NIGERIA
NIGERIA
Federal Capital: Abuja
Nigeria is one of the largest countries in Africa. It lies wholly within the tropics along the Gulf of Guinea, on the west coast of Africa. It is bounded on the west by the Republic of Benin, on the north by the Republic of Niger and on the east by the Republic of Cameroon and on the south by the Atlantic Ocean.
A land of lush vibrant vegetation and rolling velds, its climate varies from tropical at the coast to sub-tropical further in land. Sandy beaches stretch along most of the country's 800 kilometre coast-line which is intersected by the great Niger Delta and by intricate network of creeks and rivers,
The sandy beaches are backed by a belt of mangrove swamps, Beyond that, there is a zone of tropical forest, then the country becomes more open and park-like with some hilly ranges. Further inland it develops into a low-level plateau with hills of granite and sand-stone at a general elevation of 610 metres and rising to a central plateau along parts of the eastern frontier to 1,830 metres. The northern borders stretch out towards the Sahara desert, lying well outside the limits of the rain forest.
The diversified geographical regions with the almost inexhaustible variety they provide, make Nigeria a highly interesting place.
There are two well marked seasons - the dry season, lasting from November to March and the rainy season from April to October. Temperatures at the coast seldom rise above 32°C but humidity can be as high as 95%. The climate is drier further north where extremities of temperature are common, sometimes ranging from 12°C to 36°C
Rivers and Lakes
The River Niger is the most important river in Nigeria and is the third longest in Africa.
The Niger rises from the Futa Jallon to the North-east of Sierra Leone and two-third of its length of 4,169 kilometres, flows through other countries. It enters Nigeria from the west and then runs south easterly to Lokoja where it forms a confluence with the River Benue, its principal tributary. Other main tributaries of the River Niger are the Sokoto, Kaduna and Anambra Rivers. The River Benue which has its source in the Cameroon Republic, flows south-westerly to its confluence with the Niger, receiving in its course the waters of rivers Katsina-Ala and Gongola.
A lake, with an area of 1,236 square kilometres, was created on the River Niger by the construction of the KainjiHydro-Electric Dam; some 12 kilometres north of Jebba. The dam is also used to control the flow of the Niger flood waters. Efforts are afoot to make the river navigable throughout the year, from the Escravos to Niamey in the Niger Republic, a distance of more than 1,600 kilometres.
There are also other major rivers including: the Ogun River which flows into the Lagos lagoon; the Delta River on which now stands the modem port of Sapele; the Escravos, the Forcados, the Sombreiro and the Bonny River which provides Port harcourt with an outlet to the sea and the Cross River and its feeders which include the Imo and Qua-lboe Rivers.
There are two big inland waters - Lake Chad, north east of the country and the Kainji Lake, created from the River Niger by the construction of the Kainji Hydro-Electric Dam.
The underground water resources of the country vary in extent and magnitude with geological formations. In the Nigerian Basement complex area of approximately one-fifth of the total area of the country, underground water occurs in a discontinuous fashion. However, major sedimentary rock areas are by far more significant for ground water potential.
The coastal areas, the Niger-Benue valleys, the southeastern downlands, the Sokoto-Rima Basin and the Chad Basin are remarkable for continuous aquifers. Borehole yield in the coastal plains is of the order of 40,914 litres per hour and in the alluvium, deposits of the Niger Delta, they are 55,006 litres per hour.
The Sokoto-Rima Basin in the north-west and the Chad Basin in the north cut, are the most significant area for underground water exploitation.
Nigeria is one of the world's most important producers of tropical timber. Exports have steadily grown since the beginning of the century while local consumption continues to increase, at a fast rate. The Nigerian forest reserves of thousands of kilometres are owned by state governments. And most of the reserves are either under exploitation or are on lease to timber concessionaires, who hold extensive felling rights.
Meanwhile, there are vast areas of forest land outside the reserves in which large quantity of timber are available, About 50 percent of the total volume of timber produced in the country is obtained from non-reserved areas.
Nigeria's forests contain very large varieties of timber. Of the more than 600 tree-species in these forests, over 100 are usable, though less than thirty have been introduced in the world market.
