WHEN A BLESSED LAND BECOMES A CURSE: BENEATH OKUNLAND SOIL IS WEALTH WAITING FOR VISION, NOT JUST PRAYERS
Deep within the womb of Kogi West Senatorial District lies a geo-economic paradox. According to empirical data from the Raw Materials Research and Development Council (RMRDC) and the Nigerian Geological Survey Agency (NGSA), Okunland is sits upon a wealth of solid minerals in vast commercial quantities. Its soil holds rich deposits of gold, lithium, cassiterite, iron ore, columbite, and talc, alongside extensive tracts of highly fertile agricultural land.
Yet, as the shovel hits the earth, blood spills upon the grass. The sudden, violent surge of banditry, highway abductions, and territorial incursions across Kabba-Bunu, Ijumu, and the Yagba axis is not a random coincidence. It is an organized, resource-driven siege.
The critical question facing every son and daughter of the soil is this: Has this immense natural wealth become a divine blessing or an existential curse?
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1. THE GEOPOLITICS OF THE “RESOURCE CURSE”
In political economy, there is a well-documented phenomenon known as the “Resource Curse” or the Paradox of Plenty.”It describes nations or regions with an abundance of natural resources that systematically experience less economic growth, worse developmental outcomes, and severe internal security crises compared to regions without them.
> Natural resources do not inherently attract evil. It is human greed, structural lawlessness, and godlessness operating around those resources that birth the bloodshed.”
Okunland has become a magnet for a predatory mix of global and local scavengers. The extraction of gold and lithium has attracted an influx of illegal artisanal miners, criminal cartel sponsors, and opportunistic syndicates who actively bypass state regulations. They evade royal duties and corporate taxes while leaving behind severe environmental degradation.
Worse still, this economic vacuum has drawn armed foreign mercenaries and criminal actors from across the Sahel—including Niger, Chad, and Mali—who now use the thick forest cover of Kogi West as an operational base. Like vultures drawn to a carcass, these actors use terror as a tactical tool to displace indigenous populations, clear the land, and maintain uncontrolled access to these precious minerals.
2. THE CRY OF AN UNCONSECRATED SOIL
The consequences of this illicit extractive economy are devastating. The land is absorbing the blood of its people, and the social fabric is tearing apart:
Sacked Communities: In Kabba-Bunu LGA, historic villages like Igori and ?Ihun have been completely depopulated. In the Yagba axis, numerous farming settlements have been abandoned, effectively turning successful farmers into internally displaced persons.
Resource-Driven Terrorism: The spike in midnight raids, execution-style murders, and roadside kidnappings is systematically carried out to establish territorial control over rich mining fields.
Ecological Warfare: Beyond the immediate human casualty, the unregulated excavation of lithium and gold is poisoning local water tables, inducing severe ecological devastation, and ruining the agricultural future of the region.
The late environmental activist and author Ken Saro-Wiwa, who fought against resource exploitation in the Niger Delta, once noted a truth that now applies directly to Kogi West:
> “The story of resource extraction in this country has always been a tale of ecological warfare, where the owners of the wealth are turned into the victims of its discovery.”
3. BEYOND RETROGRADE THEOLOGY: WEALTH DEMANDS VISION
For decades, the standard response to structural crises in Nigeria has been to retreat into passive spiritualism. However, Okunland was not born cursed; it is being actively mismanaged into a state of ruin. While prayers have their place in personal devotion, they cannot replace institutional governance, tactical intelligence, or defensive architecture.
The Bible offers a clear perspective on the balance between faith and proactive defense:
> “Except the LORD keep the city, the watchman waketh but in vain.” — (Psalm 127:1)
The verse implies that the watchman must first be at his post, alert and active, before divine protection safeguards the city. Similarly, Nehemiah did not just pray when the walls of Jerusalem were under siege; he armed the builders:
> “Those who carried materials did their work with one hand and held a weapon in the other.” – (Nehemiah 4:17)
To rely solely on spiritual intervention while ignoring local security responsibilities is a distortion of both faith and reason. Beneath Okunland’s soil is wealth waiting for structural vision, not just religious rhetoric.
THE BLUEPRINT TO TURN THE CURSE INTO A BLESSING
To halt this slide into permanent instability, Okunland must deploy a multi-layered strategy that unifies local communities, security agencies and state actors.
A. Radical Security Consciousness & Internal Auditing
The local populations must become proactive participants in their own survival. Every community must conduct an internal audit to identify and expose internal collaborators, land agents, and compromised community members who serve as informants for kidnapping cells. The “unknown gunmen” are often directed by well-known local enablers.
B. Strict Regulated Profiling and Land Control
Traditional institutions and local government councils must immediately enforce strict controls on land allocation. The unverified leasing of forest lands to transient artisanal miners must stop. Every mining site must be documented, and every non-indigenous worker must be registered with local security structures.
C. Industrialization Over Raw Exploitation
The definitive solution to the resource curse is to move from raw extraction to local industrial processing. The federal and state governments, in partnership with wealthy Okun indigenes, must establish local processing plants and refineries within Kogi West.
When lithium and gold are refined locally in secure, corporate complexes rather than dug up covertly in remote forests, it creates jobs for local youth, generates real tax revenue, and replaces an illicit criminal underworld with a formal, secured economy.
CONCLUSION: RECLAIMING THE SOIL-
As the Roman philosopher Seneca observed:
> “Fate leads the willing, and drags the reluctant.”
Okunland stands at a defining historical moment. We can either actively manage our immense natural wealth through institutional vision, or allow ourselves to be dragged down into instability by armed cartels and illegal syndicates.
The soil of Kogi West is not destined for ruin. The current crisis is entirely man-made, and it can be undone by purposeful human action. The curse will transform into a blessing only when the people choose proactive organization over passive silence, and when the government matches its legal authority with the political will to enforce the law.
The wealth beneath our feet must fund our collective development, not purchase our collective graves. It is time to secure the land, protect the people, and turn Okunland into a fortress of prosperity – Shae Bebeyi @ Curiously Yours, 12062026
(DEMOCRACY NEWSLINE NEWSPAPER, JUNE 12TH 2026)
