Afrobeats and National Identity: How Contemporary Nigerian Pop Music Shapes Pan-Nigerian Consciousness

This research examines how Afrobeats, Nigeria's globally recognised contemporary popular music genre, contributes to the construction and reinforcement of pan-Nigerian national identity. As Nigeria navigates persistent ethnic divisions and regional tensions, popular music has emerged as a unifying cultural force transcending ethnic and linguistic boundaries. This study investigates the thematic content of selected Afrobeats songs released between 2020 and 2025, focusing on lyrical references to Nigerian pride, unity, and collective aspiration. Content analysis is applied to lyrics and music video imagery from 30 purposively selected songs by leading artists from diverse ethnic backgrounds. Supplementary data are gathered through focus group discussions with 40 undergraduate students from universities across Lagos, Abuja, and Port Harcourt, representing South West, North Central, and South South zones respectively. The study is theorised using Benedict Anderson's concept of imagined communities and recent scholarship on popular music and nationalism in Africa. Findings are expected to reveal that Afrobeats functions simultaneously as a vehicle of national pride and as a commercial product whose nationalist messaging is sometimes superficial. Recommendations will address the need for music policy frameworks that deliberately support culturally unifying artistic production in Nigeria. Keywords: Afrobeats, national identity, Nigerian music, popular culture, pan-Nigerian consciousness.