Study On The Development Of Nigeria’s African Centerpiece Foreign Policy After 1999

After her independence in 1960, based on the common historical experience, pan-Africanism ideological foundation, a unique characteristic of the largest black number and great potential for development and other factors, Nigeria considered Africa’s progress as her "manifest destiny", and the Nigerian former leaders also took Africa as the centerpiece and cornerstone of its diplomacy. Besides this, by supporting the anti-colonial and anti-apartheid struggles in African continent for "many years, Nigeria’s leadership role was gradually highlight, and African centerpiece foreign tradition has also been greatly deepened.A democratically elected government came to power in 1999 is a new beginning of the history of Nigeria. Is African centerpiece foreign tradition still followed by Nigerian government in recent years? If it is, how does it evolve now and how should we estimate its current situation and its relationship with Nigeria’s aspiration to be African leader? These questions become the core problems and key elements of this thesis.To quest for the answers of the questions, the paper retrievals, cardings and analyses Nigeria’s main diplomatic activities in recent 15 years after make sure that the three newest Nigerian presidents are still continuing with the African centerpiece foreign tradition. Based on the Concentric Circle Approach summarized by the former foreign minister, Professor Ibarahim A. Gambari and used by many Nigerian, this paper adopts a similar circle analysis method, analyzing the main and representative diplomatic activities in the three levels of the western Africa, Africa continent and international society to draw realistic conclusions. This paper mainly combs on Nigeria’s participation to the Conflict Intervention and economic integration in West Africa, involvement of the OAU/Au political transition, the formulation and implementation of the Africa economic integration framework, Africa development bank’s programmes, conflicts and peacekeeping operations in African continent, and the main diplomatic activities on the international stage, like Nigeria’s Technical Aid Corps, UN and UNSC, and the Commonwealth. In this process, new materials and original data will be used to explore the new questions, hoping to give a overall perception of Nigerian foreign policy in recent 15 years and then draw a final realistic conclusion of this paper.The final conclusion of this paper is that:since 1999, Nigeria’s African centerpiece foreign tradition has a certain development and change both from the thoughts and activities of foreign policy. It means the Nigerian government started to pay more attention to Nigeria’s own national interests when inherited the African centerpiece foreign tradition, by the beginning of a realistic direction change from idealism and altruism. For this transformation, this paper thinks that it does not mean that Nigeria gave up its diplomatic goal pursuit of "Africa leader / great power status". In the context of African centerpiece foreign policy, Nigeria’s diplomacy changes its way and path to achieve its diplomatic goals, gradually through the pursuit of their own national interests and make a country powerful approach to finally won country’s respect and recognition. However, due to the influence of history and a variety of internal and external factors, this shift in Nigeria’s diplomacy is not truly complete. There is not obvious or one principle runs through it all in the actual performance. It is "just a start" and towards the realism "direction".