Inside Nigeria’s bitumen irony

Nigeria is home to the second-largest bitumen deposit in the world; spanning about 120km. Nigeria is also home to some of the worst roads in the world. How ironic.

In July 2020, the Minister of Works and Housing, Babatunde Fashola revealed that the Federal Executive Council (FEC), with the President Muhammadu Buhari presiding, approved a new policy on the local production of bitumen. The apparent need for this new policy emerged from the review of a policy memorandum which revealed that a substantial amount of the bitumen used in road construction in Nigeria is imported; costing billions of dollars. The aim of the new policy is centred around further diversifying the economy and stimulating growth through the local production of bitumen.

In Ondo state alone, about 16 million barrels of bitumen are available for extraction. The bitumen reserves in the country are estimated at about 42.7 billion metric tonnes with the expectation that the locally produced bitumen will be sold at less than 50% of the current price of imported bitumen. This places the local industry at an advantage with available supply at a cheaper rate to service the existing demand for bitumen of about 500,000 metric tonnes.

Billions of dollars are leaving the nation’s coffers annually to pay for the value we have the resources to create ourselves.

Bitumen was first discovered in Nigeria as far back as the 1900s with the first exploration efforts made in 1905. Bitumen has always been here. We have been aware of its existence for over a century so the need for exploration should have been birthed alongside its discovery, given its importance.