INSECURITY AND NIGERIA'S FOREIGN POLICY

In the last decades, insecurity has emerged as one of the major challenges facing Nigeria. This has resulted in heavy loss of lives, destruction of properties both state own and private as well as the displacements of citizens in the affected areas which have negatively affected the image of the country on the global stage. It is without doubt that increase in the spate of various forms of insecurity, including kidnapping, banditry, terrorism, and insurgency, has practically put the lives of the citizens at a huge risk and undermined the economic, political, and social stability of the country. It is in line with the above that this study is poised to identify and contribute to one of the most challenging issues in the country - insecurity from the lens of the perceptions of the country’s foreign policy at the world stage; how it affects the country’s foreign relations and domestic socio-economic and political realities and also proffer solutions to remedying it. This study adopts the Linkage Politics framework of analysis relying on data collected through secondary sources from the existing literature, journals, government official documents, newspapers, and web-based materials among others to assess how insecurity has impacted the country’s foreign policy. Findings revealed that issues relating to poor governance, corruption, unemployment, ethnic-religious conflicts, and poverty are the contributors to insecurity in Nigeria. Furthermore, the international media coverage of the country’s security crises has helped fuel the perception of Nigeria as a restive zone or a high-risk environment. As the Federal Government strives to solve the insecurity crisis and its attendant consequences, the seeming inability to fully tackle the root causes of insecurity has perpetuated a situation of revolving violence and instability in Nigeria. The study, conclude that the Federal Government must stand up to its primary responsibility of securing the lives and properties of its citizens, tackle the root causes of insecurity through a wholistic socio-economic and political reforms. It recommends a re-jig of the machinery of Nigeria’s foreign policy as well as an engagement in international image laundering of the country.