Two building engineers has called on the federal government to fully exploit the bitumen resource for the development of the country’s infrastructure.
Professor Martin Dada, Department of Building, University of Lagos (Unilag.) And Mr. Augustine Anthonio, Deputy Director of the Lagos State Ministry of Energy and Mineral Resources spoke on Thursday in separate talks with the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) in Lagos.
Professor Dada told NAN that Nigeria has the second largest deposit in the world, but struggles with inadequate road development.
He advised the government to study and exploit the huge business opportunities through the exploration of bitumen for road construction, gas and other economic uses.
He said Nigeria’s huge untapped bitumen, if explored, would help close the country’s huge infrastructure gap and boost foreign revenue from the export of the mineral deposit and its derivatives.
“Ondo State has reported a deposit of approximately 42.47 billion tonnes of bitumen yet to be explored.
“It is the second largest bitumen deposit in the world.
“When its potential is properly harnessed, bitumen can be a game-changer in the development of our infrastructure and even in our foreign exchange earnings.
“The construction industry will obviously find a very significant use of bitumen and its derivatives.
“Bituminous materials and asphalt are used in the construction of roads and buildings, especially in roofing, felting and cisterns, in parks and stable floors for agricultural purposes, and so on.
“There are other uses for bitumen derivatives outside of the construction industry,” he said.
However, Dada, a member of the Nigerian Building Institute, called for an appropriate Environmental Impact Assessment (EIA) because bitumen has a greater negative environmental impact than crude oil.
The EIA, he said, is important so as not to repeat the mistakes of the Niger Delta region, witnessing environmental degradation and oil spills.
“Countries like Ghana have learned from Nigeria’s mistakes and applied the lessons in the preparation stages for exploring its Jubilee oil fields. ”
He also advised that samples of the type of bitumen in Ondo State be subjected to analysis to find out the most appropriate modifiers for its exploration.
“The pure bitumen used in road construction needs to be improved to meet the current sustainability requirements of this era.
“In layman’s terms, durability refers to the longevity of the roads built and modifiers are used to achieve this,” Dada said.
He also indicated that industries and factories should be established for exploration and the railway lines used to link other states to transport asphalt refined from bitumen for road construction and other uses.
He called for political will on the part of leaders to invest in the appropriate technology to harness large amounts of gas, gasoline and other fossil fuels from bitumen.
“If Nigeria does it right, beyond meeting our local or national requirements, the export potentials of our refined bitumen and associated gases are high,” the donation said.
In addition, Anthonio lamented the neglect of the country’s huge bitumen deposits, which he said are capable of turning around the country’s economy.
Anthonio recently spoke with NAN on the sidelines of the inaugural Society of Energy Administrators (SEA) inauguration in Lagos.
He said Lagos state and the federal government should engage in bitumen exploration.
The Nigerian Society of Engineers member, who is the chairman of the SEA board, however, preferred “tar sand” as the appropriate chemical name for bitumen.
He said the country’s engineers have a vital role to play in exploring the tar sands and other untapped minerals in the country.
“Some people call it bitumen but it’s not the same, chemically it’s called tar sand. Bitumen is the trade name.
“In 1982, professor of geology at Ife University, Professor Adegoke won his National Merit Award for his research on tar sands in Ondo State.
“To date the ore has not been mined, maybe I don’t know that exploration is capital intensive and no one is ready to go.
“This state government does nothing because we often tend to mix a lot of politics with our government policies in Nigeria,” he said.
(NAN)
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