Interrogating the economic benefits of Nigeria’s engagement with the commonwealth in the fourth republic, 1999-2023

Abstract

Nigeria’s engagements with the Commonwealth exhibit a peculiar record of sweet & sour relations. Even as infant member, Nigeria in collaboration with India and Tanganyika, in 1961 succeeded in persuading other member countries in expelling apartheid South Africa from the Commonwealth. Humiliated leaders of the racist regime in return supported Biafra in the 1967-1970 civil war in Nigeria. Five years later, Britain’s reluctance to sell arms to Nigeria may have played a role in the military leadership enacting harsh measures against Britain’s economic interests; because of her resistance to majority rule in Zimbabwe. In spite of the fact that there are trickles of economic benefits coming Nigeria’s way from the Commonwealth, it has not translated into making her the manufacturing hub of Africa which is a vogue for serious contenders to the elite G20. This underperformance serves as the motivation for the study. The study is a qualitative one where data was generated through secondary sources such as journals, periodicals, textbooks, internet materials, newspapers and magazines. Concepts/theories of economic relations and interdependence were defined and clarified as framework for the study. At the end, recommendations were advanced for a more beneficial engagement with the Commonwealth; principal among which is the need for Nigeria to take advantage of manufacturing advancement of developed members to grow her industrial/manufacturing sector/sub-sector.