CHALLENGES FACED BY NIGERIA IN THE AFRICAN UNION’S (AU) PEACE AND SECURITY AGENDA, 2015-2025

Abstract

Nigeria has historically occupied a central position in Africa’s peace and security architecture, playing a leading role in peacekeeping, conflict mediation, and the promotion of collective security within the African Union (AU). However, between 2015 and 2025, Nigeria’s ability to advance the AU’s peace and security agenda has faced increasing constraints. This study examines the challenges confronting Nigeria in the implementation of the AU’s peace and security agenda during this period and assesses the measures adopted to address these challenges. Anchored in Role Theory, the study analyses the gap between Nigeria’s self-conception and external expectations as a regional security leader and its actual performance within the AU’s security mechanisms. Adopting a qualitative research design, the study relies exclusively on secondary data from scholarly literature, AU documents, official reports, and relevant institutional publications. Data were analysed using document analysis, qualitative content analysis, and process tracing. The findings reveal that escalating domestic insecurity, economic constraints, governance deficits, institutional weaknesses within the AU, and contested leadership among member states have significantly limited Nigeria’s capacity to fulfil its expected leadership role. The study finds that Nigeria has responded through adaptive strategies, including multilateral engagement via the AU and the Economic Community of West African States, support for the African Peace and Security Architecture, and domestic peacebuilding and governance reforms to restore role credibility. The study concludes that Nigeria’s effectiveness in advancing the AU’s peace and security agenda depends on aligning domestic stability, material capacity, and institutional reform with its traditional continental leadership role.