Nnadiebube Journal of Philosophy

Over the years, the European Union (EU) in partnership with the US has acted as the watchdog of democratization and democratic consolidations around the world. Leaders of other nations have been verbally reprimanded by EU leaders for the latter’s perceived anti-democratic policies. Also, EU leaders have on many occasions joined the US in wars, preemptive strikes, regime changes, economic sanctions, travel bans and other punitive actions aimed at promoting democracy around the globe. This is generally true in Africa and particularly in Nigeria because unlike other parts of the world colonized by European powers, European influence in Africa, especially over African leaders is still overwhelming. However, unlike her attitude towards other African countries, the Europe Union has been particularly reluctant to come down hard on Nigerian leaders even when the latter are involved in flagrant violation of democratic principles. Thus, this study examined EU-Nigeria relations and democratic consolidation in Nigeria. Specifically, the paper employs the documentary method and concept analysis to investigate which between economic interest and democratic consolidation has overriding influence in EU’s policy towards Nigeria. The study revealed that democratic consolidation is a significant determinant of EU’s policies towards Nigeria. However, it further revealed that the logic of economic necessity and security overrides EU’s democratic interests in Nigeria and that is why the Union failed to act against Nigeria in spite of the anti-democratic attitudes of the government. Based on this, the study recommended that the civil society and other private institutions in Nigeria interested in democratic consolidation should not overly rely on help from the EU but should depend more on what they can do on their own to promote democratic consolidation because EU like other players in the international arena are driven by self-interest in their policies

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