Nigeria became a mono-product economy through its heavy reliance on crude oil for
export and revenue. As a result of oil price volatility and the need to increase national
revenue and public spending, the Nigerian government has adopted a policy of
diversification to non-oil minerals. This study focuses on oil sands that are considered
second only to oil in terms of economic potential. This policy also means that Nigeria is
moving towards finite resource and a dirtier form of crude oil. A national analysis of
non-oil mineral activity using a GIS indicates that exploration, mining and quarrying are
widespread; a potentially positive outcome for national mineral development. The
government however, is failing to take into account the impact of this activity on
communities and ecosystems overlapping or lying proximal to mining licences. A case
study indicates that oil sands exploitation can have a positive impact on the host
communities through infrastructure development, which can trigger small businesses,
job opportunities and increased income. Despite these benefits, there are fears of
environmental degradation, displacements, loss of communal lands and means of
livelihood. Already, the long delays in the development of oil sands are fuelling anger,
deprivation, land grabs and pollution, and worst of all, ever-deeper underdevelopment
of these „conditional resource communities?, which is aggravating the resource curse.
For the oil sands projects to be feasible, beneficial and sustainable, Nigeria?s quest for
resource wealth must integrate economic growth, social equity and ecological integrity
at this planning stage. The thesis makes original contributions to determining resource
communities and to the cumulative body of knowledge on the potential impacts of
resource development on host communities in a rent-seeking economy like Nigeria.