Fidel Abowei is a PhD Candidate at the University of Buckingham’s Center for Security and Intelligence Studies, where he is exploring the potency of attractive forms of influence intra-African relations by questioning what Nigeria’s sub-regional neighbors are willing to accept in terms of its soft power and how likely is it to yield tangible foreign policy outcomes. He is also a Principal Administrative Officer with the Office of the Special Adviser to the President on Niger Delta, which is saddled with the responsibility of disarming, demobilizing, and reintegrating ex-agitators in the oil-rich Niger Delta. He is the author of Oil and Violence: A Comparative Analysis of the Role of Oil in the South Sudan and Niger Delta Conflicts (2012).