Nigerian foreign policy and economic development, 1999–2013

Since independence, the guiding principle of Nigeria’s foreign policy and the pursuit of its national interests, in both its bilateral and its multilateral relations, have remained a reflection of its perception of the international environment. A constant feature that has remained central to Nigeria’s foreign policy architecture has been Africa, with preoccupations concerning fighting colonialism, apartheid and the discrimination of black peoples in the African continent and elsewhere in the world. Moreover, in all of those endeavors, Nigeria is argued to have never benefited from its external relations with states and nonstate actors alike. However, in 1988, Nigeria officially announced its commitment to economic diplomacy, a result of the lingering economic crisis and structural adjustment program at the time. This essentially led to not only certain shifts in the analysis of Nigeria’s foreign policy after 1988, but also a recap that also triggered a review of current policies in the Fourth Republic, which raised the following question: can Nigerian foreign policy be said to be consistent with economic development or does it more or less remain altruistic in character and essence? The focus of this article therefore, is first of all, to explore the connection between foreign policy and economic development, and the role that foreign policy should play in guaranteeing a nation’s development. Secondly, the article further examines Nigeria’s foreign policy in the Fourth Republic (from 1999 to 2013) with a view to noting if there has been any critical shift in Nigeria’s African-centered altruistic foreign policy to that of economic well-being and development. Thirdly, the article is a conscious effort to steer (in case of any laxity) Nigeria’s foreign policy toward economic growth and development and the well-being of the citizenry.