Abia as ultimate investment destination
By CHINYEMIKE TORTI
Wednesday, September 30, 2009


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Despite all the lamentations about the global economic melt down,Abia state,Nigeria manifests all the market fundamentals and indices that defy the gloomy projections latent elsewhere. Deep industry observers affirm that the indefatigable leadership of Dr Theodore Ahamefula Orji, has continuously provided well focused business-friendly, framework,structures and processes that have strengthened the private sector engagement in trade,investments and industry.

The revival of the Ceramics Industry and Golden Guinea Brewery all in Umuahia,and the establishment of the Abia Industrial International Market - a veritable hub in the global supply/value chain of production are all pointers to the fact that Abia state will in no distant time actualize itself into an investment and trading destination comparable to any in the world.

It is pertinent to highlight samplers of the natural resources and windows of opportunities that could be exploited by investors. Each of the 17 local government areas is endowed with mineral resources ranging from lead,zinc,copper,phosphate,gypsum,limestone,tar sands, iron ore,kaolin,igneous rocks,natural gas and oil. Agriculture has always occupied a pride of place as an economic back bone of the region from primordial times,as Abia lies mainly in the rain forest belt laden with various products such as wood, oil palm, cocoa, and a flourishing compendium of human and material resources.

Crude oil and gas are found in very large quantities in Obuzo,Owaza,Ngboko,Nkali,Odogkwa,Obeakpu,Isimiri and Imo river. Governor T.A Orji has entered into a joint venture agreement with a blue chip American oil exploration and refining conglomerate to set up a refinery in the state.There is plenty of room for key players willing to partner with the state in the upstream,mid stream and down stream sectors.It is noteworthy to mention the extensive gas reserves in Ohuru,Ukwa East local government which has tremendous potentials in the global market for liquefied natural gas,more especially to countries in the Pacific Basin-Japan,South Korea, and Taiwan who have little or no domestic production nor piped deliveries. Request for gas deliveries hover around 30 million tons per annum.
Arochukwu,Ohafia and Isiukwuato local government areas have huge deposits of limestones which have numerous industrial applications for the manufacture of cement, glass, water treatment,sugar refining,iron and steel,road construction, agricultural fertilizer, etc.

Again credits to Governor T.A Orji who has gone full blast to putting in place structures and ennablement to establishing a cement production factory in Arochukwu. Because vigorous industrilization thrusts, thrive with the active collaboration of local and foreign investors, the governor has put together a template garnished with incentives,tax breaks and mouth watering freebies for public-private participation.

Lodged in the bowels of Lokpaukwu,Umunneochi local government are vintage accumulation of lead, zinc and copper.Lead is used for the manufacture of car batteries and X-ray equipments, as it protects doctors and nurses working the machines from the rays.Still at Lokpaukwu is found gypsum – a raw material which is utilized in the production of cement,pharmaceuticals, Plaster of Paris {POP}

Amaeke in Umuahia and Arochukwu are bequeathed with extensive phosphate reservoirs.It is a treasure trove given the extent of proven deposits.Results of geological surveys affirm that enough supplies that could support over 100 years of industrial processing are emboweled there. By far the largest user of phosphate is in fertilisers, accounting for around 85 % of total consumption. Phosphorus is one of the three main plant nutrients, along with nitrogen and potassium, and is therefore included in inorganic fertilisers, for both agricultural crops and for gardens.
Phosphate is also provided to agricultural crops by spreading of municipal wastewater sludge for agricultural purposes or by using treated sewage to enhance growth of plants, producing biomass which can be used as an organic fertiliser.

Because of its high value as a nutrient, phosphate is widely used in the manufacturing of animal feed supplement. Food grade phosphates are used in many foods including dairy, meat, bakery products and soft drinks. It is also used as a main component of domestic dishwasher detergents, as well as in industrial detergents and specialist industrial cleaning product.

Kaolin is in superfluity at Ikwuano,Umuahia and the northern section of Isikwuato local government area. Kaolin, commonly referred to as china clay, is a clay that contains 10–95% of the mineral kaolinite and usually consists mainly of kaolinite (85–95%). In addition to kaolinite, kaolin usually contains quartz and mica and also, less frequently, feldspar, illite, montmorillonite, ilmenite, anastase, haematite, bauxite, zircon, rutile, kyanite, silliminate, graphite, attapulgite, and halloysite. Some clays used for purposes similar to those for which kaolin is used may contain substantial amounts of quartz.

