The Politics of Foreign Aid: Examining Nigeria’s Aid Reception and Conditionality from Western Donors

This study analyses the political economy of foreign aid flowing to Nigeria from Western bilateral donors, particularly the United States Agency for International Development (USAID) and the United Kingdom's Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office (FCDO), examining conditionality requirements and their implications for Nigerian sovereignty and development outcomes. Foreign aid has been a persistent feature of Nigeria's development landscape, yet debates continue about the effectiveness of aid conditionality in promoting governance reform and economic development. Drawing on dependency theory and aid effectiveness frameworks, this research investigates the content and implementation of conditionality attached to major aid programmes delivered to Nigeria between 2019 and 2024. The study focuses on three sectors: health, governance reform, and humanitarian assistance. A qualitative methodology is adopted, combining document analysis of aid agreements, parliamentary testimony, and donor evaluation reports with semi-structured interviews with civil society monitors and Nigerian government officials. It is anticipated that findings will show that conditionality has had mixed effects, advancing reform in some domains while generating political resistance and sovereignty tensions in others. The study contributes to the critical development studies literature and offers recommendations for designing more effective aid partnerships with Nigeria. Keywords: foreign aid, conditionality, Nigeria, USAID, development policy.