Industrial Development and Natural Resources Depletion in Nigeria

A number of Nigeria’s natural resources are being depleted at very fact rates, making their availability unsustainable for sustainable industrial development. The Nigerian soils are generally light texture and low in Cation Exchange Capacity (CEC) which ranged from 2.40 to 5.95 mc/100g of soils. Various soil fertility studies have shown that most Nigerian soils have pH ranges from 4.2 to 8.4 with a combined calcium content which varies from 0.5 to 5.55nc/100g and generally low potassium content (0.07 to 0.45) and an organic matter that varies from 1 to 2.55%. The level of micronutrients are low with fertility and productivity indices varying between 31-90% and 2-58% in most cases. Soil fertility and nutrient content are fast depleting by various factors which includes low use of mineral fertilizers, gully erosion, soil salinity, desert encroachment and others such as inappropriate agricultural practices, oil spillage, over population and lack of land use planning. Also, on the increase is groundwater depletion, deforestation which occurs at about 300,000-400,000ha per annum, loss of biodiversity which is threatening 484 plant species in 112 families of the 4,600 plant species in Nigeria. Fisheries resources are also depleting. Both the inland freshwater and the oceans are experiencing serious onslaught of the fish population with species such as the Atlantic cod and haddock already depleted in the salt waters. On the inland waters, fish production is being decimated on annual bases with production in the 80’s less than half of the 1950’s. The mineral resources have been mined since 1906. Currently, large scale exploration of limestone, marble, rock aggregates along with gold, oil and gas are on-going causing a lot of havoc to the environment. There is need to halt or reduce these occurrences in order to put industrial development on a sustainable path. Keywords: natural resources, depletion, minerals, biodiversity, deforestation. DOI: 10.7176/JESD/10-4-0