Nigeria's Border Diplomacy

Oladotun E. Awosusi is a Research Fellow at Department of Politics and International Relations, University of Fort Hare, South Africa. He also holds an appointment as a Research Fellow at the University of Arkansas Clinton School of Public Service (UACS), Little Rock, United States, where he is completing a third postgraduate degree, with a focus on Public Service. He currently leads an international project at the Global Ties Arkansas, Little Rock, United States. He previously served as a Lecturer (Assistant Professor) at different higher institutions, including the University of Fort Hare, where he completed his doctoral degree in Political Science. His research interests cover diplomacy and politics of borders (physical and virtual), comparative borderland studies, international migration, security studies, African regional affairs, and global development. His research interests cover diplomacy and politics of borders (physical and virtual), comparative borderland studies, international migration, security studies, African regional affairs, and global development. His research works have appeared in various reputable international Journals and publishing outlets, such as Global Society, Comparative Migration Studies, Journal of Asian and African Studies, Journal of African Affairs, Insights on Africa, Palgrave Macmillan,Rowman & Littlefield and others. His scholarly contributions have earned him various speaking engagements at international conferences/seminars in different countries of Africa, Europe, and North America.Olusola Ogunnubi is a Research Fellow at the Centre for Gender and African Studies (CGAS), University of the Free State, South Africa. He also holds dual appointments as Teaching and Research Fellow in the Centre for International and Defence Policy (CIDP) and the Department of Political Studies, Queen’s University, where he is completing a second doctorate with specialty in International Relations and Gender Studies. He is a recipient of numerous academic honours, including the Joseph-Armand Bombardier Canada Graduate Award, the Peacock Award, and the Robert Sutherland Fellowship. Prior to his doctoral studies in Canada, he served as Assistant Professor in the School of Social Sciences at the University of KwaZulu-Natal, South Africa. He has also held visiting research positions at Carleton University, University of Victoria’s Centre for Global Studies, and the German Institute for Global and Area Studies (GIGA). His research explores the overlapping themes of norm dynamics, critical minerals and resource governance, African technological agency, regional power hierarchies, soft power, and African diplomacy. He is co-editor of five scholarly volumes, and his work has appeared in leading peer-reviewed journals such as Politikon, South African Journal of International Affairs, Journal of Contemporary African Studies, Journal of Developing Societies, International Journal of Culture, Politics and Society, Politeia, and Insight on Africa.

• 1: Introduction 2. Complementarity or Competition? Nigeria's Border Diplomacy in Africa 3. Nigeria’s ‘Border Diplomacy’: Rhetoric or Substance for Regional Hegemonic Leadership? 4. Nigeria’s Role in the ECOWAS Protocol and the AfCFTA 'Borderless Arrangements': Regional ‘Bully’ Or Hegemon? 5. Nigeria’s Maritime Diplomacy in Africa’s ‘Blue Corridors’: Prospects For Regional Hegemony 6. Nigeria's Cyber Diplomacy in Africa: A New Border Approach? 7. Geopolitics of Boundaries and the Diplomacy of Outer Space in Nigeria-Africa Relations 8. Conclusion: Centring African Realist Thoughts into Border Diplomacy and Regional Hegemony Scholarship