Control of mineral assets emerges as driver of Plateau State violence

Violence in Plateau State, long linked to farmer-herder clashes, is increasingly being driven by a growing battle for control of mineral resources, farmlands and key food supply routes, as armed groups tighten their hold on resource-rich communities across Nigeria’s North-Central region.

According to a recent report by SBM Intelligence, across Plateau’s mineral-rich communities, violence is no longer only forcing residents from their homes; it is also redrawing ownership and access to lucrative mining pits, agricultural land and commercial corridors that sustain local economies worth millions of naira.

Recent attacks across Barkin Ladi, Riyom, Wase, Bokkos and Mangu have left scores dead, displaced thousands of residents and disrupted both farming and artisanal mining activities, raising concerns among security analysts that armed groups are gradually embedding themselves within resource-rich territories.

Plateau, today, is rich in tin, columbite, zinc and gemstones, resources that analysts say are increasingly shaping patterns of violence.

In February this year, no fewer than 37 miners reportedly died after exposure to toxic gas at a mining site in Wase Local Government Area. Months earlier, at least 12 persons were killed during an attack on a mining site in Barkin Ladi, underscoring growing insecurity around extraction zones.

Caleb Mutfwang, governor of Plateau State, recently disclosed that over 60 communities across Riyom, Barkin Ladi, Bassa, Bokkos, Mangu and Wase local government areas have either been overrun or abandoned following repeated attacks.

For many displaced residents, the crisis has evolved beyond questions of survival to concerns over who now occupies and controls abandoned land and economic assets left behind after attacks.

“Last year, we couldn’t farm because the Fulani chased us out. They are still there. If you go, you’ll be killed,” Dachung Gang, a displaced resident who alleged that abandoned farmland had since been taken over and exploited, said.

Residents in several affected communities said former farming areas are now littered with deep mining pits and makeshift extraction camps operated by informal miners and local networks.

Behind the violence lies a sprawling artisanal mining economy that supports thousands of miners, transporters, traders, food vendors and equipment operators, many of whom work outside formal government regulation.

At several illegal mining sites, workers descend between 80 and 100 feet underground in dangerous conditions, spending hours in poorly ventilated shafts with little or no protective equipment.

A miner interviewed at one Plateau site said survival, not opportunity, drives participation.

“You have to endure it. If not, you will not get what you want,” Dimka Jang, a miner who emerged from one of the deep pits after hours underground, added.

Women, youths and elderly workers remain heavily involved in the informal mining chain, sorting mineral-bearing soil, washing ore and preparing extracted materials for dealers supplying buyers across the country.

The profitability of the trade has made mining communities increasingly attractive to criminal groups and armed actors seeking influence over lucrative resource zones.

Local miners estimate that columbite currently sells for between N17,000 and N38,000 per kilogram, depending on quality, while processed tin fetches around N15,000 per pound. Operators say a productive mining pit can generate mineral bags valued at over N1.5 million.

The assessment by SBM Intelligence warned that violence in North-Central Nigeria is evolving from sporadic criminality into a broader contest for economic territory, particularly around mining and agricultural assets.

According to the report, attacks on mining locations in Barkin Ladi indicate that artisanal mining pits are gradually becoming contested economic zones where armed groups seek taxation rights, territorial influence or outright control of extraction activities.

The report warned that continued attacks forcing miners to flee could disrupt the steady flow of tin and other minerals into Jos markets, removing millions of naira from local circulation and affecting traders, transport operators and surrounding businesses dependent on mining income.

SBM Intelligence also identified Riyom Local Government Area, particularly the Bachi axis, as one of the region’s critical agricultural corridors through which tomatoes, vegetables and other produce move from Bokkos, Barkin Ladi and Mangu toward Abuja and other cities.

Attacks along these routes, especially during evening transit periods, are reportedly discouraging truck drivers from operating after dark, forcing transporters to adopt longer routes or delay movement until daylight.

“Drivers now avoid some routes at night. If you must move, you either wait till morning, hire extra security or take longer roads,” said Eunice Jang, an Irish potato trader operating between Plateau and Abuja. “That means more fuel, more time and higher transport costs.”

Security experts fear the violence may increasingly target economic survival systems rather than only communities, with food storage facilities, transport routes, cattle markets and mining pits becoming strategic targets in what they describe as a widening economic war over land, minerals and livelihoods.

Ibrahim Nafiu, a retired Assistant Inspector General of Police familiar with conflict dynamics in North-Central Nigeria, said recent patterns suggest the violence can no longer be viewed strictly through ethnic or communal lenses.

“You see communities emptied, strategic locations occupied and economic activity emerging around abandoned areas,” Nafiu said. “When that begins to happen repeatedly around mineral-rich zones, you must ask whether this is simply communal violence or a struggle over access and control.”