Felling of trees in the reserves is regulated and controlled while trees are replanted or regenerated naturally. Until recently, trees outside the reserves were usually not replaced after felling but allowed to regenerate naturally. There is a Federal Department of Forest Reserve which supports forest production as well as researches into timber utilization in the country.
Games reserves abound in the country. The Yankari Game reserve with its Wikki Warm Springs and the Borgu Game Reserves near Kainji, offer opportunities for visitors to see rare species of Nigerian wildlife in their natural habitat, Wildlife species in the Yankari Reserve include elephants, antelopes, and other categories of animals.
Also the University of lbadan zoo has a sizeable number of Nigerian wildlife. The zoo, just like the ones maintained by the Enugu, Kano, Plateau and the Cross River State Governments is open to the public. The Obafemi Awolowo University also maintains a natural habitat zoo.
GEOLOGY
About half of Nigeria is underlain by crystaline rocks. The rocks are exposed in three large areas, namely, the northem, western and eastern parts, and they consist of series of granites, gneisses, migmatites and narrow belts of low-grade schists, quartzites and amphibolites. Collectively, the rocks are known the as the basement complex and they are Precambrian in age. The rocks were formed as a result of metamorphosis and ingeneous activities on a regional scale.
Two groups of granites are known in Nigeria - the older and the younger granites. The older granites are widespread. They form smooth rounded hills which characterize landscape of the basement complex area. The hills occasionally rise up to 300 metres. The older granites vary widely texture, mineralogical and chemical composition.
The younger granites which are of jurassic age, intrude into the basement complex in the plateau area. The comes show a remarkable range of petrographic types and provide some of the best known example of ring-complexes to attract wide international scientific interest.
Marine, terrestrial, cretaceous and younger sedimentary sources, which lie on the basement complex, cover the other half of the country's surface. The oldest sedimentary rocks are of lower cretaceous age and are found in the southern north-eastern parts of the country with a "Y" shaped connection between those in the coastal areas and the others along valleys of the two great rivers (the Niger and Benue).
The oldest cretaceous rocks in Nigeria are the sand stones and shales around Abakaliki in Ebonyi State. They are Albian age (i.e. about 120 million years old) and in them occur the main mineralisations of the lead and zinc ores in Abakaliki and Ishiagu areas. Slightly younger cretaceous rocks, chiefly shales and limestones of cenomanian and touronian sediments are also present in parts of North-western and South-western Nigeria. The coal deposits of Bongo State, Ankpa and Dekina in Kogi State and Gombe in Gombe State are of cretaceous age.
About 60 rnillion years ago, the sea deposited a thick sequence of shales and sandstones within a belt of Nigeria which stretches from beyond Lagos to Calabar and also to parts of Sokoto State. Those deposits were later covered by beds of sands and clay which in Delta, Imo, Abia,, Enugu, Edo and Anambra States, contain seams of lignite. During the Miocene,sedimentation in the Niger Delta Basin was characterized by alternating sequences of sands and shales of varying thicknesses, the sands forming the reservoir rock while shales formed the cap rocks of the vast hydrocarbon (petroleum and gas) reservoirs of the Niger Delta.
The limestone in the southwestern part of Nigeria was also deposited during that period. In the latter part of the Tertiary, prolonged erosions resulted in the formation of peneplains on which thick layers of laterites were formed. In northeastern Nigeria, down-warping produced a wide basin in which deposits of clay and sands, now known as the Chad Formation, were formed about a million years ago. Similar sediments in Sokoto area and in the Niger Delta are believed to belong partly to the same period.
MINERALSNigeria is rich in mineral resources which include petroleum, limestone, tin, kaolin, columbite, gold, silver, coal, lead, zinc, gypsum, clay, shale, marble, graphite, iron ore, stone,zircon, wolfram, molybdenite and tantalite.
The ownership and control of all minerals in the Republic is vested in the Federal Government. The Federal Ministry of Solid Minerals is responsible for the enforcement of the Minerals Act and ancillary legislation in respect of solid minerals. The Ministry is responsible for issuing 'prospecting rights' and other authorizations related to the search for, retention and disposal of solid minerals. Mining may be undertaken by private individuals, partnerships, private or public companies registered in Nigeria.
Government is involved in mining through four of its corporations. They are Nigerian Coal Corporation (NCC), the Nigeria National petroleum Corporation (NNPC), the Nigerian Mining Corporation (NMC) and the Nigerian Steel Development Authority (NSDA).
