Open AccessPAX-NIGERIANA AND NIGERIA’S CONFLICT MANAGEMENT IN AFRICA IN THE TWENTY-FIRST CENTURY
Author(s) -
Sunday Omotuyi
Publication year - 2020
Publication title -
asian people journal
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
ISSN - 2600-8971
DOI - 10.37231/apj.2020.3.1.154
Subject(s) - peacekeeping , polity , conflict management , good governance , political science , democracy , diplomacy , responsibility to protect , independence (probability theory) , terrorism , psychological intervention , human security , corporate governance , economic growth , development economics , political economy , public administration , sociology , law , human rights , politics , management , economics , psychology , statistics , mathematics , psychiatry
Nigeria’s advocacy for the ‘African solutions to African problems’ has been a critical component of its African diplomacy since its independence in 1960. This advocacy finds its loudest expression in the leadership roles it played in peacekeeping and peace-building efforts in the continent in tandem with what has been dubbed Pax-Nigeriana. However, less than a decade since returning to democratic governance in 1999, Nigeria’s commitment to the peacekeeping efforts has been waning. In spite of its globally acknowledged regional security provider, Nigeria’s interventions in a number of regional countries leave much to be desired. This study, therefore, argues that the plethora of domestic security challenges in Nigeria has had dire implications for conflict management in Africa. The study, which relies on personal observation and secondary sources, contends that Nigeria’s declining commitment to its self-assigned ‘responsibility to protect’ in Africa as vividly demonstrated in Mali’s operation and other contexts portend bleak future for the effective peacekeeping operations in the continent. The paper concludes by recommending that domestic issues such as terrorism and inequality in the polity among others must be addressed if Nigeria wants to continue playing its traditional leadership role in West Africa especially in the security sector.
Keywords: African security, African solutions to African problems, conflict management, Pax-Nigeriana, responsibility to protect