ABSTRACT
This chapter analyses Nigeria’s foreign policy, particularly its security or military relationship with other countries in the region, Western countries such as the United States and the United Kingdom, non-Western countries such as China and Russia, regional governments such as the European Union and multilateral agencies such as the United Nations. It discusses the role that these countries and agencies play in Nigeria’s militarisation. It looks at joint military operations with other countries such as the multinational joint task force (MNJTF) with countries around the Lake Chad Basin (Niger, Chad, Cameroon and Benin) to deal with the security threat from extremist Jihadist groups such as Boko Haram with its splinter group, the Islamic State in West Africa Province (ISWAP), and the joint multinational maritime force in the Gulf of Guinea with 15 countries including the United States and France. It also scrutinises the strained military relationship with countries such as the US in terms of human rights violations. Also of interest in this chapter is Nigeria’s increasing security and defence budget and spending. The chapter assesses if this has any immediate or future impact—real or perceived—on regional security.
