Nigerian Coal Corporation

The Nigerian Coal Corporation (NCC) is a Nigerian parastatal corporation responsible for mining and selling coal. It is based in Enugu.[1]

Origin

In the 1909, coal was discovered in Enugu, Nigeria. The Ogbete drift mine opened six years later. The Ogbete mine's operations and others in the country were merged into a new corporation in 1950: The Nigerian Coal Corporation. The NCC was tasked with exploiting coal resources,[2] and held a monopoly on coal and coke mining, production, and sales until 1999.[3]

Production problems and decline of coal

Nigeria's coal industry suffered a blow in the 1950s when oil was discovered. Up until this point, the Nigerian Railway Corporation was the largest consumer of coal in the country. However, after the discovery of oil, the Railway Corporation began to replace its coal-burning trains with diesel-powered engines. An additional negative impact came when the Electricity Corporation of Nigeria began converting its power generation equipment from coal to diesel and gas as well.[2][4]

The Nigerian Civil War also negatively impacted coal production; many mines were abandoned during the war. Following the war, production never completely recovered and coal production levels were erratic. Attempts at mechanizing production ended badly, as both the implementation and maintenance of imported mining equipment proved troublesome, and hurt production.[2] After the civil war, the Nigerian coal industry could not return to its peak production in the 1950s.

In 1999, the NCC lost its monopoly over the Nigerian coal industry as the Obasanjo government allowed private companies to begin operating coal fields in joint ventures with the NCC, with an eventual goal of completely selling off the NCC's assets to private investors.

Mine

Historic coalfields that no longer produce coal are in italics, functional mines are in bold.

Obwetti was closed down due to low production in the late 1950s. This mine opened in 1915, but was closed and flooded during the Civil War. It reopened in 1972, and became the country's largest coal mining operation until its closure. This mine opened in the late 1950s and held enough coal to produce five hundred tons a day for seven years. Sources:[2][4][6]

• Amansiodo Coal Field, Enugu State
• Ezinmo Coal Field, Enugu State
• Inyi Coal Field, Enugu State
• Obwetti Mine