Nigeria’s role in the economic community of West African states towards sustenance of sub-regional security and economic development

Abstract

It will not be out of place to state that the concept of ECOWAS could rightly be associated with the evolution of the Nigerian state since her political independence in 1960. The spirit of pan-Africanism that was initiated by pioneer frontline African nationalists such as Dr. Nnamdi Azikiwe, Chief Obafemi Awolowo, Sir Abubakar Tafawa Balewa, Sir Ahmadu Bello, Kwame Nkruma, Sir Dauda Jawara, Leopold Senghor, Julius Nwalimo Nyerere, etc.; created an indelible print in the minds of post-independence Nigerian leaders who initiated and bankrolled the ECOWAS project. However, for over fourty three years of the formation of the regional West African economic organization, there is nothing much to show in terms of economic reward/benefit coming Nigeria’s way from its engagement with ECOWAS. It is this lack of strategic and beneficial economic relations by successive Nigerian governments that; informed the motivation for the study. The study is a qualitative one where data was generated through the scrutiny of textbooks, journals, internet materials, newspapers and magazines. The data generated was, analyzed through descriptive method and inference. Relevant concepts such as foreign policy and economic relations as well as theories of hegemony, global political economy and interdependence were defined, clarified, adopted and utilized as framework for the study. At the end of the study, recommendations were made. Principal among which is the need for Nigerian political leaderships to pragmatically apply hegemonic and interdependence theories for the country to reap greater economic benefits from its economic relations with ECOWAS member countries.