TERRORISM AND THE POLITICAL ECONOMY OF RESOURCE CONTROL IN NORTHERN AND MIDDLE BELT NIGERIA

Abstract

This study examines terrorism and the political economy of resource control inNorthern and Middle Belt Nigeria, focusing on its underlying economic, political, and securitydimensions. This study advances debates on terrorism in Nigeria by demonstrating how violentgroups in the Northern and Middle Belt deliberately exploit resource control dynamics—linkingland, extractive resources, and governance failures—to sustain conflict, thereby integrating politicaleconomy perspectives with security analysis in a context-specific framework. Anchored on theResource Curse Theory, the research adopts a qualitative research design, drawing evidence fromscholarly literature, security reports, and field-based empirical studies. The findings reveal thatterrorism in these regions has evolved from ideologically driven violence into a strategicmechanism for the economic capture of natural and land-based resources, including gold deposits,farmlands, and grazing corridors. Weak governance structures, corruption, unemployment, andsocio-political exclusion have fostered conditions where non-state armed groups exploit naturalresources to finance insurgency and sustain territorial control. The study further establishes thatexisting state and regional counter-terrorism frameworks, notably military operations and cross-border security collaborations, have achieved only limited success because they neglect theeconomic 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. Itrecommends a paradigm shift from militarized counter-terrorism to integrated governance anddevelopment approaches, emphasizing transparency in resource management, communityparticipation, and inclusive peace building as pathways to sustainable security and stability.