DISTRIBUTION OF NIGERIA’S MINERAL AND POWER RESOURCES

Nigeria is blessed with abundant mineral resources; and they are found all over the country. The major minerals found in sedimentary rocks include, coal, petroleum, natural gas, and limestone; and those found in basement complex rocks include tin, columbite, gypsum and gold etc.

 

Coal

This mineral was found at Enugu and mining began about 1915 after the construction of the rail line between Port Harcourt and Enugu. There is also a coal mine at Okaba in Kogi State. Coal deposits have been discovered also at Owukpa in Benue State, but they are yet to be exploited. Lignite, an inferior quality of coal is found near Onitsha and Asaba, but it is yet to be mined.

Coal production reached its peak in 1958 and it was used mainly to power the railways and the thermal electricity generating stations like the one at Oji River. Production, however, declined with the discovery of petroleum and natural gas as alternative sources of energy, and with the decline of rail transportation in the country. The civil war that ravaged the main coal producing areas between 1968 and 1970 also compounded the problems of coal mining.

However, since the economic reforms of the 1990s, efforts have been made to revive the coal mining industry in Nigeria, not only to produce coal for internal consumption but for export. For example, coal is a vital raw material for the iron and steel industry, especially, the Ajaokuta Iron and Steel Company, in the production of cast iron. The export of coal picked up in 1996 after years of suspension.

 

Tin and Columbite

These minerals are found together in the alluvial deposits on the Jos Plateau. Mining is concentrated in the southern part of Jos, specifically; around Bukuru and Barakin Ladi. Mining of these minerals commenced in 1933 and they were the first minerals to be exported from Nigeria. Tin is used essentially for coating containers for the canning industry. Columbite is a rare mineral; it does not corrode, resists high temperatures and is very light. For these reasons it is an important raw material in the manufacture of atomic reactors, gas turbines and jet engines for aircrafts and rockets. Nigeria accounts for 90 per cent of the world production; and the United States of America (USA) imports most of the produced columbite. Limestone is found in many locations in Nigeria, giving rise to the establishment of cement factories in many locations, for example, Ewekoro and Shagamu in Ogun State, Ukpila in Edo State, Nkalagu in Enugu State, Calabar in Cross River State, Sokoto in Sokoto State, Gboko in Benue State and Ashaka in Bauchi State. Limestone deposits have also been discovered in Igumale in Benue State, possibly an extension of the Nkalagu deposits.

 

Gold

Gold is found in two main areas in Nigeria namely Ilesha in the southwest and Sokoto along the Zamfara river valley in the northwest. Most of the gold from these mines is consumed locally; and production is generally low.

Iron Ore is found in many shallow deposits of low-to-medium grade all over the country. However, high grade iron ore deposits have been found at Agbaja Plateau near Lokoja in Kogi State. The deposit is well over two billion tonnes of ore and is intended to provide the bulk of the raw iron ore for the Ajaokuta steel mill when it goes into full production.

 

Mineral Oil and Natural Gas

These are Nigeria’s most important mineral resources; oil exports alone account for over 80 per cent of Nigeria’s foreign earnings. Mineral oil or petroleum is produced mainly in the Niger Delta region of the country, specifically, in Rivers, Delta, Bayelsa and Akwa Ibom States of Nigeria, and also in off-shore locations. Nigerian oil has a low sulphur content, making it particularly attractive to American and European buyers seeking to reduce air pollution. Nigeria is one of the world’s leading producers of crude oil; (the annual output was about 2,458,000 million barrels in 2010). Oil production from the country, has been unstable in recent times due to the incessant conflict being experienced in the Niger Delta as the indigenes seek a better deal from oil exploitation in the region. Major international oil companies in Nigeria, working in joint ventures with the state-owned Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC) include Shell, Chevron, and Elf etc.

Natural gas occurs naturally in reserves or as associated gas overlying crude oil deposits. Natural gas reserves were estimated at 3,114 billion cu m (109,924 billion cu ft) in the early 1990s, and estimates have increased since. Until recently natural gas associated with crude oil was usually burnt off from the oil wells in a process referred to as ‘gas flaring’ so that the crude oil beneath it could be pumped out. This situation has however changed with the setting up of the Liquefied Natural Gas (LNG) Project of Nigeria in Brass, Rivers State. The project seeks to check gas flaring by converting natural gas into liquid form for export to European countries where there is high demand for it.

 

Importance of Mineral Resources to Nigeria

Mineral resources have contributed greatly to the socio-economic development of Nigeria in many ways.

These include:

1. Foreign exchange: The exploitation and export of mineral resources, especially petroleum, earns about 90 per cent of Nigeria’s foreign exchange.
2. Employment: Mining of minerals provides employment for thousands of Nigerians, both skilled and unskilled labour.
3. Technology transfer: Nigerians who have been employed by foreign oil companies operating in the country, have over the years acquired the necessary technology and knowledge, which has been put to use in running the Nigerian National Petroleum Company (NNPC). Also, there are now indigenous oil producing and marketing companies run by Nigerians.
4. Urban development: Exploitation of minerals has led to the growth of some major industrial centres and cities, such as, Warri, Port Harcourt, Jos, Bukuru, and Enugu among many others. It is also important to note that the bulk of the capital used in the development of the Federal Capital city Abuja, came essentially from crude export earnings.
5. Infrastructural development: Earnings from the export and sale of mineral products have been used to develop necessary socioeconomic infrastructures all over the country. This includes roads, pipe borne water, electricity, health facilities, and housing. Indeed, the initial construction of rail lines to Enugu and Jos was to facilitate the movement of mineral products to the sea ports for export.
6. Raw materials: Minerals provide essential raw materials for the establishment of industries, where deposits are found. For example, the discovery of limestone deposits in Ewekoro, Gboko, Ashaka, Calabar and Sokoto led to the establishment of cement factories in these locations. The availability of petroleum (crude oil) also led to the establishment of petro-chemical industries in Warri, Port Harcourt and Kaduna.

