Chapter 6: Results
6.1 Processing results
Having considered the internal factors/determinants that shaped the formulation of Nigeria’s foreign policy, the external factors/determinants which also shaped Nigeria’s foreign policy are discussed below.
3.4.1. Cold War Crisis
The Cold War as mentioned in the preceding chapter refers to the era of high tension competitiveness and bitter rivalry between the Eastern and Western power blocs led by the Soviet Union and the United States respectively. The Cold War crisis ensued shortly after World War Two and ended in 1990 with the collapse of the Soviet Union. This however is not the focus of this chapter; our focus here is to discuss, albeit briefly, how the cold war situation influenced Nigeria’s foreign policy. Nigeria as earlier observed became independent in 1960 – in a period when the cold war crisis became the defining factor in international politics – the political divisiveness it engendered within the global system gives credence to this assertion.
As a newly independent state with virtually no experience about the intricacies of the international system, Nigeria, cognizant of the Cold War situation and its ominous agenda, took an official position which the country’s foreign policy decision makers felt was the most
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appropriate for Nigeria. It was therefore in recognition of this ideological crisis - cum Cold War between the dramatis personae – the East and the West that necessitated Nigeria’s resolve to declare a non-align policy on the cold war situation.
Nigeria’s position was captured in the acceptance speech which was delivered by the Nigerian Prime Minister, Sir Abubakar Tafawa Balewa on October 7 1960 before the UN General Assembly. On his country’s stance on the cold war crisis, He stated: “we do not intend to align ourselves as a matter of routine with any power blocs”51 The Nigerian leader gave some explanations to his country’s stance on the crisis citing its relative lack of experience on the field of international politics; its readiness to learn it; and its unwillingness to rush into it. He went on to say that: “We are willing to learn before we rush into the field of international politics…”
the Prime Minister stated further that Nigeria was “totally unwilling to be diverted from the ideals which we think true.”52 To him the existence of bloc politics in the United Nations was a contradiction in terms which he (Balewa) abhorred. He maintained: “…indeed I hate the very idea of blocs existing at all in the United Nations – it seems to me to be a contradiction in terms.”53The argument presented so far demonstrates that the Cold War played an integral part in the formulation of Nigeria’s foreign policy. Even though Nigeria was never aligned to any of the power blocs in ideological sense, it was economically tied to the British and Americans.
3.4.2. Colonial situation in Africa
The colonial situation especially in the Southern African region created a sense of consciousness for Nigerian foreign policy framers so much more that the country had to take a stand on the issue right from the time of its independence. As at the time of Nigeria’s independence, the Southern African region was still under the grip of white racist regimes that initiated and
51See. Prime Minister, A Selection of Speeches Made by Alhaji (Sir) Abubakar Tafawa Balewa, Prime Minister of the Federal Republic of Nigeria, 1960-1966, Nigerian National Press Ltd, Apapa, Lagos, Nigeria, 1964 p. 55
52Ibid
53Ibid
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enacted various oppressive and suppressive colonial policies; the most extreme being the draconian apartheid policy in South-Africa. It was against this background therefore that Nigeria declared its readiness to help in the attainment of political independence for African countries still under colonial rule.
This commitment was cogently captured in the inaugural address of the first Nigerian prime minister under the new political dispensation, Sir AbubakarTafawaBalewa which he delivered to the UN General Assembly on 7th October, 1960. He stated amongst other things that:
“Nigeria hopes to work with other African states for the progress of Africa and to assist in bringing all African territories to a state of responsible independence.”54The above declaration underpinned Nigeria’s foreign policy behaviour on issues of anti-colonialism, racism, and decolonization in the years which followed.
3.4.3. Pan African Movement
Pan Africanism as noted in the preceding chapter originated from the Caribbean towards the end of the 19th century. The pan-African movement played an important role in stocking the fire of anti-colonialism, the political wind which brought independence to Africa. How then did this movement influence Nigeria’s post-independence foreign policy? Claude Philips gave an answer to this when he argued that before Nigeria’s independence thought had been given to foreign policy as one of Nigeria’s frontline nationalist, Dr Nnamdi Azikwe, who later became Nigeria’s ceremonial president at independence had for twenty-five years been in the forefront in preaching Pan-Africanism. The pan-Africanist consciousness of Azikiwe and other Nigerian leaders formed part of the factors that influenced Nigeria’s post-independence foreign policy.
This view was advanced by Otunla (2005:313) that “the cardinal principles of Pan-Africanism…inform Nigeria’s foreign policy.” Thus far we have concentrated on the determinant factors of Nigeria’s foreign policy; the next section will be devoted to Nigeria’s foreign policy discourse and analysis under each administration.
54Ibid
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