Nigeria is blessed with so many natural resources such as tin, columbite, limestone, coal, iron ore, petroleum and natural gas, lead, zinc, arable land just to mention a few out of our vast resources not excluding man power and intellectuals to manage these resources to ensure sustainable growth and development. Nigeria covers an area of 923,768 sq km with the tropical forest in the south, and in the north, the savanna supporting a variety of plants and animals (both wild and domesticated)

To ensure sustainable growth and national development, those in the helm of affairs have to look into harnessing other resources we have. Before oil became the mainstay of our economy in the mid-1970s, solid minerals and agricultural commodities accounted for almost all of the country’s exports. The tin mines of the central plateau region around Jos, and the coal mines around the southern city of Enugu had been opened up by the late 19th century. But tin production is now down to a trickle, while coal exports slumped from a peak of 3.2 million tons a year in the 1970s to nothing within two decades as successive administrations focused on the oil boom of the 1970s and early 1980s.
But it is unfortunate that with our vast resources, petroleum still dominates the Nigerian economy since it was discovered in the 1950s so much that almost 100 percent of export earnings and about four-fifths of government revenues are derived from petroleum. Our production of coal has truly declined drastically or do we think coal does not have vast use worldwide? In fact coal is an essential raw material and fuel for important global industries such as cement and steel and can be used in the paper industry, chemical and pharmaceutical industry, not to mention the several by-products from coal. Also in sharp decline are production of tin and columbite.

Also we have to harness unexplored natural resources such as bitumen, gold, salt, gemstones, kaolin, and gypsum. The Nigeria Extractive Industries Transparency Initiative, NEITI, audit report of 2012 suggests that there are about 40 different kinds of solid minerals and precious metals buried in Nigeria soil waiting to be exploited. The commercial value of Nigeria’s solid minerals has been estimated to run into hundreds of trillions of dollars, with 70percent of these buried in the bowel of northern Nigeria. Nigeria looses 8trillion naira annually in unexploited gold alone. I suggest that the federal government should review the mining and mineral act to encourage exploration and exploitation of mineral resources by the state government within their jurisdiction. Partnership can also be formed with the private sector to overcome the cost of exploration and exploitation of these resources.

Agriculture should not be neglected anymore as it contributed to more than 75 percent of export earnings and accounted for 23 percent of Nigeria’s GDP and engaged about 3 percent of the economically active population before 1970. Nigeria’s major crops include palms (used to produce palm oil), cacao, rubber, and cotton, all of which were once exported but are now sold mostly locally. Also grown are sorghum, millet, maize (corn), yams, and cassava and many more.

The federal government should properly manage and enhance the agricultural sector so as to boost the country’s gross domestic product and even replace oil on top of the list, considering the vast area of land that is unused in Nigeria. Our government should note that the agricultural sector is one of Nigeria’s sources of revenue that is yet underdeveloped and unexplored.

Programs should be set up to educate our farmers as most farmers engage in subsistence agriculture have very little knowledge of the operational method of the improved agricultural system. They should also be provided with the necessary tools and adequate resources such as fertilizers, animal feeds, pesticides etc. Electricity supply should be steady to ensure that perishable goods are properly stored, preserved and processed after harvest. The government should encourage large-scale, mechanized farming by local entrepreneurs and international corporations. Although large-scale, machine-based farming has increased substantially, it accounts for only a fraction of total production.
Our local industries should be developed and we should encourage entrepreneurship. Individuals should be encouraged to have textile mills, food-processing plants, tanneries and oil-crushing mills that processed raw materials for export. This will also create more job opportunities and reduce unemployment. The textile industry was employing about 320,000 Nigerians but it now employs less than 30,000 people and the factories operate below capacity or they are completely closed. Government agencies such as NADB,NDDC,SMEIES,NAPEP such be funded and monitored to ensure growth of small business and industries, this will prevent small industries from closing due to lack of funds. The government should ensure that in no distant time, importation of textiles and clothing, soaps and detergents, footwear, wood products, metals, pottery wares will be a thing of a past and importing of such commodities will require high import duties and other charges.

Nigeria has 193,200 km of roads and most of them should be rehabilitated and more roads should be constructed. The federal government should note that transportation has his role to play in the commercial life, industry and the overall economic development of our great nation. This is even more so in a global economy where economic opportunities are increasingly related to mobility of people, goods and information. Transportation is very important because it links together the factors of production in a complex web of relationships between producers and consumers.

Nigeria has 3,528 km (2,192 mi) of operated railway track. The main line, completed in 1911, links Lagos to Kano, with extensions from Kano to Nguru, from Zaria to Kaura Namoda, and from Minna to Baro. More railways and train stations should be constructed and faster effective trains brought. This will increase the mobility of both people and goods which will facilitate economic growth and national development.

MY FINAL NOTE IS THAT WE SHOULD ALL CHANGE OUR IDEOLOGY OF SUCCESS....

I WILL LOVE YOUR CONTRIBUTIONS....

Nice but always note that Nigeria has over a trillion dollars GDP per annum and oil is not more than 20 billion dollars of that this year. So we are not oil dependent, we dont need the oil. Up to 1956, all oil consumed in Nigeria was imported. Then the whole world is filled with natural resources not only Nigeria, what brings prosperity is management of resources not presence of resources, natural or human.

In Nigeria we consume a lot of imported things. Sugar, clothes, wines, computers, cars, rice, PMS apple, flour and etc. I believe an average of more than 500 dollars per head is spent on these things every year. This will be over 100 billion dollars a year and oil income can not be more than 20 billion dollars a year now, so oil is not the highest forex earner. There are many other forex earners.

We know that dependence on oil breeds lack of accountability, so the only way out is to stop depending on oil income by whatever means possible, so that we can be like neighbouring west african nations with stable power and good infrastructures, we can then go further by taxing ourselves to raise money for HDI and economic growth and development as did the Western state of Nigeria back then and others and as is done in advanced nations nowadays.

lawani thanks 4 ur contribution

Hmmm

The country was good before but destroyed by few selfish individuals.