Nigeria’s Roles in Africa Under Civilian Rule, 1999–2022

In this chapter, the foreign policies and national role conceptions under civilian or democratic government  are discussed. This era had the administrations of Olusegun Obasanjo, Umar Yar’Adua, Goodluck Jonathan and Muhammadu Buhari. It is noteworthy that President Obasanjo who had ruled and made foreign policy decisions before, as a military head of state, was to engage democratic institutions in foreign policy decision-making. This time, there would be constitutional and institutional controls, unlike in his first coming as a military General. Nigeria’s hegemonical existence witnessed highs and lows during Obasanjo’s era. There were great times, and yet there were bad times. The great times were engendered by Obasanjo’s wealth of experience and knowledge of the African hegemonic terrains having been there before and established an enormous network even after service. The lows could have been the spill overs from past misadventures of military regimes, or due to Obasanjo’s own personal troubles with democratic institutions. This chapter attempts to examine all of this and situate in proper context, the institutions, structures, processes and manifestations of Nigeria’s Africa policy under democratic leadership. The downward spiral of Nigeria’s leadership from 2007 to 2022 are identified as reasons bordering on negative domestic trajectory that were mishandled, policy slips and diplomatic goofs.