Nigeria: Setting a Foreign Policy Agenda for the Buhari Presidency

opinion

In recent times, however, Nigeria has not pulled its weight at the continental level for various reasons, such as its inability to produce a coherent continental agenda, and its limited representation at the highest decision-making level of the AU. Perhaps, with the development of a coherent foreign policy strategy following the reappraisal of the existing overarching foreign policy strategy, Nigeria can effectively mobilise relevant resources to pursue its objectives.

Having won the presidential election of March 28, 2015, riding a on the wave of popular opinion pushing for positive change, the incoming administration of Muhammadu Buhari must accord due priority to foreign affairs. Beyond the obvious benefit of projecting a positive image of Nigeria to the outside world, and a desire to increase the country's trade and soft power, the crafting and implementation of a robust foreign policy strategy for the incoming government must be seen in the light of its utility in helping to achieve the administration's set domestic objectives. It is time for serious diplomacy, perhaps of a type that is unprecedented in Nigeria's history.

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