Extensive deposits of limestone exist throughout the country. They provide the necessary raw materials for the country's cement factories at Calabar, in Cross River State, Ewekoro and Sagamu in Ogun State, Sokoto in Sokoto State, Nkalagu in Ebonyi State, Ukpilla in Edo State and Gboko in Benue State. Others are Ashaka in Bauchi State and Eagle Cement in Rivers State.
Tin and columbite are the principal metalliferous minerals exported from Nigeria. Main deposits of tin occur in Plateau, Bauchi, Kaduna and Kano States, while there is a small deposit in Oyo State. The Country began refining its own tin ore in 1961. Nigeria exports refined tin mineral metal of 99.9 percent grade.
Nigeria is a member of the International Tin Council and subscribes to the Tin Research Institute. Columbite occurs in the younger granite of the Bauchi Plateau.
About 400 million tomes of good quality iron ore deposits have been discovered at Itakpe, near Okene in Kogi State. Other deposits of iron ore With an average iron content of 40 to 50 percent are also known to be at Agaba near the confluence of the Niger and Benue, as well as in the vicinity of Enugu, Enugu State. Reserves of these ores are estimated at 30.6 million tonnes and 45.9 million tonnes respectively Work had gone far on the iron and steel industry which will utilize these resources. The Nigerian Steel Development Authority is responsible for executing the project.
The Nigeria lead-Zinc deposits extend continually for about 560 kilometres in a narrow belt in Ishiagu, Ebonyi State and Bende area of Abia State and also in Bauchi State, The most important deposits are found in the Abakaliki area of Ebonyi State and there has been considerable activity by indigenous miners in prospecting for lead-zinc in this area.
Gold is available in Nigeria, although not in appreciable quantity. Formerly, the most important producing arm were m Sokoto State, Minna in Niger State and Kabba in Kogi State, but the bulk of the output now comes from Ilesa in Osun State.
The main source of supply is at Jajura in the Lokoja area of Kogi State. There are marble industries also at Igbeti in Oyo State and at Kwakuti near Minna in Niger State.
This is found in most parts of the country and it is extensively quarried and used for building purposes, roads and rail ballast, dam foundations and harbour works.
Quantities of this mineral are found in some rivers and streams in Nigera and it is also extracted as a by-product of tin/columbite mining in Plateau State.
Nigeria is the only West African country that produces coal. The major coal mines are Enugu in Enugu State and at Kabba in Kogi State. Ghana and Egypt are the two main markets for Nigerian coal in Africa.,
PETROLEUMOil represents Nigeria's economic backbone and dominates the country's foreign trade, accounting for almost 96% of export revenue in 1990. Nigeria has large deposits of crude oil both on land and offshore. Nigeria is the sixth largest oil producer in the world.
The story of Nigerian oil dates back to 1937 when the search for oil first began, but discovery did not come until 1956. The Federal Government granted an oil prospecting and mining licence to Shell-BP in 1954. The first export of crude ,oil followed in 1958.
There are over 17 companies prospecting for oil in the country. These include Chevron (Nig) Limited, Mobil Oil Producing Company Nigeria, Nigeria Agip Oil Co. Elf (Nig), Texaco Overseas (Nig), Delta Oil (Nig), Demanex (Nig), Henry Stephens and Sons, Japan Petroleum (Nig), Tenneco Oil Company of Nigeria, Ashland Oil Company, Pan Ocean and the Government-owned Nigeria National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC).
In 1974 Government acquired some interest in Elf, Agip/Phillips, Shell-BP, Gulf and Mobil were increased to 55 percent. In 1975, this was extended to Texaco and later to Pan Ocean in 1978. In 1979, increased participation by Government reached an all time high of 60 percent interest in licences on land and 40% in off-shore block in all the above, mentioned companies, while British Petroleum's interest in shell-BP was also taken over later in the year and their petrol chains renamed Afrcan Petroleum (AP)
The Nigeria National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC) came into being on April 1, 1977, by a merger of the Nigerian National Oil Corporation (NNOC) and the former Federal Ministry of Petroleum Resources.
