Abstract
Every country in the world possesses one form of Natural Resources, or the other be it land, water,
mineral oil, ore, gold, diamond etc. History bears record of nations, states, communities, and the
peoples who inhabit such country having battled to a point of fatality over natural resources. In
Nigeria, agitations within the Niger-Delta Region over the oil resources in the region has drawn
international attention particularly when viewed along the line of the provisions of United Nations
Resolution 1803 of 1962 that recognizes Permanent Sovereignty Over Natural Resources and the
Nigerian Constitution and other laws that vests mineral resources in the government of the
Federation. While it is settled that there is indeed a link between natural resources and conflicts,
some writers have predicated the conflict on some particular theories, especially the Malthusian
theory of scarcity, perhaps on the notion that conflict over natural resources is as a result of scarcity.
The aim of this study was then to take a turn from such predication, to assert that conflicts over
natural resources arises from the failure of fulfilment of social contract and the lack of resource
governance. Adopting the doctrinal methodology, this study used the Hobbesian concept of social
contract theory and its analysis of man in a state of nature from his text titled ‘Leviathan’ to
jurisprudentially analyse the cause of the present-day conflicts over natural resources. Relevant
statutory and judicial authorities were appraised to consider an attempt at resolution. This study
paid particular attention to conflicts over natural resources within Nigeria in view of oil in Niger
Delta and the link between social contract and the said conflict. We found out that man’s quest for
self-preservation is what generally leads to conflict, while the social contract existing between the
sovereign and the citizens, if sufficiently pursued in terms of the obligations it places on the
sovereign, would eliminate conflict over natural resources. Consequently, this study recommends
amongst other things, the vigorous pursuit of the substantial meeting of the obligations created under
the social contract.