Programme: Policy and Strategic Studies

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Start date: 2023

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    SOFT POWER AND FOREIGN POLICY OUTCOMES: A STUDY OF NIGERIA- CHINA RELATIONS (2019-2024)
    (Covenant University Ota, 2025-08) ISAAC, Grace Ugochi; Covenant University Dissertation
    Nigeria’s foreign policy engagement with China has grown significantly in recent years yet concerns persist about the long-term implications of China’s expanding soft power. While economic dependency, cultural assimilation, and asymmetrical partnerships have been raised as potential risks, there remains a lack of empirical research evaluating how China’s soft power influences Nigeria’s policy space, institutions, and public perception. This dissertation seeks to address this gap by assessing the effectiveness of China’s soft power in achieving foreign policy outcomes in Nigeria from 2019 to 2024. To situate this inquiry, the study began by reviewing key soft power concepts including cultural diplomacy, educational exchange, development assistance, media influence, and public diplomacy drawing on global case studies from countries such as Germany, Vietnam, Bangladesh, Denmark, and the United States. The Soft Power Theory expounded by Alexander Vuving was used as a framework to guide the analysis. Using a qualitative methodology, primary data were gathered through in-depth interviews with Nigerian stakeholders across academia, government, and civil society. These were complemented by secondary data from academic literature, policy documents, and institutional reports. Findings show that China’s soft power strategies such as Confucius Institutes, media partnerships, scholarships, and development aid have had mixed results. While they have increased China’s cultural and political visibility, local responses range from acceptance to scepticism, with concerns about equity, agency, and long-term alignment. Nigeria’s own cultural exports, though promising, remain under-leveraged. Recommendations include the need for balanced partnerships, transparent diplomacy, and proactive policy engagement by Nigeria. The study concluded that soft power is not value-neutral it must be negotiated to serve national interests.
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    ASSESSMENT OF THE USE OF IMPROVISED EXPLOSIVE DEVICES BY NON-MILITARY ACTORS AND NATIONAL SECURITY CHALLENGES IN SOUTHEAST NIGERIA
    (Covenant University Ota, 2025-08) PETER, Mark Jatau; Covenant University Dissertation
    Improvised Explosive Devices (IEDs) have emerged as a defining feature of guerrilla warfare, increasingly weaponised by non-military actors (NMAs) across Nigeria’s conflict landscape. While considerable scholarly attention has focused on Northeastern Nigeria, the deployment of IEDs by criminal and secessionist groups in Southeast (SE) Nigeria remains under-examined despite its growing strategic, humanitarian and political implications. This study explores the use of IEDs by NMAs in SE Nigeria, focusing on their operational patterns, proliferation networks and implications for national security. Drawing on asymmetric warfare theory and the human security paradigm, the research adopts a qualitative, exploratory design to interrogate the evolving tactics, techniques and procedures (TTPs) of IED use, the challenges facing Nigeria’s Counter-IED (CIED) architecture and the regional vulnerabilities exacerbated by porous borders. Findings reveal that NMAs exploit transnational IED precursor supply chains, digital platforms, border insecurity and local ingenuity to sustain low-cost, high-impact explosive violence. This violence disrupts military operations at strategic, operational, and tactical levels, while also devastating civilian lives and infrastructure, eroding economic activities and precipitating forced displacement and trauma. The study also highlights the fragmented coordination among security agencies, weak indigenous defence innovation and limited community intelligence networks as significant gaps in Nigeria’s CIED strategy. This research makes a unique contribution by shifting analytical focus to the SE, identifying the convergence between historical marginalisation, tactical adaptation by NMAs and institutional inertia. Policy recommendations include the development of an indigenous CIED doctrine, enhanced interagency collaboration, strengthened border governance and community-based early warning systems. These findings contribute to scholarly and policy discourses on terrorism, national security and hybrid warfare in underexplored landscapes of the Global South, with broader implications for counterterrorism approaches in similarly affected regions. The study concluded that with the elimination of IEDs as a means of guerrilla warfare, innocent lives would be saved and properties preserved in Nigeria.
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    Sustainable development goals implementation in a postcolonial African State: Any future for the African Continental Free Trade Area?
