While the authorities embark on austerity measures, however, our resources are getting stolen on daily basis. We talk about the oil that gets stolen everyday but we are unaware of solid mineral deposits stolen every day, as well.
The Nigerian President, Mohammadu Buhari, since becoming president, has been working to find new ways of generating revenue by casting his net wide to find other sources. The nation’s economy hangs dangerously on oil revenues, something that is treacherous, given the capricious nature of oil prices.
As part of the efforts to find other sources, the presidency has had to resort to taxing a lot of services and withdrawing subsidies on a number of other services the government had previously subsidized. As we move on, Aso Rock has been cheered to withdraw, totally, the subsidies on premium motor spirit, something that will push the suffering of Nigerians to the brink. Already diesel has risen to an all-time high and everyone is feeling the pinch.
While the authorities embark on austerity measures, however, our resources are getting stolen on daily basis. We talk about the oil that gets stolen everyday but we are unaware of solid mineral deposits stolen every day, as well. It makes no meaning as it can be compared to filling a drum with water when actually there is a leak at the bottom of the drum.
As far as natural resources are concerned, Nigeria has tons of them. Aside from petroleum, nearly every states boasts of one or more mineral deposit(s). This should be a backup for the nation, since oil will not last till eternity. Worse of all, oil spews greenhouse gases that trigger and sustain global warming. Thus, a lot of nations are working towards clean energy sources. As a matter of fact, most developed nations have sets dates beyond which they will resort to electric cars. This is all in a bit to save the environment. What this means is that our oil will cease to have validity. Hence, non-oil reserves remain the nation’s major lifeline.
The sad reality is that these reserves are not lying and waiting. One day, when oil becomes a petty mineral or is exhausted, we will turn to the others to find that they are gone. They are getting removed on a daily basis. Getting removed isn’t the problem, but the manner in which they are removed. They are getting removed it in a way that the nation doesn’t benefits.
We are acting like we don’t know the worth of our non-oil reserves. If minerals are getting removed from Nigeria at the scale that we see and yet the country remains poor, then an evil day awaits us. The companies want the minerals but do not want to pay for it. They essentially want to just pick them like something you bumped into while walking the street. What the Nigerian agent earns, in the context of what the foreigners are making, is just ridiculous. But as individuals they are content with it.
China’s economic plan is design to extort the gullible. They bring in cheap products that you buy today and tomorrow or the same day the product fails so that you have to go back to the market the next day. It is a grand scheme to milk you without stopping and it is working for them. The products are flashy electronic devices that span computer and phone accessories, torchlights, mp3 players, short wave radio receivers, etc.
The case of China is worst than the case of the Western world. When the West rips you, you see something in return. You will have to think below the surface to see the deceit. Western companies who explore and exploited minerals in Nigeria, notably the Amalgamated Tin Mines of Nigeria, employed people, built housing quarters and paid wages that ensured people were happy. But the Chinese just pays you a paltry sum that is spent on that day, if they pay at all.
State governors are mandated to talk about the mineral wealth of the states they govern, but they don’t benefit from the exploitation of the minerals when eventually the “companies” come. We don’t often hear about derivation funds for solid-mineral-producing state and the states struggle to pay basic things like salaries, despite knowing their resources are taken away on a daily basis. While this is happening, the resources are getting depleted. This is in addition to the environmental damages that mining causes.
It is shocking that a government that intends to be futuristic is unable to see this and work towards ending it. If we must be futuristic, we must first understand that the non-oil resources are our greatest option, something to fall back on when oil ceases to have any relevance. Right now though, as oil reserves are diminishing, so also is the stash of our non-oil mineral reserves. And even the oil revenues, the Chinese take it by way of selling products that don’t last.
