27May 2019

THE CHARACTER OF NIGERIAN FOREIGN AND DEFENCE POLICIES FROM 1960-1999: CONTINUITY OR DISCONTINUITY IN POLICY AND LEADERSHIP APPROACHES.

Crossref Cited-by Linking logo

  • Abstract
  • Keywords
  • References
  • Cite This Article as
  • Corresponding Author

This paper delivers a general background study of Nigeria?s foreign and defence policies from 1960-1999. The paper argues that, the focus of Nigeria?s foreign and defence policies from 1960 to 1999 was dictated and conditioned by the prevalent internal and external threats to national security and the urge to be Africa?s security guarantor. Promoting democratic governance was not a major feature of policy since, immediately after independence, Nigeria was strongly focused on supporting the decolonisation of the African states through the instrumentality of the OAU. While most African countries were still under colonial rule, Nigeria?s strategic interests were primarily to support peace, decolonisation and economic development in Africa. The paper also notes that, over four decades of its external relations before the return to civilian rule in May 1999, the most visible employment of Nigeria?s armed forces in pursuit of the country?s foreign policy objectives was in support of various UN peacekeeping missions within the African continent and around the world. In addition to this, it is also argued that a central goal of Nigerian foreign and defence policies from 1966 to 1999, was to fulfil its ?manifest destiny? as a regional leader in sub-Saharan Africa, but not to promoting the democratisation of the African states. However, this paper makes use of a descriptive and historical approaches to analyse the salient characteristics of Nigerian foreign and defence policies before the return to the civilian government in 1999.

