Nigerian politics matter at home and abroad, particularly for West Africa. Likewise, West Africa’s stability or otherwise matters and has real implications for Nigeria. Unlike the Muhammadu Buhari administration, Nigeria’s next president cannot afford to neglect foreign policy in favour of an overemphasis on domestic issues.
Editor’s note: This essay is available in our print issue, A Nation Divided. Buy the issue here.
As far back as 1977 when Ali Mazrui published his book, Africa’s International Relations, the prominent political writer and scholar described Nigeria as a country ‘on its way to becoming the first major black power in modern international politics’. At the time, Nigeria was famous for its non-alignment principle during the Cold War. After independence, the Tafawa Balewa administration repeatedly affirmed Nigeria’s vision for steering regional and continental growth, making Africa the focus of its foreign policy. To back this up, Nigeria’s first National Development Plan (1962-1968) was launched as part of an overall strategy to foster the country’s capacity to become, ‘the industrial heart of an African Common Market’.
What Balewa’s administration could not achieve due to its short-lived tenure (he was assassinated in 1966), the Yakubu Gowon administration (1966-75), after the Civil War, would partly bring to fruition...
This essay features in our print issue, ‘A Nation Divided' and is only available online to paying subscribers. To subscribe, buy a subscription plan here from N1,000 / month (students) and N3,500 / month (non-students). Already a subscriber? log in.