NATURAL RESOURCES AND ARMED CONFLICT IN NIGERIA: THE LEGAL PERSPECTIVE*

Nigeria is blessed with natural resources which can be termed a source of wealth. However, the quest for the exploitation and exploration of these natural resources has been a source of conflict in the nation. This paper reviewed the relationships between these natural resources and armed conflicts. The violence is linked to these natural resources, their influence in political economies, and the opportunitiesfor armed insurgents resultingfrom the loot of these resources and the perceived marginalization of certain persons from the natural largess.' Violence is usually expressed by those who feel the subjugation of their rights to determine the use of their environment and the brutal patterns of resource extraction and predation. Beyond an analysis of the linkages between natural resources and armed conflicts displays their innate criminal characters with major implications for the promotion of peace. Providing the long- lasting solutions to these conflicts entails looking hard and deep into the root causes of these conjlicts, the dynamics and those factors that facilitate these conflicts. While this paper seeks to look into this topic to an extent, it is trite to state here that this paper is not near exhaustive of the topic itself.