Expansion of mining in Benue, Plateau, and Kaduna intersects with existing patterns of insecurity and governance issues, though the nature and intensity of violence differ across the three States. This study finds that violence linked to mining is generally sporadic rather than structural. However, recurring tensions offer early warning signs that more systematic conflict could develop, particularly as powerful stakeholders, including foreign investors and local business elites, expand their influence in areas operating largely outside state oversight. At the same time, the findings highlight the potential of mining as a stabilising force in previously insecure areas. Because mining economies rely on a minimum level of security to function, many who have adopted mining as a primary livelihood have clear incentives to maintain stability.
This dynamic was evident during periods of state-imposed mining bans: the suspension of mining activity wasassociated with increased violent clashes and criminal behaviour, which subsided once mining resumed. However, these stabilising effects also underline the importance of strong institutions (formal and informal) that govern land allocation, resource access, environmental and social impacts, and the mediation of disputes. Without such structures, the stability generated by mining remains fragile and can quickly erode under pressure.
In Benue, conflict around mining is driven less by organised violence than by perceptions of exclusion and competition. In the LGA of Gboko, tensions linked to an industrial cement plant’s workforce, largely hired from abroad, have triggered protests met with heavy-handed military responses. In Kwande LGA, community disputes emerged when foreign investors began mining operations without meaningful consultation with local communities. Logo LGA is deemed a more volatile area as overlapping land claims and competition for access to sites have reportedly led to arms proliferation as miners attempt to protect pits.
In Plateau, violence around mining is relatively limited as most mining groups collaborate under relative stability. Some conflict is concentrated to specific LGAs. In Bokkos, feelings of exclusion among specific ethnic groups and ethnicreligious segregation at mine sites have fuelled friction, though violent clashes remain localised. In Barkin Ladi, community systems governing access and benefit sharing have in fact helped prevent conflict. Parts of Plateau often experience raids from banditry groups on mine sites.
In Kaduna, mining is more closely entangled with non-state armed activity. Bandits, especially in Birnin Gwari LGA, have shifted in recent years from sporadic mine site raids to systematic taxation as they consolidated control, creating coercive stability while maintaining illicit gold flows. Localised violence also persists in the LGAs of Birnin Gwari, Jema’a, and Sanga, where disputes over mine ownership, reprisal killings, extortion, and criminal infiltration shape miningrelated insecurity. This study identified several key trends of how fragility and violence interact with mining (as well as mineral trade) in the region. The table below summarises these trends.
Acknowledgements
The UK Strengthening Peace and Resilience in Nigeria (SPRiNG) programme (2024–2028) aims to reduce violence and strengthen resilience to climate change in fragile regions of Nigeria. To support this objective, the programme identified a need for a robust, evidence-based understanding of how mining activities intersect with violence, conflict, and peacebuilding in three focus states: Benue, Plateau, and Kaduna.
Tetra Tech, an implementing partner of SPRiNG, commissioned Levin Sources to lead a multidisciplinary study drawing on its global expertise at the mining-conflict-peace nexus. Levin Sources provided overall strategic direction and analytical leadership, coordinating a research consortium comprising the Centre for Conflict Management and Peace Studies (University of Jos) and the Centre for Peace and Development Studies (Rev. Fr. Moses Orshio Adasu University).
Combining desk-based analysis with extensive field research, the study examined how mineral supply chains interact with patterns of violence, assessed the exposure and influence of different stakeholder groups, and identified practical entry points for reducing conflict risks. The findings directly informed SPRiNG’s conflict-sensitive programming and provided actionable insights to strengthen peacebuilding and development outcomes in mining-affected areas. The findings were presented at a dissemination event in Abuja in December 2025, convening Federal, State, and local policymakers alongside researchers, representatives of women’s groups, artisanal miners, and peacebuilders to translate the study’s recommendations into concrete next steps.
