Globally Oriented Citizenship and International Voluntary Service: Interrogating Nigeria's Technical Aid Corps Scheme (original) (raw)
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Connection Science, 2003
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Rethinking the Role of Nigeria’s Technical Aid Corps as (ubuntu).pdf
UBUNTU: JOURNAL OF CONFLICT AND SOCIAL TRANSFORMATION, 2018
From its independence to date, the belief in the manifest destiny of Nigeria to lead Africa is common among its leaders, scholars and people. This messianic conjecture has guided Nigeria’s foreign policy narrative, informing its contributions to the socio-economic and political development of Africa. Nevertheless, apart from mere applauses and approbation, the Nigerian state is often berated for gaining far less in return on its human and material investment in Africa. This concern fuels current argument by scholars that Nigeria can apply its rich soft power potential to enhance its strategic interest in Africa. Yet, few literature have critically interrogated the linkage between soft power and Nigeria’s foreign policy. Arising from the foregoing, the paper investigates the nexus between soft power diplomacy and Nigeria’s interest in Africa by focusing on the linkages between the country’s huge investment on Technical Aid Corps (TAC) scheme in Africa and the election of Nigerian candidates to African Union positions. The paper adopts the qualitative methodology and utilize the Marxian political economy approach as its theoretical framework. Consequently, the authors argue that despite the benefits accrued on many levels, Nigeria has not fully optimized the potential value of TAC for projecting its foreign policy posture. The paper therefore concludes that access to TAC by African countries should be tied to conditions that protect and project Nigeria’s regional interest and that linking its foreign policy priorities with regional commitment through instruments such as TACs is imperative for an effective use of soft power in Africa.