Oscarline Onwuemenyi

The Nigerian government constantly speaks of the desire to “diversify the source of revenue generation for the economy away from oil,” and regularly projects the mining industry as the next best thing outside crude oil.

Accordingly, government has identified dimension stone production as the gem of the solid minerals industry, and a sure route to the creation of millions of jobs and wealth for Nigerians.

This belief appears to be catching up even internationally since the country’s participation in one of the biggest and most colourful Dimension Stones Fairs in Italy, last year.

Locally too, there has been a lot of movements into the dimension stone sector, showing that perhaps local operators may have finally woken up to the potential of the sector to create wealth. Indeed, the growing interest in Nigeria’s dimension stones by international market operators marked the sector as a valuable tool for the nation’s upward building and construction industry as well as for architectural designs.

Speaking recently in Abuja, the Minister of Mines and Steel Development, Mr. Musa Mohammed Sada, noted that the workshop reflects government’s determination to grow the industry rapidly.

He said this is in line with the policy of utilizing the nation’s natural resources for the overall economic growth and well-being of Nigerians.

Sada, who spoke at a workshop on: Fundamentals of Dimension Stone Quarrying Techniques, observed that Nigeria’s basement complex hosts a wide variety of granites and marbles with attractive colours and textures, which have a huge potential for both domestic use and for export.

He stressed that Nigeria is endowed with huge natural resources for the dimension stone industry, but which potential are undermined by the over-dependence on finished imported stones from Europe and Asia.

According to the minister, “The cost of the finished locally processed materials is considered too expensive, hence the high patronage of products from other countries.”

He argued that the development of dimension stones is one of federal government’s strategic interventions towards the rapid transformation of the minerals industry as a catalyst for economic growth.

He said that over the past few years, the ministry has worked assiduously to implement a wide range of reforms to create an environment conducive for both government and investors.

He said, “Government has provided the necessary transformation for an accelerated development of the sector. The private sector is hereby challenged to invest in mining. The dimension stone industry with its diverse downstream opportunities, including a large Nigerian and international market is no doubt a good business.”

He hoped that the workshop would ignite interest of architects, builders and other stakeholders to “the large and beautiful deposits of Nigerian stones, the technical criteria for architectural stones and modern usage of stones in architecture.”

He said that his ministry through the World Bank-Assisted Sustainable Management of Mineral Resources Project, SMMRP, has commissioned a baseline study to prepare a typical business plan for the development of the stone industry. This is meant to promote Nigeria’s dimension stone industry, including the sourcing of plants and machinery (mine to market).

Sada explained that the study was carried out by “reputable international consultants from Italy,” adding that tremendous interest had since been shown in the development of the industry.

The minister stated that the country is targeting self sufficiency in dimension stones production.

He noted, however that one major issue that came up during the fair was the European Union policy on the certification of all stone blocks imported into EU countries, generally referred to as CE Marking.

“This involves the technical evaluation of the quality of the stones for use in architectural and decorative designs. Some laboratories have been approved all over the world for the pre-evaluation of stones entering the EU countries.”

Other challenges are the need for the training of Nigerians on the stone quarrying and processing and the need to establish a World class DS testing laboratory in the country.

To this end, the minister disclosed that President Goodluck Jonathan has approved a programme to facilitate the development of the sector to include organizing a construction industry workshop on dimension stones in the country; the engagement of international and local consultants to professionally classify Nigerian stones; and the training of operators on dimension stone quarrying and processing techniques.

Furthermore, he said that Nigeria has now established a world-class dimension stone testing laboratory, located at the National Geosciences Research Laboratories Centres, NGRL, in Kaduna, Kaduna State.