 

Problems of the Mining Industry in Nigeria

The mining industry in Nigeria is facing a number of problems. These problems are as follows:

1. Shortage of spare parts: The mining industry in Nigeria, is facing the problem of replacing obsolete and worn out equipment and technology, as most of the equipment is imported, and very expensive. It also takes time to get them ordered and supplied from the overseas manufacturers. This has led to frequent breakdown of industries (oil refineries), and factories not meeting their installed capacities.
2. Inadequate skilled labour: The oil industry in particular, requires highly skilled labour mining engineers and technical personnel, which are not readily available locally. This situation has led to the domination of the oil industry by expatriates, who deplete our foreign exchange.
3. Poor transportation: Some of the mining locations are remote and not well connected to the national transportation network. This is a drawback for maximum exploitation of mineral resources. A good example of this situation is found in the Niger Delta region, oil wells are located in remote mangrove creeks and offshore, which can only be reached by boats and helicopters.
4. Mining hazards: Mining is hazardous activity, hence miners and operators of the industry are exposed to operational risks such as, spillage, explosions, and fire on the oil wells. In addition, drilling in swampy oil producing areas like the Niger Delta expose miners to mosquitoes and malaria.

 

Environmental Impact of Mining in Nigeria

1. Loss of farmland: In the process of mining, farmlands are usually abandoned to give way to the mine sites. Farmlands adjacent to mines are indirectly contaminated or otherwise destroyed by the effects of mining. This is a common feature in the Niger Delta region of Nigeria where oil exploitation has led to the destruction of farmland through oil spillage and gas flaring.
2. Loss of biodiversity: Mining has led to the destruction of the biodiversity (plant and animal life) in many mining areas. Medicinal plants are lost as a result of mining; and rare animals are driven into extinction through loss of habitat and through excessive hunting. The Niger Delta is a good example of an area experiencing biodiversity degradation especially as the ecology of the mangrove and freshwater swamp forests is seriously disturbed by oil mining activities.
3. Environmental degradation: Open cast mining, as in tin mining on the Jos Plateau, destroys the land, generates a lot of sediments that pollute water bodies, and exposes the land to accelerated soil erosion and land degradation. In the savanna lands of northern Nigeria where there has been a lot of uncontrolled prospecting for minerals, especially, uranium and precious metals, vast tracts of lands have been laid waste by quarrying.
4. Depletion of mineral reserves: Some of the non-renewable minerals such as petroleum, coal, tin and columbite are depleted after many years of sustained mining.

 

Power Resources in Nigeria

Nigeria has four major sources of power namely: coal, petroleum, natural gas, and water; and the minor ones yet to be fully harnessed are solar and nuclear energy. Coal, petroleum and natural gas are used to generate thermal electric power while water is used to generate hydroelectric power. The thermal power stations located at Igbin, near Lagos, Sapele and Ughelli in Delta State, and Afam in Rivers State all use natural gas, while the thermal station at Oji River uses coal to generate electricity.

The earliest hydroelectricity power stations were built at Kurra and Kwal falls on the Jos Plateau; however, newer and more modern hydro-electricity plants have been built at Kainji, Shiroro and Jebba. The plant at Kainji is the largest hydro-electricity plant in the country.

Hydro-power potentials, exist on the Mambila Plateau and the Cross River highlands among other locations in the country. Electricity power generation and supply is one of the main developmental challenges in Nigeria. The sole national power corporation, the Power Holding Company of Nigeria (PHCN) (now privatized), has been unable tomeet the increasing electricity demand for both the industrial and domestic use of the over 160 million people of Nigeria. Power generation in the country is currently being diversified to include power stations driven by gas in the Niger Delta and solar plants in the northern states of Nigeria.

Also power generation is now being transferred to private power development companies. For this purpose, the country has been subdivided into zones, which have been allocated to these private electricity generation and distribution companies.

 

Important terms

1. Dam – a concrete wall across a river to hold back the flow of water.
2. Generator – this is turned by the turbine and makes the electricity.
3. Grill – a metal mesh at the entrance to the penstock, which prevents rubbish from entering and damaging the machinery. Head of water – the vertical distance which the water falls. The greater the head of water, the more electricity can be produced.
4. Penstock – large metal pipe which leads the water from the reservoir to the turbine.
5. Power house – the building at the foot of the dam which contains the turbine and generator.
6. Pylons – steel towers which support the transmission lines.
7. Reservoir – an artificial lake formed behind the dam which is used to store water.
8. Tail race – the passage through which the water is returned to the river, after it has turned the turbine.
9. Transformer – this changes the voltage of the electricity so that it can be transmitted.
10. Transmission lines – cables which carry the electricity from the power station to the consumer.
11. Turbine – this is like a large wheel with blades on it. The force of falling water turns the turbine and the turbine turns the generator.
12. Turbine inlet valve – this controls the flow of water on to the turbine.