Visa-on-arrival, ECOWAS-free Mobility and the Securitisation of the Intra-African Migration in Nigeria

Sunday Omotuyi, David Olubunmi Apeloko, Moruf Ayodele Bello and Celestina Ekene Chukwudi
Additional contact information
Sunday Omotuyi: Sunday Omotuyi is a research associate at the Institute for the Future of Knowledge, Johannesburg University, South Africa.
David Olubunmi Apeloko: David Olubunmi Apeloko is a senior lecturer in the Department of Public Administration, Obafemi Awolowo University, Ile-Ife, Osun State, Nigeria.
Moruf Ayodele Bello: Moruf Ayodele Bello is a senior lecturer in the Department of Public Administration, Obafemi Awolowo University, Ile-Ife, Nigeria.
Celestina Ekene Chukwudi: Celestina Ekene Chukwudi is a lecturer in the Department of Political Science and International Relations, Covenant University, Ota, Ogun State, Nigeria.

India Quarterly: A Journal of International Affairs, 2024, vol. 80, issue 3, 421-438

Abstract: 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’.

Keywords: West Africa; ECOWAS; migration; Nigeria border diplomacy; foreign policy; insecurity (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2024
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Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:sae:indqtr:v:80:y:2024:i:3:p:421-438

DOI: 10.1177/09749284241264068

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