DIVERSIFICATION OF THE NIGERIAN ECONOMY: AGRICULTURE AND SOLID MINERALS AS PANACEA*
No Thumbnail Available
Files
Date
Authors
Journal Title
Journal ISSN
Volume Title
Publisher
Central Bank of Nigeria
Abstract
Description
Diversification of the Nigerian economy with specific emphasis
agricultural and solid mineral sectors is feasible in view of Nigeria's
endowment. Nigeria has a large expanse of agricultural land. This
77.7 per cent of Nigeria's tota l land area which is 910.8 thousand
kilometres. Of this total, 37.3 per cent is arable land, 7.4 per cent is
permanent crop and 9.0 percent is under forest. Therefore, substantial
still available for agricultural activities. Most importantly, Nigeria's a
diverse, which include four sub-sectors, namely; crop, livestock, fishery
forestry which are yet to be ful ly exploited. In the same vein, Nigeria is bl
with a wide variety of solid minerals which are widely distributed in
the states of the Federation. So far, about 33 solid mineral commott
occurring in about 450 locations nationwide have been identified.
include coal, cassiterite (tin ore), columbite, marble, tantalite, wolfram,
lead, zinc, limestone, kaolin, clay, shales, and radioactive minerals
monazite, zircon, molybdelite and barytes. Others are glass sand,
sand, uranium, serpentine, phosphate, cuprite, granite, talc ore,
feldspar, bentonite, soda ash, iron ore, dolomite, etc. Thus, Nigeria
with most of the mineral raw materials needed as inputs for
production. An effective partnership between government and the
sector in exploiting these abundant agricultural and solid mineral
which are well distributed all over the country, will certainly put Nigeria
part of sustainable growth and development.
Keywords
H Social Sciences (General), HG Finance