FOREIGN POLICY AND REGIONAL LEADERSHIP: AN ANALYSIS OF NIGERIA’S LEADERSHIP ROLE IN ECONOMIC COMMUNITY OF WEST AFRICAN STATES (ECOWAS)

CHAPTER ONE

INTRODUCTION

1.1      Background to the Study

The contemporary world is getting smaller than one could ever imagine years ago. These days, with a click of a button, it is easy to relate with someone that is thousands of miles away. Hence, security can easily be infringed in a globalized world without physical contacts. Based on this reality, nations cannot but develop certain policies to protect their interests. One of the means by which nations protect their interest is through the formulation of foreign policy, which is concerned with unreserved variety of planned activities or step-by-step process aimed at achieving planned objectives. According to Obi (2009:42), foreign policy “denotes pattern of values ‘expressed through government authoritative statements to give a sense of the goals, objectives, hopes and aspirations of the issuing country in relation with other countries”. It is a process through which states associate with one another for the purpose of protecting and promoting their national interest. However, to ensure utmost safeguarding of the interest of a nation, nations are always working toward the improvement of their power base in relation to one another. This became necessary due to the self- help nature of international relations in which the gain of one nation can be the loss of another. It is on this note that, Obi (2009:12) submits that “the foreign policy of a nation is intended at manipulating the global community with the power at the disposal of the nation in order to actualize the national objectives of that nation”.

The attainment of a nation’s foreign policy objectives is determined to a large extent by the elements of national power at the disposal of that nation- state. These elements of’ national power may pertain to the presence of natural resources, technology, population, ideology, geography, national moral/character among others. It is the proper deployment of these elements of power that makes the difference. Thus, it will be utterly wrong to translate the mere possession of element of National power as the basis of influencing sub-regional, regional or global hegemony without effective utilization and deployment of such resources to boost the national capability of the nation. 

Nigeria’s role in West Africa region and Africa since independence may be seen in some perspective as that of a regional hegemon. According to Akali (2016:61), “the role of Nigeria in the creation of Africa countries in the past, its posture against white minority rule and more recently, its role in the resolution of conflicts in Africa, have given her the status of a leading African nation in continental politics”. it was this perception that prompted Azikiwe (1961:55) to say that Nigeria had “the historical mission and manifest destiny in African continent” It is this conception of’ Nigeria as a leader in Africa that informed her decision in making Africa the cornerstone and nerve center of her foreign policy Ajaebili (2011)

Several cases abound where Nigeria have played active leadership role both in West Africa region and in the African continent. This ranges from the Liberia civil war, Sierra-Leone conflict, Sudanese conflict, Cote D’ivoire post-election crisis and more recently the Gambia post-election crisis among others. Nigeria involvement through mediation and intervention was instrumental in resolving most of these crises. Nigeria’s rationale for playing leadership role within Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) member States is to ensure the peace, stability and development of the West Africa sub-region. To this end, part of the foreign policy objectives of Nigeria emphasizes  the creation of appropriate political and economic Conditions in Africa and the rest of the world which will boost the defense, independence and territorial integrity of all African countries especially ECOWAS.

Nigeria’s leadership role in ECOWAS has come with huge financial and material cost. The fact that Nigeria is plagued by some internal challenges that include unemployment, poverty and insecurity among others, has also increased the financial burden of the nation. Although, these internal challenges experienced by the Nigerian state are enormous, they are not sufficient ground to prevent the nation from taking up leadership role in ECOWAS. This submission is important considering the fact that no nation is absolutely free from internal challenges. Even the industrialized Western nations have their uncharacteristic challenges yet; they have not relinquished their leadership role within their sub-region and indeed in the world. The quest to surmount the developmental challenges and to channel a new cause for ECOWAS member states to a great extent appears to rest on Nigeria’s shoulders. Nigeria’s foreign policy is predicated on certain social problems such as poverty, unemployment, inequality, cybercrime etc. It is based on these realities that this study seeks to dwell on foreign policy and regional leadership with emphasis on the analysis of Nigeria’s leadership role in ECOWAS between 1999 and 2020.

1.2      Statement of the Problem

There is clearly the fact that the entire ECOWAS member states are faced with variety of challenges ranging from unemployment, insecurity, electoral violence, poverty, inequality,  and the quest by current political leaders to hold onto power (manifested by the failure to conduct free, fair and credible elections, failure of incumbent to relinquish power after the losing elections and failure to accept the outcome of elections results even when such elections are considered to be free, fair and credible by both local and international observers). These challenges have grave implications for democracy, peace, progress, stability and the survival of West Africa.

Nigeria under her typical Afro-centric foreign policy had taken active leadership role in resolving conflicts and developmental challenges that have been affecting ECOWAS member states. So actively involved has Nigeria been that it had intervened in the Guinea Bissau conflict, Mali conflict, Liberia civil war, Sierra Leone crisis, Cote d’Ivoire crisis and the Gambia Post-election crisis among others. In this regard, Àkinboye (2O18:7l) submits that “Nigeria contributes over 80% of ECOWAS fund both material and human resource”. Àkinboye (2O18) concludes that this is a testimony to the fact that Nigeria had been the main provider of military, economic and other resources for ECOWAS peace operation to the tune of 8 billion US dollar in various mission in Cote d’ Ivoire, Guinea - Bissau, Liberia, Mali and Sierra-Leon. In the light of the Liberia and Sierra-Leone civil wars, Nigeria provided over 70 percent of ECOMOG’s military and civilian personnel as well as logistical support. In fact, the European Union in the New Partnership for Africa's Development (NEPAD) blue print had identified Nigeria and South Africa to lead and champion the economic recovery of Africa. 

