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The Politics of Nigerian Foreign Policy: The Ratification and Renunciation of the Anglo-Nigerian Defence Agreement

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  23 May 2014

Gordon J. Idang
Gordon J. Idang*
Affiliation:
University of Ibadan, Ibadan, Nigeria
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Extract

The first and perhaps the liveliest and most controversial political debate on Nigerian foreign policy arose over the Anglo-Nigerian Defence Agreement. Both the publication and the ratification of the agreement were followed by severe outbursts of public indignation all over the country, particularly in the South. Despite these widespread criticisms and mass protest, the agreement was not without ardent supporters and sympathizers. The purpose of this paper is to examine not only the main lines of division that existed between those organized groups and individuals that supported the Defence Pact and those that opposed it and relentlessly fought for its rejection, but also the rationale behind the various positions taken by these individuals and groups in that foreign policy debate. Some of the ramifications and implications of the Defence Agreement as well as the accuracy and relevance of various opinions held or expressed will also be discussed. Such an overall treatment of the articulate opinion that formed around the issue of the Defence Pact, it is believed, will help us to understand which of the basic factors of Nigerian foreign policy—personality, organizational, societal, political, and environmental—played an important role in the definition and implementation of the post-independence Nigerian foreign policy.

Until Nigeria's independence in 1960, the federal powers over defence and foreign affairs were exercised by the British government. During the Nigerian Constitutional Conference of 1957, however, it was decided that British control over Nigeria's military forces should cease after April 1958.

Type
Research Article
Information
African Studies Review , Volume 13 , Issue 2 , September 1970 , pp. 227 - 251
Copyright
Copyright © African Studies Association 1970

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References

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