The Jonathan Administration (2009-2015) and the Pursuit of Africa as the Centre Piece of Nigeria's Foreign Policy
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Date
2015
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Department of Sociology, Osun State University, Osogbo
Abstract
Successive administrations have impacted both positively and negatively on the nation's foreign policy. The regime of President Goodluck Jonathan was the fifth civilian administration in Nigeria which has made some impacts on Nigeria's Foreign Policy. This impact is more noticeable in African affairs. This study is concerned with assessing the impact of the J ona than administr a tion in the pursuit of Africa as the Centre Piece of Nigeria's Foreign Policy. The main objective is to find out whether Jonathan administration has used its foreign policy to impact positively or not on other African nations. Using the concentric circle theory, the paper examines the extent to which Nigeria has been able to relate with the sister African countries in layers approach without jeopardizing her national interest. In our analysis, the study is of the view that Nigeria has been able to pursue Africa as the Centre Piece of Nigeria 's Foreign Policy to some extent. However, the country still needs to put in a lot of commitment, political will, institutions building, ensure internal stability, tame the trend of insecurity and political differences in order to maintain firm focus in the pursuit of its foreign policy objectives. In addition, Nigeria still needs to concentrate more on its internal contradictions as this will improve its external image. This will in turn enable other countries especially South Africa to regard Nigeria as the leader of Africa. The work therefore concluded that Jonathan administration had made some impact on Nigeria foreign policy with particular emphasis on African affairs.
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Keywords
Foreign policy, National interests, Security, Peace