The role of Nigeria in conflict resolution and peacekeeping efforts in Africa and other parts of the world cannot be overemphasised. The country has contributed more than 200,000 soldiers to peacekeeping missions around the world since independence. These efforts have earned it much respect in the council of nations and the recognition as being the ‘giant of Africa’. Also, Nigeria has been regarded as a ‘regional hegemon’ by some scholars because of its population size, comparatively large economic and human resources, and a bigger and well-equipped armed forces, equal in numerical strength to the armed forces of all the other countries in West Africa combined. The country played a very important role at spearheading the formation of the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) Ceasefire Monitoring Group (ECOMOG) in the 1990s. It has contributed the highest fund in defraying the costs of ECOMOG deployment to Liberia, Sierra Leone, Guinea-Bissau, Cote d’Ivoire and Mali. This study analyses the hegemonic tendencies of Nigeria in the sub-region of West Africa. It argues that although the country is the most populous and the biggest economy in the sub-region but it does not possess the military, economic and the international support to function as a hegemonic power in West Africa.

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尼日利亚与次区域西非的冲突解决：寻求区域霸权？

尼日利亚在非洲和世界其他地区解决冲突和维持和平努力中的作用不可过分强调。自独立以来，该国已向世界各地的维持和平特派团派遣了200,000多名士兵。这些努力在国际委员会中赢得了极大的尊重，并被公认为是“非洲巨人”。另外，由于尼日利亚人口众多，经济和人力资源比较大，装备精良的武装力量（在数量上与其他所有武装力量均等），因此被一些学者视为“区域霸权”西非国家合计。该国在牵头组建1990年代西非国家经济共同体（ECOWAS）停火监测小组（ECOMOG）方面发挥了非常重要的作用。它为支付西非监测组向利比里亚，塞拉利昂，几内亚比绍，科特迪瓦和马里的费用提供了最高的资金。这项研究分析了尼日利亚在西非次区域的霸权倾向。它认为，尽管该国是该分地区人口最多，最大的经济体，但它没有军事，经济和国际支持，无法在西非充当霸权国。