TERRORISM AND THE POLITICAL ECONOMY OF RESOURCE CONTROL IN NORTHERN AND MIDDLE BELT NIGERIA
Keywords:
Terrorism, Resource Control, Resource Curse Theory, Governance, Security GovernanceAbstract
This study examines terrorism and the political economy of resource control in
Northern and Middle Belt Nigeria, focusing on its underlying economic, political, and security
dimensions. This study advances debates on terrorism in Nigeria by demonstrating how violent
groups in the Northern and Middle Belt deliberately exploit resource control dynamics—linking
land, extractive resources, and governance failures—to sustain conflict, thereby integrating political
economy perspectives with security analysis in a context-specific framework. Anchored on the
Resource Curse Theory, the research adopts a qualitative research design, drawing evidence from
scholarly literature, security reports, and field-based empirical studies. The findings reveal that
terrorism in these regions has evolved from ideologically driven violence into a strategic
mechanism for the economic capture of natural and land-based resources, including gold deposits,
farmlands, and grazing corridors. Weak governance structures, corruption, unemployment, and
socio-political exclusion have fostered conditions where non-state armed groups exploit natural
resources to finance insurgency and sustain territorial control. The study further establishes that
existing state and regional counter-terrorism frameworks, notably military operations and cross-
border security collaborations, have achieved only limited success because they neglect the
economic and governance roots of terrorism. The research concludes that Nigeria’s resource-
endowed regions illustrate the dynamics of the resource curse, where resource wealth,
mismanagement, and institutional weakness intersect to produce cycles of violent conflict. It
recommends a paradigm shift from militarized counter-terrorism to integrated governance and
development approaches, emphasizing transparency in resource management, community
participation, and inclusive peace building as pathways to sustainable security and stability.
