TRINITARIAN INTERNATIONAL JOURNAL OF ARTS AND HUMANITIES

This study critically examines the relationship between sacred violence and socio-economic instability in Nigeria, arguing that religiously legitimized violence has emerged as both a symptom and a driver of the country's persistent developmental challenges. The protracted, multifaceted nature of contemporary Nigerian conflict characterized by Boko Haram insurgency in the Northeast, farmer-herder bloodshed in the Middle Belt, and separatist agitations in the Southeast— exposes the limitations of purely economic or purely security-focused analytical frameworks. Employing qualitative analysis of conflict databases, economic indicators, human rights reports, and scholarly literature, the study evaluates the nexus between sacred legitimation and economic disruption through three mechanisms: legitimation of economic predation as religious duty, construction of irreconcilable group boundaries that undermine market integration, and instrumentalization of religious institutions for resource mobilization. The analysis reveals that sacred violence transforms economic behavior by lowering the cost of violence through nonmaterial rewards, raising the cost of peace by making compromise theologically problematic, and creating distinctive war economies organized around religious identity. Profound economic deficits persist, including capital flight, collapse of agricultural value chains, and entrenchment of conflict economies that reward continued violence. The study concludes that sacred violence remains a critical but inadequately addressed variable in Nigeria's socio-economic instability. It argues for integrated policy frameworks that combine economic reconstruction with religious peacebuilding, interfaith dialogue, and counter-extremist education reform.

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