ABSTRACT
In a recent forum at the Council for Foreign Relations in Washington, DC, Nigeria’s president, Goodluck Jonathan, was quoted as expressing the view that ‘our main focus is to see that at least within the continent of Africa, we have true democracies’.1 He was alluding to the two main strands of continuity in his country’s foreign policy: Nigeria’s connection of its national interest to an Afrocentric external policy thrust; and its African leadership claims within the global context. Thus, in spite of its domestic challenges, the country projects itself as a key player in Africa and in international politics.
