THE NIGERIAN JOURNAL OF SOCIOLOGY AND ANTHROPOLOGY
ISSN: 0331-4111 e-ISSN: 2736-075X
Volume 23, No. 2, November 2025
Pages 109-126
DOI: 10.36108/NJSA/5202.32.0270
Natural Resources and National Security: A Critical Discourse Analysis on Nigeria’s Extractive Frontiers
Ojonimi S. Salihu
Western Michigan University, Michigan, USA
Abstract
This study employs a critical discourse analysis to examine how the 2025 Report of the National Early Warning Centre of Nigeria frames the nexus between natural resource governance and national security. Three discourses are identified: (1) a securitized discourse, which depicts mining sites as “zones of terror”; (2) a criminal economy discourse, describing mining sites as hubs of organized crime; and (3) a displacement discourse, linking illicit mining to unemployment and ecological collapse. The securitized discourse was found to dominate, reflecting a policy orientation toward militarized control. However, across all three discourses, little attention is given to community-led solutions, reinforcing state-centric security responses and neglecting the deeper structural drivers of insecurity in Nigeria’s extractive frontiers.
Keywords: Mining, natural resources, solid minerals, resource governance, and insecurity