Menace of Mining Politics in Nigeria: Governance, Conflict, Resource Control, and the Challenge of Sustainable Mineral Development

Nigeria possesses substantial deposits of gold, tin, columbite, tantalite, iron ore, lead-zinc, limestone, barite, lithium, coal, and other solid minerals. Despite this resource endowment, the mining sector has made only a limited contribution to national development. This article examines the political dimensions of mining governance in Nigeria and argues that the sector’s underperformance is not primarily a consequence of geological uncertainty or a lack of mineral potential. Rather, it reflects the interaction of political patronage, institutional fragmentation, corruption, weak regulatory enforcement, insecure tenure, illegal mining, environmental degradation, and unresolved questions of resource control. The analysis situates contemporary mining politics within Nigeria’s historical shift from a relatively active colonial mining economy to post-independence state control and, later, market-oriented reform. It further examines how the allocation and administration of mineral titles, the federal structure of mineral ownership, the marginalization of host communities, and the growth of artisanal and illegal mining have shaped sectoral outcomes. The article adopts a qualitative political-economy approach based on documentary analysis of Nigerian legislation, institutional reports, policy documents, and secondary literature. It finds that the Nigerian Minerals and Mining Act 2007 provides an important legal foundation, including provisions relating to mineral titles, environmental responsibilities, and community development; however, implementation remains constrained by limited institutional capacity, overlapping mandates, insufficient transparency, and weak accountability. Illegal mining should therefore not be treated only as a law-enforcement problem. It is also a governance problem rooted in poverty, limited livelihood alternatives, inaccessible formalization pathways, elite protection, transborder mineral flows, and inadequate state presence in mining communities. The article recommends a governance reform agenda centered on transparent licensing, strengthened institutional autonomy, formalization of artisanal and small-scale mining, improved revenue administration, environmental accountability, community participation, conflict-sensitive security, and public disclosure of mining data. Sustainable mining in Nigeria requires not merely more extraction but a political settlement that connects mineral development to public accountability, local livelihoods, environmental protection, and inclusive national development.