Nigeria’s Blurred Foreign Policy Vision In A Fractured Global Order Under Tinubu Administration, By Owei Lakemfa

In this opinion piece, labour leader and columnist Owei Lakemfa examines Nigeria’s increasingly blurred foreign policy direction amid a fractured and unpredictable global order. Using the detention and eventual release of eleven Nigerian military officers in Burkina Faso as a case study, Lakemfa questions the Tinubu administration’s handling of diplomacy, security, and international relations. He criticises Nigeria’s reliance on ad-hoc presidential diplomacy, sidelining of the Foreign Ministry, prolonged absence of ambassadors, and embarrassing missteps involving the UAE and global shipping giant Maersk. Lakemfa argues that Nigeria’s traditional Pan-Africanist foreign policy vision has weakened, turning the country into a proxy in regional affairs, and calls for a return to professional diplomacy led primarily by experienced career diplomats to restore credibility and clarity in Nigeria’s global engagement.