1.0 Introduction
1.1 Historical Background
The Nigeria Coal Corporation information manual (1990) states that “Coal was first discovered in 1909 at streams along Udi escarpment in Enugu state by the first group of British colonial adventures in Nigeria following a survey by then colonial mineral survey department of southern Nigeria, actual mining started in 1916 at the foot of Udi hill along Enugu escarpment”.Iwu (1990) stated that “initially, the Coal industry was a unit of the marine department and Coal produced was supplied to the British for their steam boats. Other supplies were to the Nigeria Railways for the steam locomotives engines. Following the increase in transportation activities by rail, the Coal industry was excised from the marine department and established with the Nigerian Railway in 1937. Increased political awareness and a strike actin by Coal miners to back up demand for wage increase resulted in the gunning down of twenty-one Coal miners at Iva valley mine by their employers on 18th November 1949. THE THEN British government set up a commission of inquiry headed by Sir Fitzgerald. This commission recommended that independent body been set up to manage government established business. In 1950 by the ordinance No.29. The Nigerian Coal Corporation was born”
Iwu (1990) went further to state that” the Nigeria Coal Corporation was then managed by the British was charged with the responsibility to prospect, mine, treat and market Coal and Coal by products in Nigeria. However, it was the shooting of the twenty-one (21) coal miners in Enugu that awakened the spirit of nationalism which subsequently gave birth to Nigeria's independence in October 1960. The Coal industry gave rise to the first set of industries in Nigeria besides providing all the energy requirements for the nations premier industries, Coal became one of the major foreign change; earners for then British colony.
The principal consumers of Coal are:The cement factories construction companies and overseas market
1.2 Aims And Objectives Of The Study
The aim of the study is to analyze the Coal Production in Nigeria. In achieving this aim, the following specific objectives were laid out as follows:
- Estimation of the trend on production of coal for the past decade (ten years)
- Determination of the seasonal influence on production of coal for the past decade (ten years).
- Determination of the cyclical and irregular variation (if they exist).
- Forecasting on the expected irregular of the production in future say one year ahead.
1.3 Scope Of The Study
The analysis will be confined to the Coal production data covering 1990 to 1999 at the Nigerian Coals Corporation Enugu. It would study the growth pattern in coal production for the period under study.
What informed the choice of this period 1990 to 1999 is that it was in 1985-89 that then federal government decided to rehabilitate the Coal industry. Thus, the study will reveal how well the coal industry has some in terms of production and the future prospect.
The data for this analysis are categorized into monthly output of coal these are the daily output of Coal it is weighed in the factory. Measurement is in tones and it is cumulated at the end of the month to gives the figures being used for the study.
1.4 Limitations of the Study
During the course of this study, many things militated against its completion, some of which are:
- Time Constraint: The time frame given to accomplish this project was very short due to school academic calendar and it was carried out under pressure which made the researcher not to implement some necessary features.
- Financial Constraint: Insufficient fund tends to impede the efficiency of the researcher in sourcing for the relevant materials, literature or information and in the process of data collection (internet, questionnaire and interview).
- Lack of Initial Cooperation from Respondents: A particular limitation of this work came as a result of the respondent refusal to offer their cooperation at the initial time they were contacted. This contributed in making the success of this research study difficult.
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