Data analysis from the Nigeria Bureau of Statistics has shown that loans to the mining and quarrying sub-sector have been plummeting, as it steeped to N197bn in three years from N222.3bn in the first quarter of 2015 to N25bn by the end of 2017.
The NBS data indicated that loan to the sub-sector fell to N8.23bn in the first quarter of 2017 before improving slightly above N25bn by the end of last year.
On the other hand, loans to the power and energy sub-sector doubled by N171.21bn in the last three years from N282.70bn as at the first quarter of 2015 to N453.91bn as at the end of 2017.
The loans were disbursed to four crucial sub-sectors of the economy namely: mining and quarrying, oil and gas; power and energy; and manufacturing.
The NBS data shows that the bulk of the loans to the industrial sector ended up in the oil and gas sub-sector.
