MAIN SECTORS
OF THE
ECONOMY: INDUSTRY & TRADE
INDUSTRIAL APPLICATIONS TO SOLID MINERALS
Bitumen Development The Federal Government has approved the establishment
Although crude oil and natural gas are the chief resources
of the Bitumen Development Authority of Nigeria to expe-
extracted for trade, solid minerals are abundant in Nigeria.
dite action on bitumen exploration to generate consistent
The principal mineral resources are coal, iron ore, zinc,
revenue as well as reduce the high cost of importation of
limestone and marble among others. Despite having large
asphalt, a derivative of bitumen commonly used in road
deposits, low output has been recorded for several years.
construction. It has also entered into an agreement with a
This was mainly due to a fall in demand caused by a shift
subsidiary of an American energy company, Conoco, for
by its public sector consumers towards the use of gas and
the evaluation of technical, economical and commercial
petroleum. The solid mineral sector offers the opportunity
feasibility of exploring, developing, refining and marke-
to diversify Nigeria’s petroleum dominated economy. It
ting of Nigerian heavy oil and tar sands.
also offers viable prospects for mining, mineral processing and the manufacture of many intermediate raw materials for local industries and export. One of the objectives of
TRADE
the new National Policy on Solid Minerals is to ensure the orderly development of the mineral resources of the
Recently, Nigeria’s trade sector has been dominated by
country.
the oil industry, which accounts for up to 95% of total exports of goods. Agricultural products such as cocoa and
Nigeria’s renewed national solid mineral thrust offers a
rubber account for less than 5% while manufactured
competitive environment for solid mineral development.
goods account for less than 1% of exports. As mentioned
In collaboration with the governments of United Kingdom
earlier, plans are in effect to increase the total export of
and the Republic of South Africa, the country has recently
Nigerian made manufactured goods.
agreed to cooperate in the following areas: Formal regional trade within the Economic Community of * Re-establishment of internationally acceptable geolo-
West African States (ECOWAS) is relatively small, as the
gical laboratory
sale of crude oil to these countries is almost non-existent. However, a small volume of raw materials and finished
* Development of Regional Database of West Africa to be
products are exported to other West African states and to
centred in Nigeria.
Eastern Europe.
* Training and retraining of technical staff of Geological
To foster trade initiatives in other sectors of the economy,
Survey of Nigeria
the Nigerian government believes it should continuously push for change. It has recently drawn up a new National
* Digitalisation of Airborne Geophysical Survey Data of
Trade Policy with the aim of keeping up with global trends
Nigeria.
while providing detailed guidelines for importers and exporters.
* Production of Metallogenic Map of Nigeria. Also, a comprehensive regulatory framework, the Commodities Exchange and Futures Market Commission
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