The importance of mining to Nigeria’s economy in colonial times

Abstract

Nigeria's sudden leap into oil wealth in the early 1960s caused the neglect of agriculture and solid mineral resources which sustained her economy during the colonial period and the critical years of the civil war. But the oil glut in the 1980s and the subsequent collapse of Nigeria's economy brought about a rethinking of how to reactivate these resources which laid the foundation for the nation’s fortunes. Hence, the renewed interest in the exploitation of solid minerals and the growth of cash crops which had ensured the survival of the Nigerian economy before the oil boom.