Bayelsa, a state in the Niger Delta region of Nigeria, will search for non-oil natural resources to diversify away from its main commodity—oil. This is what the state’s new commissioner in the Ministry of Mineral Resources said after taking office. Markson Fefegha added that there are plans in place to buy geological survey equipment to be used for mapping the province and its mineral resources. Funding will hopefully come from international mineral resources companies, but the Bayelsa government is also considering directly approaching the World Bank, the African Development Bank, and China’s Exim Bank. According to commissioner Fefegha, the discovery and exploitation of new mineral resources will boost Bayelsa’s monthly internal revenue to US$14 million (5 billion naira), from about US$5.56 million (2 billion naira) currently. These plans, however, do not aim to replace oil revenues, but rather to complement them. Admitting that Bayelsa is dependent on the income […]