Are Nigeria’s rulers aware of the fact that they are sitting on a Jurassic gold mine as a dinosaur fossil that has since been named Nigersaurus was found in neighbouring Niger Republic

Ayo Akinfe 

[1] Are Nigeria’s rulers aware of the economic potential of Jurassic tourism?

[2] I for one subscribe to the idea of bringing back the Jurassic era and have man and dinosaurs live alongside each other 

[3] For this to work, however, dinosaurs must live in a contained environment. If not, one of the two species will wipe the other out 

[4] How many Nigerians know of Nigersaurus, a genus of rebbachisaurid sauropod dinosaur that lived during the middle Cretaceous period, about 115m to 105m years ago

[5] It was discovered in the Elrhaz Formation in an area called Gadoufaoua, in the Republic of Niger. Fossils of this dinosaur were first described in 1976 but it was only named Nigersaurus Taqueti in 1999, after further and more complete remains were found and described

[6] The genus name means "Niger reptile", and the specific name honours the palaeontologist Philippe Taquet, who discovered the first remains

[7] Like all sauropods, Nigersaurus was a quadruped with a small head, thick hind legs, and a prominent tail. Just imagine the tourist potential of us opening up a Jurassic Park of Nigersaurus dinosaurs 

[8] I have long maintained that Nigeria, Benin Republic, Cameroon and Niger Republic should merge into one nation called Songhai. If they did, the world would immediately have another super power on its hands

[9] Of these four nations, Niger Republic has the greatest potential as 70% of it is barren desert, it is sparsely populated with just about 15m people and has the largest landmass. We could easily build a mega Jurassic Park near Agadez 

[10] If we had a live Jurassic Park, within 50 years, Songhai would probably become the world’s largest economy because money follows money. Do we have the guts to do this though?