Overview#
Oyo is the agricultural and granite anchor of the south-west — cocoa (Akinyele, Ona-Ara, Itesiwaju, Oyo East), cassava, maize, tobacco, kolanut, granite (Ibadan-Ido axis), marble (Igbeti) and kaolin. It has no proven hydrocarbon reserves, but the Eruwa-Igbeti-Iseyin marble and dimension-stone corridor is the largest such concentration in the south-west.
Geology & Deposits#
Marble. Igbeti, Iseyin, Aramoko — internationally traded ornamental marble. Granite, gneiss, charnockite. Ibadan basement complex; Ido, Akinyele, Egbeda, Ona-Ara LGAs supply most of Ibadan's aggregate. Tantalite-columbite-cassiterite. Iseyin-Saki pegmatites — northern tail of the older granite Sn-Ta-Nb belt. Talc, kaolin, clay. Oke-Ogun. Gold. Iseyin (small artisanal). Hydrocarbons. None. Agricultural produce. Cocoa (Ibadan-Akinyele axis), cassava (Ona-Ara, Ibadan Less City), maize, tobacco, kolanut.
Operators & Output#
- Nigerian Marble & Mining Company (NMMC) Igbeti — historic state-owned marble; long privatisation saga. - CCECC, Setraco, RCC — Ibadan granite quarries (aggregate for federal road projects). - Smallholder cocoa cooperatives — Cocoa Research Institute of Nigeria (CRIN), Ibadan-Idi-Ayunre. - British American Tobacco (BAT) Ibadan — historic cigarette plant; downsized since 2020.
Host-Community & Revenue#
No oil derivation. Mineral royalties to the federation. The cocoa belt is the historic anchor of the 1950s–1960s Western Region revenue base ("Cocoa Pyramid" alongside the Northern groundnut pyramids).
Current Status#
Producing: Igbeti marble (intermittent), Ibadan granite (continuous), cocoa, cassava, kola. Dormant at scale: industrial Sn-Ta concentrators; large-scale Iseyin gold.
References
Sources#
- Cocoa Research Institute of Nigeria (CRIN) statistical bulletins.
- Nigerian Geological Survey — Oyo basement complex sheets.
- Nigerian Marble & Mining Company Igbeti privatisation file (BPE).