This piece has been lying idle in my notepad for the past three years. It is really a concern that what I wrote three years ago is still haunting my country Nigeria till date! Since what I wrote then is still a burning national issue, I decided to share my thoughts here.

In this article, I will be relating insurgency and militancy to some geological processes, metamorphism in particular.

This article was inspired by a course titled metamorphic petrology that I took as an undergraduate in the university. This course was taught by indefatigable Prof. Akin. I salute you sir for the knowledge you added to me! On this fateful day, the lecture topic was titled “metamorphic facie”

I will be taking you on a short geological ride in the course of this epistle, but I will try as much as possible not to bore you!

To start with; metamorphic facie is a topic under metamorphic petrology and metamorphic petrology in turn is the study of metamorphic rocks. But the whole metamorphic rock won’t have been formed without the process known as metamorphism. Metamorphism is derived from two Greek words: “meta” and “morph” which means change of form. It is no coincidence that the APC won the election on the “change” mantra.

Metamorphic facie can be defined as an assemblage of minerals that reach equilibrium under a specific temperature- pressure conditions. The several types of facie include amphibolite facie; granulite facie; blueschist facie, zeolite e.t.c

In this article, the various ethnic groups will be referred to as the mineral assemblages and the obnoxious government law and policies will be the temperature-pressure conditions under which the ethnic groups “mineral assemblages” reaches equilibrium.

I am not here to talk history because I am not a trained historian but a geologist! Although, I was told by my teachers that they had a course titled historical geology in their days, but I didn’t meet it in the curriculum in my time as a student learning the trade whose existence can be traced to the formation of the earth!

Nigeria, my fatherland and the place of my birth, a country that was once a sepulchral and an envy to many on the African continent is now a sepulchre and the north eastern part can be likened to the biblical Golgotha.

From the 2000s till date, Nigeria has witnessed several uprising ranging from ethnic and religious crises. Most of the crises have been caused by poverty and bad governance. Of note is the militancy in the nigerdelta region and boko haram endemic in the north eastern part of the country.

The activity of the militants was to voice out their dissatisfaction at degradation, neglect and underdevelopment by government, stating the fact that the goose that lays the golden egg lies in their backyard. The militancy can be likened to the greenschist facie. The greenschist facie of metamorphism is a low temperature, low pressure facie of regional metamorphism. I am relating militancy to the greenschist facie because it started slowly in the creeks of the delta (at low temperature) and low pressure in that many lives were not lost and there wasn’t much pressure on government unlike the boko haram endemic. The major lost to government at this time was loss of revenue, destruction of critical oil & gas infrastructures and pollution of the environment. The amnesty programme of the president Yar’dua regime helped put an end to this surge at the time and peace returned to the region.

After the militancy surge came the boko haram haemorrhage with her headquarters at Maiduiguri, the Borno state capital. Boko haram “western education is a taboo” in the Hausa language, which is the lingua franca in the northern region of Nigeria. According to some school of thought, the boko haram thing started as far back 1992. This sect has carried out dastardly carnage on innocent citizens, killing thousands and leaving millions homeless. They didn’t spare any religion. Some of the attacks to remember include the Nyaya, Konduga, Mubi, Pokistum, just to mention a few. The boko haram endemic can be likened to the blueschit facie of metamorphism. Blueschist facie of metamorphism is a product of low temperature and high pressure. I am relating this with the blueschist facie because of the year (1992) as reported that the sect was founded and it activities blossomed in 2009 till the wake of the 2015 elections; it is definitely at a low temperature because much was not heard of it during her formation year. High pressure in that it has led to death of thousands and displaced millions away from their ancestral homes. It is also of note that the government has spent trillions of naira against the deadly sect.

Nigeria, a country which once had a high level of conformity is now a country with disconformity.

I can only hope that Precambrian Buhari can bring about the needed change in this Holocene epoch of the Cenozoic Era of the Phanerozoic Eon to return the country where it belongs in the comity of nations.

Happy Independence day, Nigerians.

Using geology to unravel the earth...

Joy83:
Using geology to unravel the earth...

Book Dey worry this OP aswear. A geologist who also wrote is a rarity. Geobukky can't Try this I'm sure.

FreshNaijaBoy:



Book Dey worry this OP aswear. A geologist who also wrote is a rarity. Geobukky can't Try this I'm sure.

*scratches head*

Na wa oo politics now na for everybody see the big big grammer.i salute ur courage

For the benefit of some of us who read 'Keypoint' to pass WAEC, what is the keypoint.

Omowolewa, you are very funny. The key points are metamorphisim, metamorphic facie, blueschist, greenschist.

omowolewa:
For the benefit of some of us who read 'Keypoint' to pass WAEC, what is the keypoint.

Chai, what about metaphysics?! With this your big grammar (dogo'n turenchi), I reason along that I have to read the article.

Don't worry about the summary abeg.

niyogeol:
Omowolewa, you are very funny. The key points are metamorphisim, metamorphic facie, blueschist, greenschist.

As a geologist I think Nigeria should be ready to go back to the Gammowian (the age of the Sun; earlier than the Archean) . This means that we should go back to the origin and see where the problems.

@olawalepopoola, nice to have you here. If I am not mistaken, homminids started evolving on earth during the Holocene. And man developed the use of weapon and language during the Pliestocene. So, Nigeria's problem can't pre-date this epoch.

olawalepopoola:
As a geologist I think Nigeria should be ready to go back to the Gammowian (the age of the Sun; earlier than the Archean) . This means that we should go back to the origin and see where the problems.

