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Question

Difficulty: HardLiteral Comprehension and Fact Retrieval

Read the passage below carefully and answer the question that follows:

Commercial coal mining in Nigeria commenced in 1916 following the accidental discovery of coal deposits along the Udi escarpment in 1909 by British geologist Albert Ernest Kitson. To facilitate the evacuation of coal from the Enugu mines to coastal ports for export, the colonial administration constructed the Eastern Line of the Nigerian Railway, linking Enugu directly to Port Harcourt by 1916. Coal production was initially managed directly by the Railway Department until 1950, when the Nigerian Coal Corporation (NCC) was created as a statutory public enterprise to oversee mining operations. Production peaked in 1958 at over 900,000 metric tonnes, but sharply declined after 1959 due to the discovery of crude oil in Oloibiri and the subsequent conversion of railway locomotives from coal to diesel fuel.

According to the passage, what specific administrative change occurred regarding Nigerian coal mining in 1950?

  1. Oversight of coal production shifted from the Railway Department to the newly established Nigerian Coal Corporation.Answer
  2. B
    Coal mining operations along the Udi escarpment were suspended to allow for railway track construction.
  3. C
    Commercial mining was prohibited by the colonial government following oil exploration in Oloibiri.
  4. D
    The Railway Department assumed comprehensive governance over all coastal export shipping ports.

Answer

In 1950, management of coal production was transferred from the Railway Department to the newly formed Nigerian Coal Corporation.
The passage explicitly states that coal production was managed directly by the Railway Department until 1950, when the Nigerian Coal Corporation (NCC) was created as a statutory public enterprise to oversee mining operations. Thus, the correct option accurately reflects this literal fact.

Step-by-Step Solution

1
Locate the chronological marker '1950' in the passage text.
Identified the sentence detailing that coal production was managed by the Railway Department until 1950.
Scanning for specific dates isolated the exact statement governing the 1950 administrative transition.
2
Extract the stated event connected to 1950.
The text explicitly specifies that the Nigerian Coal Corporation (NCC) was established as a statutory public enterprise in 1950 to oversee mining operations.
Direct literal retrieval requires matching the exact detail stated without drawing external inferences.

Key Concept

Literal Comprehension and Fact Retrieval
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Topics

Literal Comprehension and Fact Retrieval

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