Re-examining Nigeria’s Contributions to the African Union and the Domestic Socio-Economic Ramifications

Abstract

While there have been scholarly studies that address Nigeria’s diplomacy and contribution to the African Union (AU), many of them have failed to compare and contrast how those have added to the socio-economic development of Nigeria. We encountered a few instances where attempts were made to explain such, yet a fully-fledged analysis lacked in their conclusions. We applied documentary analysis methodology in our review and found that there is a serious misalignment between Nigeria’s diplomacy and support for the African Union on one hand and positive socio-economic development in Nigeria on the other. The study also looks at exploring how the general framework of Nigeria’s foreign policy goals and strategies in Africa can serve both its national interest and the overall development goals of Africa. We argue that for Nigeria’s role in the AU to be meaningful, the country needs to simultaneously revive its internal socio-economic condition.