The Director-General of the Nigerian Geological Survey Agency, Dr Abdulrazaq Garba, has disclosed that Nigeria has about 10.6bn tons of limestone resources in 14 states.
The 14 states include: Sokoto, Gombe, Benue, Kogi, Edo, Oyo, Ogun, Cross River, Ondo, Plateau, Bauchi, Akwa-Ibom, Enugu, and Ebonyi states.
He made this disclosure during his presentation at the seventh retreat for the NGSA governing board.
A copy of his presentation was sent to our correspondent on Monday.
The NGSA DG also noted that the marble resources in the country were about 4.8bn tons in nine states.
He said, “Limestone Resources increased in tonnage to 10.6 billion in 14 states of the federation: Sokoto, Gombe, Benue, Kogi, Edo, Oyo, Ogun, Cross River, Ondo, Plateau, Bauchi, Akwa-Ibom, Enugu, and Ebonyi states.
“Estimated resources of marble now stand at 4.8 billion tons spread across nine states of the country – FCT, Nasarawa, Ondo, Edo, Oyo, Kogi, Kwara, Niger and Kebbi states.”
Stressing the need for geological surveys and data in attracting investments in the mining sector, he further noted that his agency was working on developing a database for other mineral commodities in the country.
He also said that there was a need to fully execute a geological mapping of the country on various scales in order to assess the natural endowment of rock resources.
He added, “There are 337 nos. 1:100,000 geological maps in Nigeria. Only 112 nos. of such maps have been published, leaving a deficit of 225.”
Garba also disclosed that the agency was working on modernising its Geodata Centre.
He said, “The NGSA Geodata Centre is being modernised and reformed by the MINDIVER in conjunction with experts from the BGS. The centre will host over 100 years of national geoscience knowledge and data generated by NGSA, which can be easily accessed.
“Nigeria also has an estimated 2TB volume of data held in the UK and will be part of the NGSA Geodata. This will be highly essential in showcasing Nigerian mineral potential to the world.”
