Space as a Fulcrum of Nigeria's External Relations and Regional Hegemony

Academic scholarship on Nigeria's space exploration is dominated by engineering, the natural sciences, and humanities. Thus, analysis of the country's space exploration is skewed toward the paradigms of these disciplines that social scientists, particularly political scientists and international relations experts like myself, might find too descriptive and technical. Against this background, I examine this question and its implications for the country's foreign policy and regional influence. In doing so, I analyze Abuja's advancement in space science and space-related bilateral and multilateral relations. I argue that Nigeria is one of the dominant players in Africa and that its benevolent leadership in the space regime is critical to solving the challenges on the continent that require space science and technology. (C) 2018 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.