INTERNATIONAL RELATIONS PROJECT TOPICS AND MATERIALS

Nigeria the most populous country on the African continent only came into existence in its present form in 1914 when the two protectorates of Northern and Southern Nigeria were amalgamated by Sir Fredrick Lugard. The name Nigeria was first suggested in an article for the Times that the several British protectorates on the Niger be known as Nigeria1. The history of Nigeria as it is today goes back more than two thousand years. The earlier history of its peoples is contained in myths and legend, for north only, where the Kanuri and Hausa came into contact with the Arabs there any records noticed before the nineteenth country. One can say. However, reconstruct something of the history of Africa or Nigeria political division from archaeological research, which has greatly advanced in the last decades.2

The study examines the rules and implications of the World Trade Organization on Nigerian trade. The study has the following objectives; To examine the Implication of World Trade Organization rules on Nigerian trade, To examine the effect of trade liberalization on Nigerian trade.

The Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) is a regional economic community set up in 1975 for the purpose of economic integration and the purpose of raising the standard of living of its people. From the foregoing, it is apparent that the founders of ECOWAS never contemplated the nature of security challenges that would confront the sub-region in the international politics of the late 1980s and 1990s. Thus, the original treaty focused on the issues of “Settlement of Disputes” which they envisaged could arise from the interpretation of application of the Treaty and not as a result of deadly Internal Conflicts. (Joseph 2014:108).

This study examines the conflict in Niger Delta region of Nigeria. The region is blessed with oil and mineral resources that have continued to draw attention in the oil industry since the discovery of oil in commercial quantity in the mid 1950’s. The exclusion of the area from the benefits of the oil appears to have fueled the crisis of agitation by the people of the region. The project work takes as its baseline, the examination of the Niger Delta people and pre-modern conflict era, oil exploration and conflict in the region, the nature of the crisis and its dimension. Also, the effort at resolving the crisis form military option to amnesty programme. A critical look at post-amnesty programme.

Disasters present a broad range of human, social, financial, economic and environmental impacts, with potentially long-lasting, multi-generational effects. In addition to causing direct damage to lives, buildings and infrastructure, they produce indirect damage with the potential for cascading and systemic effects such as business interruption, loss of employment and output, decreased tax revenues, impaired institutional capacities and a rise in poverty levels.

Background to the Study Over the years, conflicts have been ravaging the black continent of Africa. These have been associated by violence, civil strife and incessant killings (Afisi 2009 and Afolabi 2009). The most dominant actors in this conflict are usually youths. These conflicts are usually accompanied with inccessant destruction of lives and property, huge economic loss, spread of endemic diseases, massive displacement of people and huge refugee crisis. The proliferation of small arms and light weapons, human and drug trafficking, illegal exploitation of natural resources and banditry can be categorised as other issues relating to conflicts and violence among youths (Afolabi 2009). No wonder Schmidt (2016) postulated that Africa brings an image of a continent in crisis, embedded with war and corruption, and imploding from disease and starvation. In Nigeria, various violent conflict situations have erupted and the causes or sources have also been numerous. Take for example, between 1967 and 1970 the ethnic and cultural diversity of many Nigerians came to manifest into what was known as the Biafran civil war. Additionally, Nigeria has experienced at least four main military coups among general socio-political and economic inequalities. Other sources of conflict in Nigeria include the high level of mass discontent from the high rate of unemployment among youths, low standard of living, marginalisation of the masses, emasculation of labour and many other unresolved socia

Foreign policy has become a useful component that defines relations between and amongst states. Generally, we may say, a country‟s foreign policy thrust bottles the totality of the acts, strategies and manipulations by a given state in her process of launching her domestic resolve in the international arena. Chibundu (2003:1) crisply notes that foreign policy is “a country‟s response to the world outside or beyond its own frontiers or boundaries. Such response may indeed be friendly or aggressive, casual or intense, simple or complex, but it is always there.” This means that the said „response‟ which critically requires a dependable and accurate means of attainment has a vital quality. That is why it is generally accepted, both in theory and practice, that in relations with one another, nations should vigorously pursue their national interests and seek to protect it at whatever cost. Certainly, a nation‟s foreign policy is the political instrument or technical framework upon which it pursues its domestic interest.

The purpose of this study is to examine the role of Nigeria in the formation of regional organization (ECOWAS) considering the need for West Africa to have a regional organization with common goals and the formative years of ECOWAS. This research also examine the Nigeria’s interest in ECOWAS and the successes/challenges of the regional organization. Data was obtained from the secondary sources like Journals, textbooks, internet and all other secondary sources. More data were also gathered through interviews. The data obtained was analyzed using thematic format and a descriptive essay and the result revealed that Nigeria played a major role in the formation of ECOWAS because their special interest is in regional and borderless organization uniting the West African countries to improve trade and transportation with an introduction of common currency. Nigeria has played a leading role in funding the organization.

The Yoruba stretch on the West from around the area of Badagry to Warri and Inland until they almost reach the Niger around latitude 9oN. Indeed, certain parts of the Niger formed the boundary between it and Nupe. Around latitude 5oN, they spread Westwards cutting across the whole of Dahomey and reaching into the East of Togo. From the coast, the country rises gradually from low-lying swampy regions with thick undergrowth to forest belt and finally semi or derived Savannah, which in Port Novo (Ajase) reaches almost to the coast. The weather is fairly stable, with two clearly defined seasons in the year, the rainy season and the dry season.

The city of Kano has been famed to be one of the most advanced cities in pre-colonial Northern Nigeria, being probably the largest urban centre in Sudanic West Africa in the nineteenth century (jihad), oral traditions of its origins suggest that it was founded between A.D. 1000 and 1200 during which period centralized political authority evolved. The oral tradition is based on the legendary Bayagida.2