LACK of awareness about the locations of mineral resources in Nigeria makes the country almost exclusively dependent on oil today even though we established ourselves as an agricultural society many years ago.

Industrial Great Britain derives great wealth from the exploitation and the use of kaolin and coal at home. She also exports large quantities of these two minerals to earn considerable foreign currencies. Nigeria is very rich in these two minerals, yet she does not use or derive any wealth from their presence. Nigeria’s coal deposit at Udi near Enugu is among the best in the world.

We used it to run our railways and generate electricity many years ago. It is now abandoned. In the centre of Minna, the capital of Niger State, lies a rich deposit of kaolin the extent of which will last more than one hundred years were we to exploit it. This kaolin we can use in the production of ceramics, paper filling, paint making, etc, as well as export it to earn foreign currencies.

The people of Minna don’t even know that such rich deposit exists. A state hospital comfortably sits on this mineral deposit; neither the contractors nor the supervisors raised alarm about the look of the unusual soil while the foundation of the hospital was being laid. This writer discovered the presence of the mineral when he went to the site in 1989 to prepare a report on the condition of the hospital for the Federal Ministry of Health which was in the process of taking a decision to complete the construction of the hospital for Niger State.

Every state of this country has one mineral deposit or the other in its territory. This writer picked sample of bitumen from Imeri village near Ijebu Ode in December 1986 and informed of the presence of bitumen in Ogun State later in the Comet newspaper. Agbabu in Ondo State is believed to have the largest deposit of bitumen in Nigeria, spreading to Edo State, Ogun State and Lagos State.

Reference to this deposit was made in 1896. One hundred and eleven years after, we have not taken any decision to exploit it. If we will encourage every state to get involved in the exploitation of minerals within its area of authority, we shall begin to talk about “resource development” rather than “resource control”.

The preparation of a geological map of Nigeria showing precisely what mineral deposits exist in each state will stimulate interest in the mineral wealth of each state and the desire to share in the duty to mine such mineral deposits of one’s state. Legislation empowering states as well as individuals to get involved in the exploitation of minerals in every part of the country will make the growth of Nigerian economy compare with that of the United States of America in her early years when she was laying her own economic foundation three centuries ago.

We can earn double what we earn from the sale of crude oil if we care to add value to the crude by refining it before we sell it. The Japanese asserted this economic advantage long ago in 1901, refining her own crude oil obtained from the northern island of Hokkaido and the prefectures of Yamagata and Shizuoka in the the central island of Honshu. We pass the gas layer before getting to the crude oil layer.

What was the reason why we encouraged the oil companies to waste away the gas by flaring instead of first collecting it and depositing in the market before coming to the crude oil itself? We made ourselves poorer by not asking questions and getting positive replies for the many years the gas remain flared. This writer is aware the flaring has been going on for about 50 years. Why? Gas flaring must cease. Time to take our destiny into our own hands is today, not tomorrow.

Our universities should be encouraged to share in the process of our industrial development. They should take the lead to investigate what value they can add to a mineral or what use they can put such mineral to.

The University of Technology in Minna may wish to investigate further the kaolin in Minna, use it for ceramics, etc; the Chemical Engineering Department of the University at Ago-Iwoye many wish to take sample of bitumen at Imeri, Ijebu-Ode and see to it that the roads on the campus can be up-dated with the bitumen collected, maybe also extract petroleum from the collection.

Involvements of this nature may even dictate the directions of some of the students as the process is bound to open a lot of opportunities for them after graduation. The universities in Enugu should also, without delay, do something positive about the coal near Enugu. Some Nigerians who have made chemical analysis of the coal are positive about its quality. Besides using it to generate electricity, it can be exported to earn foreign currency, it can also be used for steel production.

The university at Makurdi may wish to take advantage of the rock salt deposit in Benue State and through small scale prospecting and exploitation supply the salt needs of Nigeria, thereby save large sums in foreign currency used in importing this commodity into the country. Lagos may resume what it was best at before its bombardment in 1851, by collecting water from the sea, dry and make cheap and high quality salt for use in Nigeria today. The beach at Badagry is ideal for this today.

Deposits of graphite exists in Birnin Kebbi and Adamawa, exploitation of this mineral will stimulate the production of lead pencils and carbon bushes for our cars, the universities nearby may get involved to remain relevant! Mica exists in Kabba (Kogi) and Dukku (Niger); this is relevant in electrical insulation. Will the university in Lokoja turn its face away from taking advantage of this very valuable mineral deposit? The list is endless.

We attend colleges and pass out, and for several years we have no employment. These are some of the ways we can bring about a change in our society for the better. Ideas change men, ideas shape nations. Discover the location of one mineral or the other and do something to effect a change in your life and reshape Nigeria. God has blessed this country with minerals and the people who can reshape this country. Step out today and be counted amongst those who see this as duty to Nigeria.

We should not forget to make good the site when we shall have finished exploiting its mineral deposit in order not to recreate what was left behind after exploiting tin from Jos many years ago. Such sites shall be refilled, graded and planted with trees.

Prof. Omotayo Adeolu, a commentator on national issues, wrote from Lagos.