Issues of Reciprocity in Nigeria’s relations with her African Neighbours, 1960-2020

Abstract

Reciprocity which is the practice of returning favours and privileges received from a particular person or party back to him, hence meeting the expectations of such person or party is one of the major guiding principles of international relations both as a practice or field of study. Nigeria has related with various African states and extended kind gestures to them, but, it may be observed that these her benevolence were not reciprocated especially in the ways and manner such gestures were extended. Against the foregoing backdrop, this paper intends to look at issues of reciprocity in Nigeria’s relations with her African neighbours with the aim of discovering if indeed these relations have yielded any form of gain to Nigeria and Nigerians. Deploying the Social Exchange Theory, this paper in venturing an analysis of Nigeria’s relations with her African neighbours over the years, and utilized primary, secondary as well tertiary sources. This paper discovered that in as much as most of Nigeria’s benevolence to her African neighbours appears to be unreciprocated, a closer look at these relations reveals that indeed, there are several ways Nigeria also benefits from her benevolence. Owing to the foregoing therefore, this paper recommends that rather than stopping her kind gestures towards her African neighbours, Nigeria should deploy strategies that could better position her to even gain more in her relations with her African neighbours.