NIGERIAN GOVERNMENT AND POLITICS MODULE 10 Nigeria’s Foreign Policy and International Relations

Fri, 04 Sep 2026 12:14:26 +0000

Foreign policy is a nation's strategic external plan aimed at advancing its national interests and values in the global system. For Nigeria, a key actor on the African continent and a significant player in global politics, foreign policy reflects a complex web of economic, political, military, diplomatic, and cultural relations with other states and international organizations.
This module seeks to unpack the philosophical foundations, objectives, institutional actors, historical trajectories, key events, regional and global alliances, and contemporary challenges that shape Nigeria’s foreign policy.
II. CONCEPTUAL FRAMEWORK: FOREIGN POLICY AND INTERNATIONAL RELATIONS
A. FOREIGN POLICY:
Foreign policy is the set of strategies and decisions a state uses in dealing with other countries to protect its sovereignty, promote economic interests, enhance security, and project national ideology.
B. INTERNATIONAL RELATIONS:
The broader academic and practical study of how countries interact, including diplomacy, conflict, trade, security cooperation, globalization, and participation in multilateral institutions.