Foreign affairs minister Yusuf Tuggar has reiterated the federal government’s commitment towards realising Nigeria’s foreign policy objectives.

Mr Tuggar said this on Thursday in Abuja while delivering a lecture at the 2023 annual ceremony organised by the Association of Retired Career Ambassadors of Nigeria (ARCAN).

The lecture titled ‘The Nigerian Foreign Policy Agenda Under the Tinubu Administration’ was chaired by Anthony Asiwaju, a foremost scholar on border studies.

According to him, there are diverse thoughts by people who think that Nigeria does not have a foreign policy or the country needs to develop foreign policy objectives.

Mr Tuggar said, “As such, my starting point is to define foreign policy, which, in a nutshell, is the strategy or approach chosen by the national government to achieve its goals in its relations with external entities. At least, that is how International Relations theorist Steve Smith and his fellow travellers defined it: with regard to policy itself.

“I have always been pulled to Robert Dahl’s explanation that a policy is an attempt to cope with the future, not simply to account for the past. To be concerned with policy is to focus on the attempt to produce intended effects. Hence, policy is and must be causality thinking.

“Suffice it to say that President Bola Tinubu’s administration is committed to producing intended effects and is focused on causality thinking.”

He explained Nigeria’s foreign policy objectives, saying they existed and remained immovable because they are enshrined in the Constitution. The minister further said that the objectives are to promote and protect Nigeria’s national interest.

“To promote African integration and support African unity, promote international co-operation for the consolidation of universal peace and mutual respect among all nations and elimination of discrimination in all its manifestations.

“Bearing in mind that Nigeria’s Constitution is a purposive one and not simply regulative, there is more to do in terms of pro-activeness to deliver on these objectives. The Renewed Hope Agenda that catalogued Tinubu’s promises to Nigerians during the Presidential campaign further elucidated three objectives.

“To protect against all forms of external aggression; promote the best possible outcomes for Nigeria in all engagements with other nations; improve Nigeria’s standing and dignity among the comity of Nations,” he added.

The minister defined Nigeria’s foreign policy under Tinubu’s administration as focused on a ‘four-D diplomacy agenda’: democracy, development, demography and diaspora.

He described the 4Ds as strategic autonomy in an increasingly polarised global setting, as Nigeria sought to maintain its independence and freedom of choice to deal with all friendly nations. 

(NAN)