Through the NNPC, Government now has majority equity interest in the operations of oil producing companies and controlling equity shares in some oil marketing compaies. The import of the Joint Venture activities, apart from the control it confers on Government through NNPC, is the additional revenue that accrues to the nation through direct participation, in the exploitation of its oil resources
NNPC has created 12 subsidiaries. They are: Nigerian Petroleum Development Company Limited (NPDC) Integrated Data Services Company Limited (IDSC). Warri Refinery and Petrochemicals Company Limited (WRPC), Kaduna Refinery and Petrochemicals Company Nigerian Limited (KRPC), Port Harcourt Refinery Company Limited (PHRC), Pipelines and Products Marketing Company Limited (PPMC), Nigerian Gas Development Company of Nigeria Limited (NGDC), Eleme Petrochemicals Company Limited, Engineering Company of Nigeria Limited, Nigeria LNG Company (NLNC), Carlson (Bermuda) Limited and Hyson (Nigeria) Limited.
The country's first refinery is situated at Alesa Eleme, near Port Harcourt. The Refinery, which was commissioned in October 1965, has an installed capacity of 35,000 barrels per day. The second oil refinery built at Warri (100,000 EPSD) was commissioned in 1973 and later expanded to 125,000 barrels per day while the fuel section of the Kaduna Refinery (100,000 APSD) was commissioned in 1980 and has been expanded to 110,000 barrels per day. The capacity of the old Port was expanded in 1986 from 35,000 barrels per day to 60,000 barrels per day. The new refinery in Port Harcourt is close to its full capacity of 150,000 barrels per day, with several trains producing unleaded petrol that goes partly to the U.S market.
The Warri Refinery was expanded (i.e debottlenecked) to 125,0000 barrels per day from its initial installed capacity of 100,000 barrels per day. The capacity of the Kaduna Refinery was also expanded from 100,000 barrels to 110,000 barrels per day.Mobil producing in 1986 began preparation for the production of condensate fro the Oso Condensates Field, offshore in Akwa-lbom State. Condensate, which is different from crude oil, is another source of foreign exchange earnings,
Nigeria has natural gas in commercial quantities. The Fluid Catalytic Cracking Unit (FCCU) of the Warri refinery has been producing liquified petroleum gas (LPG) for local consumption. The NNPC is installing a Merox Unit in the Kaduna Refinery as part of its Butanisation programme. When this and other projects in the Butanisation Programme are completed, Nigeria will stop importing cooking gas (LPC) and instead join the ranks of gas exportersThe NNPC/Nigeria Agip Oil Coy/Phillips Oil Company joint venture has built two gas reinjection plants.- one at Obiafu-Obirikom in Rivers State and the other at Kwale-Okpi in Delta State.
NNPC has found markets in Europe for over 68 percent of the 4.5 million tonnes per annum, of liquefied natural gas (LNG) that its subsidiary, the Nigeria LNG Company, will produce At its two train LNG plant in Bonny, Rivers State.
Petrochemicals are basically chemicals derived from oil and natural gas. End Products which are based on petrochemicals include plastic wares, polyester, paints, and solventbased agro chemicals such as pesticides and herbicides.
The Petrochemical Phase I project involved the building of petrochemical plant which utilize some products and by-products from the existing refineries in the country. The polypropylene plant is located at Ekpan, near Warri, with installed capacity of 35,000 metric tonnes of polypropylene resins per annum. The Carbon Black plant is also located at Ekpan near Warri. The plant has a capacity of 18,000 metric tonnes per annum of carbon black. A Linear Alkyl Benzene (LAB) plant and a Hydrocarbon solvent plant are located beside the Kaduna Refinery About 35,000 metric tonnes of hydrocarbon solvent and 2,000 metric tonnes of benzene drag would be produced annually in a joint venture between NNPC and the private sector.
The Phase II project, a joint venture between NNPC and the Private sector, involves the building of the Eleme Petrochemical Complex based on olefines to Produce some major plastic resins such as polyethylene, polypropylene, polyvinyle etc. With the commissioning of the new Port Harcourt refinery in 1989, availability of a ready source of high grade reformat for the production of Aromatics for the Phase III petrochemical projects is well assured.
The Eleme Plant produces 25,000 tonnes of propyethylene and 80,000 tonnes of polypropylene annually.