    (Sustainable Development, 2024-04-07) Chidozie Felix C.; Osimen Goddy U.; bhadmus Joy; Newo Oluwamurewa
    This paper examined the prospect of the African Continental Free Trade Agreement in the context of the SDGs. It took its bearing from the contemporary structure of most African states, arguing that the reality of the continent's postcolonial condition could impede the implementation of the AfCFTA. Its refrain is that studies on how Nigeria and South Africa, as regional powers, have used their economic and political influence to advance the SDGs' implementation throughout Africa, using different South–South development frameworks are few. In other words, the institutionalization of a strategic collaboration agenda through a Nigeria-South Africa-coordinated African response to the new powers, in the area of timely implementation of the SDGs is lacking. This study affirms that for the AfCFTA to be successful, it is incumbent on the regional hegemons to build a suitable institutional framework and governance structure that upholds the rule of law and encourages harmonization, consistency, and predictability.
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    Boko Haram insurgency: Tactics and evolving operational strategies in Northern Nigeria
    (Research Journal in Advanced Humanities, 2024-10-29) Chidozie Felix C.; Chukwudi Ekene Celestina; Aje Oluwatobi; Osimen Goddy U.
    Boko Haram, which translates from Hausa to mean ‘Western Education is forbidden,’ has ignominiously attracted negative attention and publicity from many quarters in Nigeria and the international community at large. Indeed, the organisation is arguably one of the significant security concerns confronting the Nigerian State. This has undoubtedly created an atmosphere of fear and terror, especially among Nigerians in the North. Generally, their activities threaten the very fabric of the country’s unity, prosperity, and stability. The paper is a desk study, drawing heavily from secondary sources of data and analysing it using the thematic method. It examines the evolution, operational, and tactical transformation of Boko Haram from a small, localised group into a violent Islamic insurgent group with better coordination and sophistication. Findings show that the strategic and tactical flexibility of the group’s operations is peculiar to all asymmetrical warfare. It, therefore, recommends that the Nigerian government intensify its counter-insurgency war while also exploring the option of expanding the counter-insurgency war beyond the military option to include addressing the socio-economic realities in Northern Nigeria, such as unemployment, poverty, and illiteracy.
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    Nigeria's Quest for a Permanent Seat at the United Nation Security Council: A Giant Dwarfed of Domestic Challenges
    (Migration Letters Volume: 21, No: 3,, 2023) Osimen Goddy U.; Obiyan Sat A.; Ayankoya Abimbola Rachel; Essien Nick Peter
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    Visa-on-arrival, ECOWAS-free Mobility and the Securitisation of the Intra- African Migration in Nigeria
    (India Quarterly: A Journal of International Affairs Impact Factor:, 2024-08) Omotuyi Sunday; Apeloko O. D.; Bello Moruf Ayodele; Chukwudi Ekene Celestina
    Over the years, Nigeria’s regional hegemonic leadership in (West) Africa, especially within the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) region, has been debated within academic and foreign relations circles. A major component of this regional leadership aspiration was its quest for a ‘borderless Africa’. As an important arrowhead of its pro-African foreign policy, the Nigerian government proactively crafted a benign national border policy to give practical expression to the free mobility of persons and goods within the West African subregion. Despite a demonstrable commitment to free mobility within Africa over the years, Abuja suddenly imposed a restrictive border policy shortly after it signed the African Continental Free Trade Area (AfCFTA) agreement and approved the contentious visa-on-arrival for African migrants. Considering this context, this study makes three arguments: First, it interrogates the rationale behind the liberal border diplomacy of the Nigerian government. Secondly, the paper contends that the inability to ‘silence the guns’ in Africa despite all efforts has seriously militated against the aspiration for intra-African mobility and borderless Community in West Africa. Lastly, the study examines the dire implications of Nigerian nationalistic border diplomacy and its declining soft power for the future of ‘borderless West Africa’.
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    Social Media Application within Organisational Productivity in a Democratic Setting: Evidence from the Public Sector in Nigeria
    (Journal of African Films & Diaspora Studies Vol. 7, No. 2, 2024-06-01) Chukwudi Ekene Celestina; Bello Moruf Ayodele; Apeloko O. D.; Olawunmi Kunle
    In a democratic setting, the participation of people within an organisation is enlarged by the application of social media. This application has become necessary since it strengthens organisations and members’ participation and communication toward productivity and development. This study is to unravel how organisational productivity is being affected by social media in a democratic setting. The study also investigates various challenges that may face the application of social media within organisations. The qualitative method of study is adopted in the analysis of this study. It involves the use of primary and secondary sources obtained from books and journals, newspapers, and internet sources. An in-depth interview was also conducted with key informants who knew the subject matter. The paper concludes that social media plays a significant role in organisational productivity in a democratic setting, despite some challenges such as misinformation, and misinterpretation in the organisational arena. To ensure democracy's success, organisations should implement close monitoring of social media and the protection of people's rights.
