AFROCENTRICITY VERSUS NATIONAL INTEREST: THE IDEOLOGICAL CONTRADICTIONS OF NIGERIA'S 'BIG BROTHER' POLICY

Abstract

For over six decades, Nigeria anchored its global identity on the messianic doctrine of acting as Africa’s "Big Brother," committing immense material resources to frontline liberation movements, regional military interventions under ECOMOG, and the financing of continental institutions like the African Union. However, this study argues that this external altruism was systematically uncoupled from internal socio-economic and political realities, functioning primarily as an elite vanity project that exhausted state revenues while domestic infrastructure, security, and public institutions collapsed. Methodologically, this paper adopts a historical analytical approach, utilizing a qualitative design built upon chronological tracking and thematic synthesis to evaluate the long-term domestic consequences of Nigeria’s external engagements. The research is driven by a comprehensive content analysis of diverse documentation, combining peer-reviewed diplomatic histories, institutional reports, and economic datasets. Specifically, the investigation synthesizes detailed regional security analyses from international research monographs, policy evaluations from global financial institutions, and critical assessments published in leading African political economy journals. By interrogating these secondary and tertiary materials, the paper exposes the deep moral and material contradictions of a foreign policy framework that prioritized external prestige over the economic survival of the domestic populace. Ultimately, the study concludes that Nigeria's path to resilient global leadership requires abandoning sentimental Afrocentricity in favour of a transactional, democratized economic diplomacy model that directly aligns external power projections with internal national development.