Kaolin is a huge foreign exchange earner,and the supplies from Abia,Nigeria are included in recorded international trade statistics. Kaolin is an important industrial mineral that has an enormous variety of uses. It is utilized as a coating for paper and accounts for almost half of the total domestic consumption for roughly 80% of the exported kaolin to the world market. Other important uses of kaolin find expression as a filler in the production of paint, paper, rubber,fiberglass, mineral wool.It is used as a landfill liner, and as a catalyst in oil and gas refining. The usage historically associated with kaolin, manufacture of porcelain and chinaware.

In the Uturu,Lokpanta Lekwesi axis of God’s own state are large holdings of Igneous rocks. Because they are so hard, Igneous rocks make useful road building materials. When sheets of igneous rock are cut and polished, they are used inside buildings such as banks and offices, and are also used as gravestones. There are different types of igneous rock, therefore each type has its own uses, such as,granite used for long lasting monuments, for trim and decoration on buildings.
We have also the Pumice variety used quite often as a decorative landscape stone. If grounded to a powder, it is used as an abrasive in polish compounds and in lava soap.Crystalline igneous rocks can be used for jewelery and other similar things like countertops and building materials, landscaping .Export prospects to the European market are very strong.

Iron Ore is a veritable part of Isiukwuato and the proven reserves are included in the national trade registry. Iron Ore is the basic raw material used for the iron and steel making industry. Although iron has many specific uses viz; pipes, fittings, engine block, its main use is in the production of steel. Steel has several desirable properties. Making it the main structural metal in engineering and building projects and accounts for 90% of all metal used each year.

Time and space constraints will not permit me to do a full inventory of the commodity map of Abia,which is quite overwhelming but suffice to say that investors, local and foreign are invited by Governor T.A Orji to join the gold rush in Abia.The security situation is crackerjack,with zero tolerance for crimes and other socially unacceptable behaviour. Deviants have fled our domain and went elsewhere.

Is really Amazing that Nigeria flows with numerous Natural resource like Zinc,copper,lead and iron ore, but yet we cant exploit them, These resources are on its higher demand at the international market level yet our useless government  see no any need shifting their attention to them and diversifyingthe economy.
The crude oil we all focus on and chase around will  soon dry up or become useless at the international market lets see where we will form the bases of our economy.

Distrubition Of Dickite And Kaolinite
The plasticity index values were plotted against the liquid limit values on the Cassagrande plasticity chart.

The values plot below the B-line and above the A-line (see Fig. 13 and Table 6). The Cassagrande A-line cannot be taken as a general relationship between liquid limit and plasticity index, hence the clays are observed to plot above the A-line (Kuriakose et. al., 2014). The clustering of the samples for the EC, NC 2, AHQ 1, AHQ 2, LC and UC locations buttresses the similarity in plasticity of the studied clays. The clays can be classified as clays of low plasticity designated as CL and also fall within the line of moderation, B-line. Hence, the clays can be classified as having low to moderate plasticity.

The shrinkage values are relatively low to moderate (3.6 %) as seen in Table 7. According to Ojo et. al., (2014), the variation in sample percentage shrinkage within narrow range is due to the samples composition (particle size and porosity). The water absorption capacity value is low (3.10 %) as seen in Table 8 and Fig. 14.

This is probably due to the presence of abundant K+. The shrinkage, water absorption capacity and loss on ignition values show that vitrification started at 1, 000-1, 1000 C, but complete changes occur close to 1, 2000 C. The bulk density value of 1, 318 Kg/m3 is influenced by the higher water absorption capacity values.

Letu Clay

The clays have very strong peaks of kaolinite (see Fig. 9),estimated as 70 %, with subordinate illite (18 %) and traces of mixed layer (11 %) as seen in Table 5. The prominent peak is recorded as 2 =25.20. The clays have kaolinite and quartz as the main content which indictaes there is a felsic origin. The studied clays show similarity in mineralogy which indicate that they have same origin. Montmorillonite appears to be low in the clays which is evidenced by the low Na2O content.

http://www.prestarticles.com/distrubition-dickite-nacrite-stacking-sequences-kaolinite/

Abia is business heaven