Volume 1 - Issue 4, November - December 2025

Nigeria’s public policy space is increasingly defined by a persistent dilemma: how to preserve sovereign authority over domestic development priorities while participating credibly in regional and global integration regimes. This paper analyzes how globalization reshapes Nigeria’s policy autonomy across four governance arenas trade and border management, regional and continental integration commitments, industrial policy, and digital regulation. Using a qualitative, theory-guided approach grounded in negotiated sovereignty, the globalization trilemma, embedded liberalism, and the policy space perspective, the study explains why Nigeria frequently combines integration-oriented reforms with periodic sovereignty-forward interventions. The paper finds that this tension is driven less by a rejection of integration than by distributional politics, institutional capacity constraints, credibility challenges, and sequencing problems that make openness politically fragile when adjustment mechanisms and enforcement capabilities lag behind commitments. The paper argues that Nigeria can reduce policy volatility through a strategic sovereignty approach that emphasizes predictable rule-based engagement, precision enforcement over broad restrictions, performance-based industrial upgrading, and balanced digital governance that protects rights while enabling cross-border exchange. The study contributes to debates on African political economy and public policy by demonstrating that sustainable integration depends on aligning external obligations with domestic capability, legitimacy, and developmental objectives.