Abstract

This study examines the interface between the Commonwealth integration and Nigerian foreign policy. The thrust of the study however is to ascertain whether the enthronement of democracy in Nigeria has significantly impacted on Nigeria’s Common-wealth economic relations. The study also investigates the extent to which the frameworks of democracy have enabled the Commonwealth impact on social welfare in Nigeria. Relying on Dependency theory derived from the political economy paradigm which focuses on the socio-economic dynamics of metropolitan and peripheral countries the study argues that the developing countries are still tied to the apron string of their former imperial master in a more subtle manner than was the case during the period of naked and direct colonialism, and as such, the benefits of international economic relations between the two sets
of countries are distributed asymmetrically in favour of the metropolitan countries.
This continued asymmetry in the distribution of benefits, the study maintains,
forms a basically exploitative relationship between the dominant and dependent states. Adopting observational technique and depending on secondary sources, relevant data were generated and analyzed. On the basis of this, the study unveiled that though the frameworks of democracy have positively improved the Commonwealth – Nigeria relations, such have neither enhanced significantly the economic relations with Nigeria nor contributed in improving social welfare of the citizenry. Therefore, granting that the Commonwealth of Nations comprise sovereign countries that use the framework of the organization to pursue their national interest unmindful of the interest of other members, the study maintains that the developing member countries of the Commonwealth should synchronize their interests and as such foster and enhance relations among them also.

CHAPTER ONE
INTRODUCTION
1.1 Introduction
Historically, the Commonwealth was an evolutionary outgrowth of the British
Empire. However, though the evolution of the organization started in 1867 when Canada attained dominion status, it was rather in 1931 when the statute of Westminster was passed that the organization was known as the British Commonwealth of Nations (Osuntokun, 2001: 56).
The Commonwealth of Nations is a free association of sovereign states
comprising Great Britain and a number of its former dependencies who had chosen to maintain ties of friendship and practical cooperation and who acknowledged the British Monarch as the symbolic head of their association. Thus, the ties that bind the Commonwealth are highly diverse. Blood ties provide sentimental attachments to Britain while common judicial and educational systems as well as the use of the English Language as official language provide strong ties for others. These ties were
further cemented and strengthened by trade and investment, currency agreements, population, migrations and sports. The informal links between the countries of the Commonwealth were further consolidated when in 1965 a Commonwealth Secretariat was established in London and a lean bureaucracy was developed to assist the Secretary-General of the Commonwealth in responding to questions of peace,
democracy and development, particularly in the developing member countries in Asia, Pacific, Africa and the Caribbean. Therefore, what began as Great Britain and the white dominions has gradually metamorphosed into a multiracial Commonwealth of fifty-four nations and territories. Nigeria, upon attaining political independence in 1960, automatically and
almost naturally acceded to the Commonwealth of Nations, and in 1963 became a republic within the Commonwealth of Nations also. Since then, the Commonwealth of Nations has played significant roles particularly in helping Nigeria to preserve her territorial integrity. Nigeria, due to her Commonwealth ties generously received technical support from Canada and the United Kingdom. The Commonwealth Development Corporation also has substantial investment in Nigeria. On the other hand, Nigeria, as a result of vast financial resources coming from petroleum also began to extend financial support to some indigent Commonwealth countries in the Caribbean. The country, within the same period, also increased the number of scholarships available to Commonwealth students in her universities (Ogwu, 2003:13).

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