FreshNaijaBoy:



Book Dey worry this OP aswear. A geologist who also wrote is a rarity. Geobukky can't Try this I'm sure.

I believe Geobukky can do it also.... They are both excellent product from my alma mata.

Op can be good lecturer of Geology!

Metaphysics is a thing for philosophers. Its not in the scope of discuss.

omowolewa:
Chai, what about metaphysics?! With this your big grammar (dogo'n turenchi), I reason along that I have to read the article.

Don't worry about the summary abeg.

Joy83:


I believe Geobukky can do it also.... They are both excellent product from my alma mata.

Op can be good lecturer of Geology!

Do you mean to tell me you know PLENTY But Rubbish very well?

FreshNaijaBoy:



Do you mean to tell me you know PLENTY But Rubbish very well?

Lol, sure nau... Buh I patronised her well during d days of snacks before she diversified into plenty but rubbish food

Joy83:

Lol, sure nau... Buh I patronised her well during d days of snacks before she diversified into plenty but rubbish food

Aauaite?

FreshNaijaBoy:

Do you mean to tell me you know PLENTY But Rubbish very well?

Iseyin camp?

Egbon, you know you are a better academic than myself. My expertise will be more useful in the tertiary nigerdelta complex and Dahomey basin. You can carry on with Bida, Benue trough, Chad basin and Sokoto embayment.

Joy83:


I believe Geobukky can do it also.... They are both excellent product from my alma mata.

Op can be good lecturer of Geology!

niyogeol:
Egbon, you know you are a better academic than myself. My expertise will be more useful in the tertiary nigerdelta complex and Dahomey basin. You can carry on with Bida, Benue trough, Chad basin and Sokoto embayment.

See this politician, you are going with those good prospect for petroleum, thereby leaving me with basins with poor prospect for petroleum production.

There is God sha...

geobukky:
Aauaite?

Most likely...

U want make dem bomb am for Chad basin ni meanwhile is exploration still happening there sef... Saw an article like Dat saying ' there is ambiguity regarding Gombe sandstone'

niyogeol:
Egbon, you know you are a better academic than myself. My expertise will be more useful in the tertiary nigerdelta complex and Dahomey basin. You can carry on with Bida, Benue trough, Chad basin and Sokoto embayment.

niyogeol:
@olawalepopoola, nice to have you here. If I am not mistaken, life started on earth during the Holocene time. And man developed the use of weapon and language during the Pliestocene. So, Nigeria's problem can't pre-date this times and epoch.

You are not getting the logic here. If the Gammowian existed before the earth, then there was a time before Nigeria almagamation! Let us go back to see the solutions we have now from those years! Without Gammowian no Holocene nor Pleistocene nor

I understand your point. The question is: who were the people in question during the Gammowian? Was there evidence of life on earth? Has the pangea broken up then? Has the tethy seas opened up? Did we have gondwana land?

Nice reminiscing some geological thought with you bro.

olawalepopoola:

You are not getting the logic here. If the Gammowian existed before the earth, then there was a time before Nigeria almagamation! Let us go back to see the solutions we have now from those years! Without Gammowian no Holocene nor Pleistocene nor

NNPC frontier exploration service left the zone when the insurgency was at its peak. President Buhari has interest in the basin though. Let's hope exploration will commence again.

geobukky:
U want make dem bomb am for Chad basin ni meanwhile is exploration still happening there sef... Saw an article like Dat saying ' there is ambiguity regarding Gombe sandstone'

Bros, as a scholar that you are, your expertise will be needed in the said basins to hit oil. I want you to be part of history; to be part of the team that will hit the black gold in Chad basin.

Joy83:


See this politician, you are going with those good prospect for petroleum, thereby leaving me with basins with poor prospect for petroleum production.

There is God sha...

Actually Chad basin hot as per research.... All those big guns will be willing to fund it... And funny enough it's going to be easy, it's a matter of re-adopting the countless research methods that yielded in Niger delta.... Buh den it's not for 0 experience like us... It's for dem prof rahman and Co... Only if they can tap the opportunity before Calgary and Alberta students come research the area...

niyogeol:
Bros, as a scholar that you are, you expertise will be needed in the said basins to hit oil. I want you to be part of history;to be part of the team that will hit the black gold in Chad basin.

niyogeol:
Bros, as a scholar that you are, you expertise will be needed in the said basins to hit oil. I want you to be part of history;to be part of the team that will hit the black gold in Chad basin.

Alright... A team in my school is currently working on that.

Joy83:

Alright... A team in my school is currently working on that.

School of Earth and Mineral Sciences (SEMS) FUTA, has been and still working on it as a partnership with FG

olawalepopoola:

School of Earth and Mineral Sciences (SEMS) FUTA, has been and still working on it as a partnership with FG

Good one...

geobukky:
Aauaite? Iseyin camp?

Be like say the juju for your village strong gan ooooooooo

dont mind me ...did some digging... we hav a mutual nairalander... we were in the same corner *just a bunk or 2 apart* in iseyin camp... i think you entered one public speaking competition in camp that time, one other babe from aaua represented too

FreshNaijaBoy:



Be like say the juju for your village strong gan ooooooooo

geobukky:
dont mind me ...did some digging... we hav a mutual nairalander... we were in the same corner *just a bunk or 2 apart* in iseyin camp... i think you entered one public speaking competition in camp that time, one other babe from aaua represented too

Hehehehehehehehehehehe. My hands are up. You Don win!!!