The Constitution and Foreign Policy Making in Nigeria, 1960-1999

Abstract

The aim of this paper is to examine the successive Constitutions of the Federal Republic of Nigeria since independence with a view of finding out the relationship between constitutional provisions and Nigeria’s foreign policy. The Constitution of any country is the ground norm that delineates the legal regime and fundamental principles of state policy. The foreign policy principles’ component spells out the philosophical and ideological trajectories of the foreign policy vision and orientation. Similarly, in the case of Nigeria, foreign policy principles also reflect the philosophical, political and ideological vision of the country, especially as it pertains to Africa and the global affairs. We argue that there has been a progressive improvement in the constitutional provisions for foreign policy making in Nigeria from the First Republic to date. The paper opines that certain constitutional provisions relating to foreign policy are guides for developing strategies and frameworks for foreign policy making important domestic and external environments contemporary global social, political and economic realities mainstreamed in the pursuit of foreign policy. The provisions of successive Nigerian constitutions have been the major reference documents for this paper, in addition to few other documents.