Exploiting Nation's Bitumen
allafrica.com Daily Trust (Abuja) OPINION January 20, 2003 Posted to the web January 20, 2003 Salisu Na'inna Dambatta
The general outcry by Nigerians over the state of roads in the country has accentuated the timeliness of the ongoing efforts towards ending the 100-year jinx on the exploitation of the large bitumen deposits in the country which has an enormous economic potential for Nigeria. Bitumen is the major component necessary for the construction of conventional roads in the world.
Although, preliminary exploratory activities on tar sand, the other name for bitumen, started in 1900, 14 clear years before the amalgamation of Nigeria, it is only in the last couple of years that the tempo of federal commitment that could lead to the actual exploitation of the mineral began. The driving force behind this, needless to say, is President Olusegun Obasanjo. Nigeria Competition Bill Your Comments Requested
"Any Nigerian government that successfully lays the foundation for the exploitation of this huge mineral resource would have made history because the Nigerian economy would substantially be diversified from conventional petroleum in an irrevocably strategic way", says a document advocating the exploitation of the mineral.
That foundation has been laid as the actual exploitation of Nigerian bitumen is set to be actualised in the next six months, raising hopes that Nigeria will soon be enjoying the fruits of the 47.2 billion barrels known or confirmed deposit of bitumen. This is important as the benefits are many.
The popular part of bitumen is asphalt which, as stated earlier, is used in road construction, but fact is that it has other petrochemical properties which are more valuable than most people think.
"Other strategic products include synthetic crude oil that can be refined from bitumen to produce motor fuel, fuel oil, grease, wax, pith and low cost petroleum products such as naphtha", says a document prepared by Dr. Femi Dada, former director of the bitumen project. Additional by-products of bitumen are nickel, vanadium, phenols for the pharmaceutical industry, sulphuric acid and sulphur, all of which Nigeria now spends huge amounts of foreign exchange to import.
The importance of bitumen has been recognised by other bitumen-rich countries, especially Venezuela and Canada who have developed techno-logies appropriate to the grades of their bitumen deposits. They are earning foreign exchange from it and its by-products and at the same time using part of it for their domestic needs.
In fact, Dr. Femi Dada argued in his paper that, "the local market alone in Nigeria is estimated at about N20 billion annually", and went further to observe that, "the Nigerian economy loses about N133 billion of five percent of GDP annually as a result of lack of bitumen".
Indeed, given the nature and value of bitumen, it is imperative to appreciate the goodness in the speedy manner in which the federal government created the enabling environment for its exploitation. The benefits it will bring are numerous. The National Assembly should assiduously pass the bill before it on the establishment of the Bitumen Development Agency. The federal ministry of solid minerals development should be praised for the determination shown by its management in ensuring that at last Nigeria's bitumen dream is now almost translated into beneficial reality.
Many Nigerians who are following the progress of the march towards the exploitation of bitumen acknowledge the inauguration of a presidential committee on the implementation of the bitumen project by the government of Ibrahim Babangida in 1989. Its revival by the Obasanjo administration is a welcome exercise in continuity and the increased tempo towards achieving the objective in the last two years is a genuine source of happiness to those who appreciate the implication of it all.
For availability of Nigerian bitumen to feed the huge internal demand for the commodity for road and other construction will mean more tarred roads for Nigerians. There are the added benefits of saving foreign exchange and earning more from its export.
The development of skilled manpower and the acquisition of high-tech equipment will all have beneficial impact on Nigeria. It is desirable and realisable with the current level of commitment on the part of all stakeholders.
It is argued elsewhere that Nigerian bitumen could help Africa realise the unfulfilled dream of the defunct Organisation of African Unity of developing the Trans-African high-way, the system of road networks planned to traverse the continent, lining up West, North, East, Central, Southern Africa and the Horn of Africa together. This will boost African integration, a constitutional objective of Nigeria which is being vigorously pursued by the Obasanjo administration.
Salisu is an assistant director of information at the presidency.