CONTINUITY OR CHANGE? NIGERIAN FOREIGN POLICY DURING BUHARI'S FIRST TERM

Purpose: President Buhari, on assumption of duty, inherited a battered Nigerian foreign policy and national imagery. The recurring issues of terrorism, kidnapping, banditry, and more prevalently, national corruption dealt the Nigerian foreign policy and external relations a great blow. The culmination of the implications of the aforementioned national issues and contradictions for Nigerian foreign policy came in the wake of most developed states’ refusal to sell ammunitions to the Nigerian government in its counterinsurgency and anti-terrorism campaigns. Design/Methodology/Approach: Relying on descriptive qualitative research technique, this study critically examines the extent to which the prevailing internal national paralysis had affected Nigerian foreign policy and external relations under President Muhammadu Buhari’s administration between 2015 and 2019. Findings: Findings elicited through In-depth and Key Informant Interviews and analyzed thematically through content analysis, further reveal that Nigerian foreign policy under President Muhammadu Buhari has been heavily counter-productive as exemplified in previous administrations. The issues of national insecurity occasioned by the multiplicity of Boko Haram Insurgency, banditry, kidnapping, separatist insurrections coupled with rising economic inflation, rising food prices have all combined to negatively affect the effectiveness of Nigerian foreign policy under President Muhammed Buhari’s administration. Practical Implications: A thorough and pragmatic resolution of the prevailing internal national problems would ultimately emplace Nigerian foreign policy on the path of efficiency and effectiveness