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    Military Deployment and Election Conduct in Nigeria
    (Home African RenaissanceVol. 21, No. 3, 2024-09) Aliyu Musilimu Kolawole; Bello Moruf Ayodele; Chukwudi Ekene Celestina; Ezebuilo Paul Chibuike
    The way elections were conducted in Nigeria before the return of civil government on May 29, 1999, was a civil affair. The country's custom of involving the military in political processes began with the June 21, 2014, Ekiti State gubernatorial election, held under former President Goodluck Jonathan. This study uses secondary data to give an overview of the present argument in light of the controversy the topic has produced. The study also interrogates the circumstances that led to the deployment of the armed forces in the conduct of elections in the country and finds out the propriety or otherwise of the action under a democratic rule considering the constitutional roles of the military. The study equally discusses the expected professional conduct of the military in the electoral processes and the handling of security matters between the Election Management Body and security agents, and finally discusses the conduct of soldiers and matters arising concerning the 2027 general elections. These were prepared to prepare the military to actively participate professionally in the next elections in Nigeria.
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    Impacts of Cyber Crimes on the Image of Nigeria in the International Community: A Case of the Perceptions of Ghanaians
    (Journal of African Films & Diaspora StudiesVol. 7, No. 4, 2024-12-01) Apeloko O. D.; Chukwudi Ekene Celestina; Atobatele Abolaji; Chiamaka Chidiebere Sussan
    The study examined cybercrime and the image of Nigeria in the international community, especially the perception of Ghanaians. Cybercrime is becoming rampant in the language of scholars and agencies in the international community, and this can affect the image of Nigeria and other international communities. The objective of this study is to determine the impact of cyber terrorism on the perception of Ghanaians on Nigeria’s image, investigate the impact of cyberbullying on the perception of Ghanaians on Nigeria’s image, and examine the impact of spam on the perception of Ghanaians on Nigeria’s image. This research is necessary because of the realisation that if Nigeria does not pay attention to the growth of cybercriminal activities in the country, its image in the international community can be affected in areas of socio-economic relations, such as trading. The time frame for this research is from 2019 to 2022. The research design adopted for this research is inferential. The data obtained were analysed through theordinal regression in which the data analed were reflected in the research objectives. The findings of this study show that there is fairly a significant impact between cybercrime and the image of Nigeria. The study suggests that the government should work on tackling the challenges faced by law enforcement agencies to combat cybercrime and create an enabling environment for the business to thrive, as this will discourage most Nigerians from committing cybercrimes.
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    The Legislative Enactments On Women’s Inclusion In Governance: A Study Of Lagos State House Of Assembly, Nigeria (2015- 2022)
    (Educational Administration: Theory and Practice 2024, 30(5),, 2024) Chukwudi Ekene Celestina; Oladipo Victoria Olaitan; Gberevbie Daniel E.
    Women in Nigeria have faced limitations like in different countries of Africa. This has happened in different sectors in Nigeria, most especially the inclusion in governance. Nigeria, like many other countries, has grappled with issues of gender inequality in political representation. This situation has also lowered their expected contributions to Nigerian socioeconomic development. This study examines the legislative enactments aimed at promoting women's inclusion in governance within the Lagos State House of Assembly during the period 2015 to 2022. The research focuses on the efforts made by the Lagos State legislative body to address this imbalance through the formulation and implementation of policies, laws, and initiatives. The study employs qualitative and quantitative methods of data collection. The study employs a comprehensive analysis of legislative documents, debates, and official records to evaluate the extent to which the Lagos State House of Assembly has played a role in advancing women's participation in political decision-making. The Feminist constitutionalism theory was used to underpin the analyses of the study. The data was analysed using the thematic method of analysis. The findings revealed the lack of implementation of legislative enactments that encourage the inclusion of women in governance by the Lagos State House of Assembly from 2015 to 2022. It also explains policy areas that parliaments could focus on and the role of technology as a mechanism in legislating policies that will encourage the inclusion of women in governance. The study provides valuable insights for policymakers, gender advocates, and researchers interested in understanding the dynamics of legislative processes and their impact on women's representation and participation in governance. It recommends among other things, the need for gender quotas, and regulations on political party financing that promote women’s inclusion.