  1. Abba, M. (2013): ?Nigeria?s Foreign Policy.? 14 February. The leadership. At: http://allafrica.com/stories/201302140119.html, accessed on 14/02/2015.
  2. Abegunrin, O. (2001): A Survey of Nigerian Foreign Policy: 1960-1998. In: Ojo,
  3. Bamidele A. (ed.). Problems and Prospects of Sustaining Democracy in Nigeria.Huntington, New York: Nova Science Publishers Inc.
  4. Abegunrin, O. (2003): Nigerian Foreign Policy under Military rule, 1966-1999. USA: Greenwich Publishing Group, Inc.
  5. Ajibewa, A. (1998): The Third Republic and Nigeria?s Foreign Policy. In: Joko, Bamidele (ed.). Nigeria?s Third Republic: The Problems and Prospect in Transition of Civilian rule. New York: Nova Science Publishers, Inc., pp. 71-106.
  6. Aka, P. (2016): Human Rights in Nigeria\'s External Relations: Building the Record of a Moral Superpower. New York: Lexington Books.
  7. Akparu-Aja, A. (2003): The State and Military: Perspectives on Nigeria-USA Military Cooperation. The Institute of Defense Studies, 27(2): 250-262.
  8. Fawole, A. (2003): Nigeria?s External Relations and Foreign Policy under Military Rule, 1966-1999. Ile-Ife: ObafemiAwolowo University Press.
  9. Aluko, O. (1981): Essays on Nigeria?s Foreign Policy. London: George Allen and Unwin Limited.
  10. Anthony, K. (2013): The Nigerian Dependent management and Leadership Development in the Post world war II Colonial Nigeria. Bloomington: Author House.
  11. Babawale, T. (1997): Nigeria?s Defence Policy in the 90s: A Prospective Analysis. Ondo Journal of Arts and Social Sciences, 1(2): 140-146.
  12. Bassey, C. O. (2011): The Challenges of Military Statecraft in Nigeria. In Bassey, Celestine and Dokubo, Charles (eds.). Defence Policy of Nigeria: Capability and Context. A Reader. Bloomington: Author House, pp. xix-lii.
  13. Bassey, C. O. (1993): Defence Planning and the Nigerian Planning Modernization Process (1979-1991): An Institutional Analysis. Journal of Armed Forces and Society,19(2): 253-277.
  14. Cyril I. O. (2008): Nigeria\'s Foreign Policy and Transnational Security Challenges in West Africa. Journal of Contemporary African Studies, 26(2): 183-196.
  15. Dagne, T. (2005): Nigeria in Political Transition. Foreign Affairs, Defence, and Trade Division, Congressional Research Service. 5 June. At: https://www.fas.org/sgp/crs/row/IB98046.pdf [accessed 22/06/2015],
  16. Nwokeke P.O. et al. (2011): The Success and Shortcomings of Democratic Development in Nigeria from 1960-1999: An Overview. Journal of Politics and Law, 4(1): 166-174.
  17. Dudley, B.J. (1973): Instability and Political Order: Politics and Crisis in Nigeria. Ibadan: Ibadan University Press.
  18. Eghosa, O. (1998): Nigeria since Independence: Crippled Giant. London: C. Hurst and Co. (Publishers) Ltd.
  19. Emmanuel, O. (2014): The Military and the Challenge of Democratic Consolidation in Nigeria: Positive Scepticism and Negative Optimism, Journal of Military Strategic Studies, 15(4): 10-37. At http://www.jmss.org/jmss/index.php/jmss/article/viewFile/570/550 [accessed on 15/02/2015].
  20. Fawole, W. A. (2008): Militaries, Militias and Mullahs: National Security Issues in Nigeria?s Foreign Policy. In: Adebajo, Adekeye and Mustapha Abdul Raufu (eds.). Gulliver?s Troubles: Nigeria?s Foreign Policy after the Cold War. South Africa: University of KwaZulu-Natal Press, pp. 96-115.
  21. Friday, A. (2013): The Nature of Threats to Nigeria?s Defence in a Changing World Order: A Critical Analysis. Journal of the International Relations and Affairs Group, 3(1): 143-158.
  22. Gordon J. I. (1970): The Politics of Nigerian Foreign Policy: The Ratification and Renunciation of the Anglo Nigerian Defence Agreement. African Studies Review, 13(2): 227-251.
  23. Inamete, U. B. (2001): Foreign Policy Decision-making in Nigeria. London: Susquehanna University Press.
  24. Iroanya, R. (2008): Evolution and Nature of Nigerian Political Elites and the Realization of NEPAD?s Political Development Agenda. In: Nwonwu, F and Kotze, Dirk (eds.). African Political Elites: The Search for Democracy and Good Governance. South Africa: African Institute of South Africa, pp. 102-122.
  25. Kabia, J. (2009): Humanitarian Intervention and Conflict Resolution in West Africa: From ECOMOG to ECOMIL. Surrey, England: Ashgate Publishing Ltd.
  26. Mackintosh, J. P. (1963): Politics in Nigeria: The Action Group Crisis of 1962. Journal of Political Studies, 11(2): p. 126-155.
  27. Mathews, M. (2002): Nigeria: Current issues and Historical background. Hauppauge, New York: Nova Science Publishers, Inc.
  28. Nwanolue, B.O.G, &Iwuoha, V.C. (2012): A Reflection on Nigeria?s Past: Africa as the Centrepiece of Nigeria?s Foreign Policy Revisited. Developing Country Studies, 2(4): 76-85.
  29. Ojo, B. (1993): Problems and Prospects of Sustaining Democracy in Nigeria. New York: Nova Science Publishers.
  30. Omede, A. (2012): The Nigerian Military: Analysing Fifty Years of Defence and Internal Military and Fifty Years of Internal Security Operations in Nigeria (1960-2010). Journal of Social Science, 33(3): 293-303.
  31. Orobator, S.E. (1985): The Place of ideology in Anglo-Nigeria-Defence Agreement 1960-1962,? Journal of the Nigerian Political Science Association, 88-105.
  32. Osunyikanmi, A. (2011): Nigeria?s Armed Forces and Foreign Policy Challenges: Revisiting the Problems of Loss of Internal Cohesion and poor Public Image. British Journal of Art and Social Sciences, 3(2): 58-67.
  33. Oye, O. (1980): Nigeria?s Foreign Policy under Military Rule 1966-1979. International Journal,35(4): 748-765. At http://www.jstor.org/page/info/about/policies/terms.jsp accessed on 4/12/2014.
  34. Peters, J. (1997): The Nigerian Military and the State. New York: London,
  35. Tarija, A.? (2014) Continuities and Discontinuities in Nigerian Foreign Policy. International Journal of Development and Sustainability, 3(2): 286-305. At: http://isdsnet.com/ijds-v3n2-5.pdf, [accessed on 13/02/2015].
 

[Olukayode Bakare. (2019); THE CHARACTER OF NIGERIAN FOREIGN AND DEFENCE POLICIES FROM 1960-1999: CONTINUITY OR DISCONTINUITY IN POLICY AND LEADERSHIP APPROACHES. Int. J. of Adv. Res. 7 (May). 1278-1288] (ISSN 2320-5407). www.journalijar.com

Dr. Olukayode Bakare
Department of Politics and International Relations, School of Social Science, University of Aberdeen, United Kingdom

DOI:

Article DOI: 10.21474/IJAR01/9161      
DOI URL: https://dx.doi.org/10.21474/IJAR01/9161

Download Full Paper

Download PDF No. of Downloads: 77 | No. of Views: 254