NEPAD

In this brief writeup, I contemplate Nigeria’s role in shaping pan-African ideals at the national, sub-regional, regional, continental and global levels. I suggest that Nigeria’s role in shaping pan-Africanism is evident when viewed through the prism of its afro-centric foreign policy agenda as well as its domestic policy of reasonable accommodation of nationals of other African countries. I also suggest that Nigeria’s leadership role in Africa is one that comes naturally to it as the most populous country on the African continent and one of its largest economies.

In my view variable geometry is likely to further slow down the implementation of the AfCFTA because it is a way to accommodate less advantageous countries or countries unwilling to move as fast as others.  Even if variable geometry is the only way to move forward in trade agreements of the 21th century as some have argued, it makes trade liberalization more complicated and slows down integration initiatives. More detailed research on variable geometry from an African perspective needs to be undertaken because the continent cannot afford the potential failure of the AfCFTA.