Keywords
Abstract
This study interrogates the involvement of Nigeria’s role in the quest for the continent’s integration towards greater unity, cohesion, and consolidation in the past and present African affairs through the prism of her leadership and determination as demonstrated and as it has made Africa the center-piece of her foreign policy since independence. The study x-rays the support Nigeria has rendered and provided in various ways like anti-colonialism, anti-apartheid regimes, financial and logistics assistance to liberation movements across the continent, formation of Organization of African Unity(OAU) and its transformation to the African Union (AU), Regional Economic Communities(REC), New Partnership for African Development (NEPAD), African Peace and Security Architecture (APSA) and African Continental Free Trade Area Agreement (AfCFTA). However, the role being played has not been acknowledged, appreciated, and compensated within Africa as it faces its own domestic challenges such as insurgency, insecurity, banditry, kidnapping inflation, joblessness, and many more. The study moreover revealed that Nigeria is still expected to provide leadership, focus, direction, and support for Africa in all its policies and programs due to her grandstanding principle and mentality about Africa. The study makes use of secondary data to collect and analyze data, while it adopts role theory as its theoretical framework to midwife the investigation and validate the nexus between the role of Nigeria towards Africa Union continental integration for economic and political actualization.
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