Cultural Diplomacy, Nollywood, and the Construction of Nigerian Soft Power in the Global South

Nigeria's film industry, known globally as Nollywood and headquartered substantially in Anambra State's creative community, represents one of Africa's most potent instruments of cultural diplomacy, projecting Nigerian stories, values, and aesthetics to audiences across Africa, the African diaspora, and beyond. Despite its commercial scale and cultural reach, Nollywood's contribution to Nigeria's formal soft power strategy remains undertheorized and institutionally underutilized. This study, based at Nnamdi Azikiwe University, Awka, examines how Nollywood functions as an instrument of Nigerian cultural diplomacy, analyzing its reception, diplomatic implications, and policy environment between 2020 and 2024. A qualitative approach is employed, incorporating interviews with Nollywood producers, distributors, and cultural diplomacy officials at Nigeria's Ministry of Foreign Affairs and its diplomatic missions in Kenya, South Africa, and Ghana. Content analysis of selected Nollywood films and their international reception narratives complements interview data. The analytical framework draws on soft power theory, cultural hegemony, and the emerging literature on Afri-centered diplomacy. Findings reveal that Nollywood generates substantial goodwill for Nigeria among African audiences, contributing to a positive perception of Nigerian culture and creativity; however, this informal cultural influence is not systematically leveraged by Nigeria's foreign policy apparatus. Nigerian diplomatic missions lack coordinated cultural programming that connects Nollywood's global reach to specific diplomatic objectives. The study recommends a national creative industries diplomacy framework that institutionalizes Nollywood as a pillar of Nigeria's soft power strategy. Keywords: cultural diplomacy, Nollywood, soft power, Nigeria, Global South