Economic Adversity and Nigeria's Collapsing Empire in Africa

Abstract: Based on major indicators both from national and external sources, it is evidently clear that the level of economic performance in Nigeria is less than satisfactory though the potential for it to do better after some efforts has not been doubted. The current less-than-satisfactory performance of the economy has many implications for the Nigerian state and the citizens. One area that is often ignored in analyzing the consequences of the downturn in the economy is external relations. Despite the honest and repeated submissions of President Buhari on the stress that the country’s foreign policy is passing through on account of the economic hard times in the country, only a few have taken note of it as more external responsibilities are being anticipated for the nation to discharge, including being a father Christmas to ECOWAS, not minding the little returns that the nation is recording from participating in its activities. This paper sets out to examine how the poor state of the national economy has negatively affected the realization of the objectives of the country’s external relations especially with respect to Nigeria’s policy towards Africa. The objective of the effort is to raise the consciousness in Nigeria’s foreign policy making environment about the dangers that Nigeria will face if she continues to withdraw or relegate African affairs in her list of priorities based on the bad signals coming from her economy. Meanwhile, the paper tentatively concludes that a lot of strategic/security cum economic consequences await Nigeria should she continue to relegate continent in her external pursuits taking a bearing from the economy. It thus recommends that the country’s political leadership should get more serious with the task of revamping the nation’s economy to make it a strong propeller of a vibrant and robust foreign policy agenda in Africa. Both primary and secondary sources of data guided the effort.

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