Nigeria's Afrocentric Foreign Policy Thrust in West Africa: An Appraisal of Cote d'Ivoire's Political Crises 2010-2011
Bello Muazu Alkali
Muhammad Fuad B. Othman
Nazariah Binti Osman
Over time, Nigeria has assumed diverse roles within West Africa through its Afrocentric foreign policy thrust. The country has actively engaged with multilateral organizations, contributing significantly to the pursuit of regional peace, order, and democratic stability. While literature underscores Nigeria's various peacemaking and peacekeeping missions in the region, that of Cote d'Ivoire has yet to be extensively explored. Thus, this study investigates Nigeria's Afrocentric foreign policy thrust in West Africa regarding Cote d'Ivoire's political crises 2010-2011. The conflict broke out in 2010 between the incumbent president, Gbagbo, who refused to cede power, and the declared winner of the election, Alassane Ouattara. Therefore, Nigeria intervened and returned Cote d'Ivoire to the pathway of political stability. Accordingly, this study critically examines Nigeria's Afrocentric foreign policy thrust in West Africa, particularly concerning Cote d'Ivoire's democratic instability in 2010 and 2011. It also employs historical and exploratory qualitative research methods from the highest-ranking secondary resources in the existing literature and adopts role and role-model theories to aid analysis. We deductively analyzed the data thematically. The findings reveal that Nigeria's Afrocentric policy and material capacities played a crucial role in accelerating its different functions in West Africa, particularly in resolving the Cote d'Ivoire political crisis. Thus, the outcome was to restore peace, order, and democratic stability in the country. In addition, this study will benefit researchers in history, international affairs, and policymakers. Finally, Nigeria's recent involvement in other West African nations to ensure political stability is a starting point for future studies.
Keywords:Afrocentric, Cote d'Ivoire, Foreign policy, Nigeria, Political crisis
