Understanding Africa’s place in this current multipolar world requires a quick trip down memory lane through the eyes of its largest nation, Nigeria.
Nigeria has been largely absent as a major foreign policy player in Africa for the best part of a decade. Under Muhammadu Buhari, its president from 2015 to 2023, Nigeria has become increasingly insular and irrelevant as an actor on the global stage.
President Bola Tinubu, who took over in May, is hoping to make Nigeria internationally relevant again. The recent coup in Niger and his position as chair of the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) provided an early opportunity to stake out his position. International allies such as the European Union and the United States have signalled their willingness to work with a potentially reinvigorated Nigeria.
To achieve this, Tinubu would have to learn from the past. Buhari’s inward-looking approach was a marked departure from the height of Nigeria’s foreign policy relevance during the presidency of Olusegun Obasanjo (1999 to 2007).
Nigeria pursued a muscular …read more
Source:: German Institute for International and Security Affairs
