Nigeria in World Politics: Contemporary Calculations and Constraints

Abstract

There are three important interrelated issues presently identifiable in the continuing debate about Nigerian foreign policy. First, as reflected in the official and Aluko citations above, does Nigeria have the ‘power’ to exert a significant influence in contemporary international affairs? Second, as indicated in all three opening quotations, but especially in that of Ogunbadejo, is Nigerian policy effective, at either global, continental or regional levels? And third, given Nigeria’s political economy and development strategy, what should be the orientation or direction of its foreign policy in the mid-term future?

In a world economy that is basically reliant on oil, Nigeria’s economic and strategic importance is enormous … Increasingly, Nigeria’s wealth and position has immensely enhanced her political and strategic importance in Africa and world politics. A strong member of OPEC, a pioneer and stabilising force in the OAU, a member of the British Commonwealth of Nations, a dynamic member of the Non-Aligned Nations, a co-founder of ECOWAS, Nigeria is slowly but assuredly emerging as a major factor in the global power calculus.

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Clearly, the record of the military in the field of the country’s foreign relations is, in varying degrees, much better than that of the Balewa regime. But then, this could be explained to some extent by way of Lagos’ increased capability for influence. Its oil wealth, particularly in the years after the civil war, provided Nigeria with the economic base, and thus the confidence, to give more substance to its foreign policy of nonalignment.

Oye Ogunbadejo [2]

[On] the subject of my inaugural lecture—‘Necessity and Freedom in Nigerian Foreign Policy’—I shall say a few words why I have chosen it … The first is the lack of purpose and consistency in our foreign policy since the mid-seventies. The second has been the tendency of the Nigerian government and some powerful sections of the public to overestimate our ability to influence external events, and perhaps shape world events in our own image. An example of this was the recent statement of the Minister of External Affairs, Professor Ishaya Audu, that Nigeria was ‘longing to become a world super-power soonest’. The third is the psychological trait among Nigerian leaders and some sections of influential opinion-moulders that we have a great deal of freedom of manoeuvre in the conduct of our external relations.

Olajide Aluko [3]