Unity Without Unification: The Development of Nigeria's 'Inside-out' Approach to African Political Integration, 1937-1963 (Case Study‪)‬

Addressing a seminar on the African Union (formerly the Organization of African Unity) held at Abuja, Nigeria, in mid-May 2001, Olusegun Obasanjo, the president of Nigeria, expressed much optimism regarding the potential of the organization. Specifically, he suggested that its design benefited from an analysis of the failures of the integration process in Africa. African states, according to Obasanjo, had failed to integrate primarily due to a lack of political will of their governments "to subordinate domestic political and economic interests to supranational institutions with long-term regional goals." (1) More importantly, Obasanjo stated that "the African Union is the final goal of African Unity that African leaders have been pursuing for more than 40 years." He then told Nigerians that the "management of their political, social and economic affairs [would] be integrated into those of the African continent." Nigeria, he declared, had not only shared this Pan-African vision, it had always worked toward its achievement. (2) Neither of the latter two assertions is beyond question. Regarding the formation of the Organization of African Unity (OAU), Obasanjo's declaration that the African Union represents the culmination of a consensual quest that is more than four decades old is an exaggerated claim? Moreover, considering the tenor of Nigeria's African policy since gaining its independence, such a role for Nigeria would have been revolutionary. Such claims raise several questions: Which Nigerian leaders should be included amongst those African leaders who pursued the goal of union for over four decades? Which Nigeria has always shared this vision of union? Both questions give rise to a third query: What has been Nigeria's attitude toward surrendering its sovereignty?