NIGERIA NATURAL RESOURCES AND SUSTAINABLE DEVELOPMENT: LEGAL PERSPECTIVE

ABSTRACT: Nigeria’s abundant natural resources, including petroleum, gas, solid minerals, and arable land, drive over 80% of government revenue but their exploitation has caused widespread environmental degradation, resource conflicts, and limited benefits for host communities. This study adopts doctrinal analysis of the 1999 Constitution, Petroleum Industry Act 2021, Nigerian Minerals and Mining Act 2007, NESREA Act 2007, Environmental Impact Assessment Act 1992, and Climate Change Act 2021, supplemented by case law and policy documents. The legal regime is fragmented across overlapping federal and state mandates, enforcement by NESREA and other agencies is weak due to underfunding and low penalties, community participation remains limited despite the Host Communities Development Trust in the PIA 2021, and climate obligations under the Climate Change Act 2021 lack operational sectoral guidelines and carbon budgets. While Nigeria has a legal foundation for sustainable resource management, it prioritizes revenue over ecological and social sustainability, undermining intergenerational equity. *It recommendations: * Harmonize resource and environmental laws, strengthen NESREA’s enforcement capacity and establish specialized environmental courts, ensure transparent implementation of community trusts, publish and enforce the National Climate Change Action Plan and carbon budgets, and amend the Constitution to make environmental rights justiciable with liberal locus standi.