THE ABUNDANT RESOURCES OF NIGERIA

  In 1968 Nigeria was the world's biggest producer of groundnuts with an average of about 712,600 tonnes a year, the second cocoa producer with about 203,600 tonnes after Ghana, the forth producer of tin (13,264 tonnes) and the biggest producer of columbite.  Oil palm, growing wild and in plantations in the south, supplied half the world's exports of palm kernels (407,200 tonnes) and seventy per cent  of the world's export of palm oil (152,700 tonnes).
Nigerian forests covered some 310,800 square kilometers and produced about 1.132 million cubic meters of timber a year, for exports as logs, sawn timber or plywood sheets.  Rubber was grown by peasant farmers and, increasingly in plantations; and was partially processed in local factories.  The ancient livestock industry of the north still supplies the whole country.  About a million cattle are slaughtered annually, and the trade is now being modernized and expanded.  As a by-product of the northern livestock industry, there is an old and valuable trade in hides and skin.  As a matter of fact, the  type of skin inaccurately called 'Moroccan leather' comes from Nigeria.
  After the discovery of crude oil in the Niger Delta located in the south and south east, the government started deviating from other resources because of the large revenue they gain from crude oil.  Some natural resources such as tin and columbite are now folklore, and agriculture which was the strong hold of the economy has been pushed aside.  This was the beginning of the dwindling of Nigeria's economy.  At first, everything seemed to be booming, but now, Nigeria is facing the advert effects of depending on one sector of the economy as source of revenue.  This fall in the economy is as a result of the instability in the price of crude oil.