Although Nigeria has been plagued with internal challenges as stated above, these challenges faced by the nation are not sufficient grounds to deter her from taking leadership role or championing the interest of ECOWAS member States. Nigeria had been looked upon by European countries, African States and indeed ECOWAS member States to take the leading role in resolving the challenges that affect the West Africa region and indeed the Africa region. For instance, Nigeria played a leading role in the establishment of ECOMOG: a military arm of ECOWAS that helped to resolve crisis in Sierra Leon, Liberia, Mali, among other West Africa troubled States.

In the midst of the aforementioned problems, the questions that deserve our attentions are: what is the nature and scope of Nigeria’s leadership role in Africa? Has Nigeria’s leadership role within West Africa region yielded any meaningful gain? What are the likely challenges that have militated against Nigeria in her quest towards providing purposeful leadership within the West Africa sub-region? Has Nigeria’s internal challenges affected her capabilities for providing effective and purposeful leadership? Unfortunately, these questions have only been addressed in contemporary studies by few researchers. Therefore, this research seeks to fill the existing gap in knowledge by revealing the Nigeria’s leadership role in ECOWAS between 1990 and 2020 and the attendant challenges involved in the performance of these roles.

1.3      Objectives of the Study

The objective of the study is to examine the relationship between Nigeria foreign policy and her leadership aspirations in Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) as pertaining to foreign policy.

While the specific objectives are to:

1.    Examine the nature and scope of Nigeria’s leadership role within ECOWAS.

2.    Examine Nigeria’s foreign policy relations with selected ECOWAS states

3.    Examine selected cases of Nigeria intervention and mediation into conflicts situations among ECOWAS member States

4.    Identify the challenges militating against Nigeria in her leadership role in ECOWAS. 

1.4 Research Questions

The following research questions are formulated to guide the study

1.    What is the extent of Nigeria’s financial and human commitment to ECOWAS?

2.    What selected cases explain Nigeria’s intervention and mediation in conflicts situations within ECOWAS member States?

3.    What are the challenges militating against Nigeria’s leadership role in ECOWAS?

1.5      Significance of the Study 

Much has been written in the area of foreign policy and regional leadership; however, this study will serve as an additional work to those existing ones as it concerns leadership by Nigeria. 

Obviously, the outcome of this research will be of great benefit to every stakeholder (such as foreign policy makers and implementers) in the area of foreign policy and indeed and also the entire citizens who need enlightenment on their role in the foreign policy of their country, as required in any democratic government.

This study will also assist interested researchers, students and others conducting research in the area of foreign policy in their future researches as it will help to broaden the literature

In all, if the outcome of this study is properly implemented, it will help to ensure a pro-active and dynamic foreign policy for Nigeria and indeed Nigerians.

1.6      Scope and Limitation of Study  

The scope of this work is Nigeria’s foreign policy and its leadership role within the West African sub-region from 1990 – 2020. Therefore, this study will be limited to the leadership role of Nigeria in developing the ECOWAS states through foreign policy within 1990 and 2020.

This study was limited by constraints of time and inadequate funding to travel to the various parts of the countries (ECOWAS member states) to source first-hand information and data. Despite these limitations, the study was still carried out successfully. This was done by obtaining information from the ministry for foreign affairs and other related authorities for official documents that dwell on the subject matter.

1.7.   Operational Definition of Terms

i. Policy: This refers to a plan of action of a government intended to influence and determine decisions and other matters. It’s the principle of action intended by a nation to foster development in a region. it’s a principle of action especially an official one adopted by a nation for the sake of development that regulates the socio-economic cum political activities of a government and other organizations that interact with government in the society.

ii. Foreign Policy: This refers to the general objective that guides the activities and relationships of one state in its interactions with other states. This is influenced by domestic considerations, policies and behaviour of other states or plans to advance specific geographical designs or interests. It’s the policy of a nation geared towards achieving certain objectives at international level.

iii. Leadership: This implies the act of leading a group of states. It’s a process by which a state influences others to accomplish an objective and directs the affairs of a particular region in a way that makes it more cohesive and coherent. Leaders carry out this process by applying their leadership attributes, such as – beliefs, values, ethics, character, knowledge and skills.

iv. Region:  A region refers to an area of land that has common features. An area, especially part of a country or the world having definable characteristics but not always fixed boundaries. In this study, the West African region comprising of 16 West African states is being referred to as ECOWAS region

v. Regional Leadership: This refers to the state saddled with the responsibility of leading the affairs of a particular region. A Regional leader is a state that belongs to a particular geographic region, has superiority in power and Economic capabilities, and exercises some form of influence over the other member states of the   region.

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