The Domestic Environment and Nigeria’s Foreign Policy (1960-2025)

Abstract

The nexus between a nation’s internal health and its external behaviour is rarely as visible or as volatile as it is in Nigeria. Since Independence, Nigeria’s posture on the world stage has been fundamentally tethered to the shifting sands of its domestic landscape. While the nation has often been described as a Giant of Africa, the stride of that giant has historically been dictated by the stability of its home soil and the evolving definition of its national interest. The study sought to appraised thematically the extent to which political stability and pursuit of domestic national interest have been reflected in Nigeria’s external engagement of the various administration in Nigeria from 1960 to 2025. The theoretical framework adopted for the study was the linkage theory. The utility of the theory to the discourse, is that, it highlights or reveal how domestic pressures have consistently dictated the country’s external posture. The findings from the study reveal among other things that when domestic politics are stable, Nigeria acts as a “Big brother” in Africa, when internal stability falters, the nation’s external engagement becomes a search for “life support”, seeking loans, weapons and international validation. The study recommended that for Nigeria to regain its status as a pivotal global actor, its eternal engagements must be rooted in a recalibrated domestic foundation, since foreign policy is no longer a tool for prestige but an instrument for solving internal instabilities, economic and social that have historically hindered its global reach.