Security, Economy, and Regional Organizations in Nigeria’s External Relations

An Appraisal

Abstract

The study examines Nigeria’s economic and security interests in relation to international
organisations in the African political space. States within the global system employ the use of
multilateral channels to achieve critical national interest objectives, and the manner with which
each state uses the mechanism of international organisation in foreign policy-making process is
different. This is borne out of endogenous features of a state. Thus, the current research attempts
to appraise the place of international organisations in achieving economic and security interests
of Nigeria in the African political system. The research is founded on the theory of national
interest which assumes the centrality of state in international relations. The research therefore
shows that Nigeria, most importantly in the West Africa sub-region, has been employing the
mechanism of multilateralism in achieving security and economic interests. In conducting the
research, the qualitative content analysis is used to study existing research materials like
textbooks, journal articles, internet sources and documents.