FOREIGN POLICY ASINSTRUMENT OF PROMOTING NIGERIA'S NATIONAL INTEREST: SETTING AGENDA FOR TINUBU ADMINISTRATION

Abstract

Since independence, successive administrations in Nigeria had been grappling with the challenges of formulating and implementing appropriate foreign policy for Nigeria. A combination of domestic impediments as well as external encumbrances have continued to limit the extent to which Nigerian foreign policy can promote national interest. The paper examines the major problems and challenges of Nigerian foreign policy with a view to assisting President Tinubu to chat a new foreign policy trajectory for Nigeria. The paper is predicated on the realist theory, adopts a descriptive and explanatory methods of analysis and relies on secondary sources of mining data. The paper notes that, although the Buhari administration recorded modest success in foreign policy, however wrong policy choices made by the administration had adverse consequences for Nigerian economic growth, political cohesion and international standing and prestige. Against this background, the paper recommends that the Tinubu administration should embrace a new paradigm and set a new agenda for Nigerian foreign policy in the specific areas of economic diplomacy, regional integration and security cooperation, among others. It concludes that it is only bytaking advantage of Nigeria's abundant natural and human resource potentials that the Tinubu administration can make remarkable impact in foreign policy.