extraction of these minerals is responsible for the unregulated mining activities and illegal smuggling of the products across the borders by unlicensed miners and artisans. According to Nigerian Extractive Industries and Transparency Initiative (NEITI) audit report on solid mineral operation, shows there are six buying centres, nine dredging companies, 11exporters of solid minerals, 14 medium scale mining companies, 35 commercial quarry, 54 construction quarry, eight quarry for manufacturing, bringing a total of 157 activities in the solid mineral sector of the economy.
What the country now needs is a comprehensive mining policy that will facilitate massive private domestic and foreign investment. In economic development mineral resources are the foundation upon which an industrialised economy is built, and industrialisation is essential if Nigeria is to reduce over-dependence on oil –which, despite the revenue it generates, provides employment for less than six per cent of the country’s labour force.
In pursuit of this objective, there is the need to amend the 1999 Constitution to allow states to control their own minerals. The placing of mining on the Exclusive List is responsible for the little or no interest in the development of the sector. The reality of dwindling revenues and the prospect of resource control should be a powerful incentive for states to press for the immediate expansion of mining.