The ethno-regional and religious drivers of Nigeria's foreign policy

Abstract

The stated objectives of Nigeria’s foreign policy consistently retain Afrocentric, realistic, and post-colonial aspirations of the country, although their interpretations and implementations inconsistently reflect the patrimonial nature of the state, plurality and identity politics, as well as rational-choice and sentiments of its leadership. Accordingly, foreign policy decisions in Nigeria like many other countries are shaped by multiple factors, including personality, bureaucratic politics, structural issues, and value system of the country. Amidst these is the identity forces of ethnicity, regions, religion, and their interconnectivity, which are central in domestic politics and policy, but underestimated in Nigeria’s foreign policy. This article, therefore, aims to examine the ethno-regional and religious drivers of foreign policy in Nigeria. Relying on secondary sources of data, the article explores these drivers of Nigeria’s foreign policy processes and filters them through the lens of realism, rational-choice, pluralism and critical (Marxist, dependency and Afrocentric) theories.