New perspectives to Nigeria’s foreign policy towards China

Abstract

This study focused on the new perspectives to Nigeria's foreign policy towards China. It assessed the opportunities presented by the rise of China for Nigeria's foreign and domestic policies. This was with a view to identify strategies that can accommodate the growing power of China while consolidating the gains of Nigeria's interactions with the Western powers. The central argument is that Nigeria need to restructure its foreign policy to accommodate the new realities of China's emergence as a global economic power. Explicating this new frontier in foreign policy administration in the context in which Nigeria has traditionally focused on Western Europe and North America in her foreign policy outlook constitutes the main problematic of this study. This study relied on primary and secondary sources. The sample size used for the interview was 25 respondents. Since the study is a qualitative research, the descriptive method of data analysis was employed. The study among other things reveals that: the constraints imposed by Nigeria's near-total reliance on the policy directives of the leading Western economies since the beginning of the 21st century adversely affected its pace of development; and that the nature of Nigeria's economy is partly a function of some of its unsuccessful domestic and foreign policies. It concludes that there is a dire need to restructure Nigeria's foreign policy.