Six months after the Federal Government declared its intention to establish an international gemstones market in Ibadan and stated that it had commenced the process for the construction, The Guardian reports that the site remains bare.
During the official handover of two hectares of land by Oyo State Government to the Federal Government, Adegbite said it had commenced the process for the construction of the international gemstones market in Ibadan. “We laughed when the Minister came around and said they are building an international gemstone market. They have been talking about it when Ladoja was Oyo State governor. In fact, they also earmarked hectares of land then. People don’t take them seriously anymore.
An Exploration Geologist, Agoro Abdulraheem stated that despite the wide distribution, several challenges have hindered the full economic benefits of gemstones mining.