The Elusive Promise of Tinubu’s 4D Doctrine

President Bola Ahmed Tinubu’s first year in office shows a gap between his ambitious ‘4D’ foreign policy goals and Nigeria's challenging domestic realities, emphasizing the need for a balanced, more coherent strategy to restore Nigeria’s global standing.

President Bola Ahmed Tinubu marked his first year in office on 29 May 2024. In that time, his administration has been marked by significant contradictions regarding his foreign policy approach. Between the disparities in the domestic realities of Nigerians and the president’s lofty foreign policy objectives, the highly stylized but often fruitless engagements with foreign dignitaries, and the pellucid yet seldom understood 4D foreign policy doctrine, one question pops out: what exactly has been Tinubu’s foreign policy approach one year into his tenure?

The answer to this question lies in a robust analysis of Nigeria’s position in the global space, as well an appraisal of the effectiveness of its diplomatic strategies. In highlighting these, it will become more apparent that Tinubu’s policies have a lot of promise but have been hampered by a scatter gun approach towards domestic issues. While Femi Amele, a prominent radio personality and commentator on national foreign policy and foreign affairs pointed out to me that ‘one year in office is not enough time to see significant strides with regards to Tinubu’s foreign policy objectives,’ I believe that the inertia observed on the foreign stage is as a result of poor socio-economic planning on the domestic front...