CHATHAM HOUSE AND NIGERIA’S FOURTH REPUBLIC

INTERNATIONAL VALIDATION OR NATIONAL SUBJUGATION?

Abstract

Chatham House officially known as the Royal Institute of International Affairs is an independent policy institute based in London, the United Kingdom founded in 1920, to provide commentary on world events and offer solutions to global challenges. This institute has been turned into a place of pilgrimage by the Nigerian political elites since its return to democracy in 1999 and became more obvious in the build-up to 2015 general elections. This paper therefore examines the importance of Chatham House to Nigeria’s democratic development and interrogates the rationale for this electioneering bazaar especially in Nigeria’s Fourth Republic. The paper relies on the use of primary and secondary sources to drive home its arguments. The primary sources involve oral interviews and newspaper reports while secondary sources consist of relevant materials from literature, newspapers, journals and books. The paper argues that despite that Chatham House podium has graced very important world speakers; Nigerian political elites go there to seek international validation of their aspirations and not for international discourse. It further argues that this act of political elites is in furtherance of neo-colonialism and national subjugation. The paper reveals that Nigerian political elites only visit Chatham House as a form of personal aggrandizementand not necessarily for policy formulation or problem solving as there are suitable avenue for such discourse in Nigeria, which is more accessible to the Nigerian voting populace. The paper recommends that the National Institute of International Affairs and the National Institute of Policy and Strategic Studies are better podia for Nigerian political elites to address its problems and proffer solutions, rather than seeking international validation in London, thereby, subjugating its national sovereignty.