RICH MINERAL RESOURCES, POOR COMMUNITIES EVERY WHERE YOU GO
I read on newspaper about the lead contaminated #gold mines of Zamfara State, Nigeria which poisoned and killed more than 700 children. I also read in Plateau State, landowners in former tin-mining districts are finding it difficult to survive because their land is saturated with chemicals and heavy metal run-offs, making it near impossible to find fresh water. On TV, somewhere in Akwa Ibom State I watched a riverine community mostly fishermen whose livelihood are depended on the river, waking up to see sea foods in their river floating dead out of oil exploration. In all this I noticed all the communities are poor with makeshift houses as ghettos, not to talk of indigenous people’s physical look. That one will clearly tell you one thing call poverty on their well being written all over them.
There
are huge and natural resources across Nigeria from
Enugu to Zamfara, Bayelsa to Kogi, Kano to Delta amongst other states. Rich and
very rich mineral resources abound that when tapped could galvanized the
economy and catalyze sustainable development for all. But is this the case of
Nigeria with this huge mineral resources? This article will attempt to answer it
in yes and no.
To my mind, mineral resources of the planet are all minerals that
mankind extracts. The resources as available are suitable for industrial use and
today over 200 types of mineral raw materials are used in Nigeria. Natural
minerals become resources only after their extraction and use in industry and
economy. Mineral resources are deposited in lands and seas within communities
where everyday people lives.
The early Europeans before the Americans came to Africa were adventurers,
sailing and discovering what we knew nothing about. I mean our natural
resources/minerals. Although they primarily came and took us as slaves to their
farms, they also took away many of our natural resources in a hurry which breed
colonization of Africa and under-development till then. It was the inability
and unwillingness to let go our natural resources that lingered colonization
that long. But by the time we began to
realized our rights to our natural resources in the least, they had put indirect
confusion among us, making us enemies of ourselves by ourselves to fight and
kill ourselves leaving them behind the minerals for continued exploration till
tomorrow.
It is not far truth that almost all tension, conflicts and wars
between African countries has always been out of struggle for natural resources
either on land or sea. Take a look at Egypt and Ethiopia with River Nile, to
conflict in Sudan and South Sudan, Angola to DR-Congo, Somalia to Liberia and
not forgetting Nigeria and Cameroun in the Bakassi Penisula brouhaha. In
Africa, natural resources have become a cause than a blessing and is driving
conflict crisis that end up destroying lives and properties underpinning Africa
sustainable development.
Natural resources to my understanding are sources of wealth which
appear naturally and are used by humans for good. They have a few
classifications, which depend on different principles. The most popular out of
them is renewability – according to this one, the natural resources are
classified as renewable and non-renewable. Here are the examples of natural
resources: renewable resources are animals and plants, while non-renewable
resources are minerals, soils, and fossil fuels. Non-renewable resources are
usually found in very limited amounts, and Earth can take ages to produce the
new ones. That is why the non-renewable resources are valued the most. Unfortunately,
Africa depends more on non renewable natural resources, yet fighting one
another over it and killing selves over it as well. Why? Because explorers cum exploits
want to explore more and more! And the only way to achieve this is to put
confusion in the center that the center can no longer hold. So things can fall
apart.
Non renewable natural resources after much taken unsustainably
years after years from the earth, do affects the earth and causes climate
change. Climate change as you know affects Africa the most. An effect they
never caused.
In Nigeria for instance, I have taken a closer look at almost all the host communities of natural resources and found that those communities are milked to poor. Host communities of mineral resources in Nigeria have no clean drinkable water, electricity, hospitals, roads, schools etc. Yet they are the cow cash unjustly. However, the only seemingly benefit I found is that in most communities where there are natural resources, host communities members work as menial or laborers and artisans for peanuts, accommodating all the environmental health hazards at their risk and peril. But most annoying is seeing children and women used as laborers in mining sites.
In Lagos, Edo, Enugu and Ogun State are Bitumen, Akwa Ibom, Abia,
Bayelsa, Edo, Delta State you’ll have Oil and Gas, Gold in Ebonyi, Edo, Kaduna
and Oyo State, Iron Ore in Benue, Anambra, Kogi, Kwara and Delta State, Lead and
Zinc in Ebonyi, Cross River and Kano State, Salt in Akwa Ibom, Abia, Ebonyi and
Cross River State, Tin in Plateau and Bauchi State respectively amongst other.
Then tell me how could a nation be more blessed than this?
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