This chapter engages state-diaspora relations in Nigeria and South Africa, underlining the contributions of the Nigerian and South African diasporas to their respective countries’ national development. While there has been remarkable engagement between Nigeria’s government and its diaspora in the country’s democratic era, in South Africa, in contrast, the advent of democracy (majority rule) has been accompanied by the disengagement of the South African diaspora (the majority of whom are white) from the black-dominated government and, by extension, the home country. The implication of this is that while the Nigerian diaspora has contributed to national development—particularly through remittances and investment in the home country—the South African diaspora has contributed in a very limited way in this regard, owing to their discontentment with successive post-apartheid governments. While the Nigerian diaspora often demonstrates Afrocentrism and Afro-optimism, their South African counterparts tend to exhibit a degree of de-Afrocentrism and Afro-pessimism.