A quick check shows that Nigeria at independence, with its mixed population and religion, had a foreign policy hinged around friendship and neutrality on political divisive issues.
Fast forward to present day, you would find that while friendship remains an integral part of Nigeria’s foreign policy, its neutrality in political divisive issues seems to have taken a rather religious dimension. The country’s newly found foreign policy position when push comes to shove could best be described as pro Islamic.
Though it’s not entirely clear when the country began its slippery shift in foreign policy position, many believe this may have occurred period after the Nigerian civil war when a largely Muslim majority dominated the Nigerian government and soon forgot the country was secular after all.
Nigeria was admitted as an observer member of the Organisation of Islamic Cooperation (OIC) in 1969. And in 1986 it became a full-fledged member of the OIC.
Ambassador Yusuf Maitama Tuggar, Nigeria’s Foreign Minister, in his remarks at the Extraordinary Joint Summit of the Organization of Islamic Cooperation and the Arab League, 11th November 2023, questioned Israel’s motives in Gaza. In his words, “the question we have to ask ourselves is where is the evidence that the violence meted out by Israel on Gaza is having any deleterious effect on Hamas.”
Tuggar’s remarks which came one month after the Hamas deadly attacks which killed over a thousand Israelis with many others kidnapped, earned him praise among Islamic countries as Nigeria soon after the summit was selected by the Organisation of Islamic Cooperation (OIC), and the Arab League as part of a special delegation mandated to lead efforts for immediate international action to halt the ongoing Israel-Hamas war in Gaza and restore peace in the region.
More worrisome is that while Nigeria continues to battle insecurity and genocide in its middle-belt region, the leadership turns their attention to finding peace for people in the Middle East.
Amb. Tuggar since his appointment as minister of foreign affairs in Nigeria adopted a hard line position in condemning almost every act of Israel, with no desire of doing same even when other parties are reported to be the aggressors.
In the heat of the 7th October 2023 genocidal terrorist killings by Hamas, Tuggar, rather than condemn Hamas, the perpetrators of the dastardly act, issued a press release on the day of the attack calling for restraint on both sides.
You may want to compare Tuggar’s press release with that issued by his ministry on 14th June, 2025 in response to the Israel/Iran conflict. Tuggar, in the statement, condemned and called out Israel as the aggressors in the conflict. The press release while economizing words on need for restraint by both parties, failed to call out Iran for violating the non-proliferation agreement. Many observers of international relations point to Iran’s breach as the explanatory variable for Israel’s attack. They pitch the argument that it was simply an act of instinct of preservation and survival as popularized by Freud.
The U.N. nuclear watchdog’s 35-nation Board of Governors of the International Atomic Energy Agency had on 12th June 2025, declared Iran in breach of its non-proliferation obligations for the first time in almost 20 years. Amb. Tuggar failed to acknowledge this in his press release on 14th June. Most concerned nations in issuing statements about the Israel/Iran conflict called out Iran for violating the nuclear agreement.
It is not particularly clear why Amb. Tuggar left this very important bit out of the statement of a supposedly secular country, Nigeria, a member of the United Nations. Using Tuggar’s yardstick of intervention in global matters, shouldn’t Nigeria be concerned about the breach of such an important multilateral agreement that could threaten global peace?
At a time, extreme poverty and insecurity are existential threats to lives and livelihoods of Nigerians, it’s uncanny that activities in the Middle East rank utmost in the affairs of the Nigerian government.
On Saturday 14th June 2025, fulani herders [Nigeria’s major Muslim tribe] were reported to have killed over 200 people in a coordinated attack on Benue communities, a predominantly Christian enclave. The attack is one of the series of attacks that has ravaged Nigeria in recent times with no end in sight.
While the argument of correlation of global insecurity may suffice for Nigeria’s penchant to preach peace without peace, it’s not completely clear why the government in Nigeria would frown at activities to check the excesses of Iran, a country reported in 2010 to have illegally exported weapons to Nigeria, allegedly for terrorist purposes.
Nigeria intercepted a shipment of weapons from Iran, which included rockets, rocket launchers, and grenades, at the Lagos port in 2010. The shipment was found in containers labeled as building materials. Nigeria reported the seizure to the UN Security Council, as the shipment appeared to violate sanctions against Iran related to its nuclear program, according to BBC News. Iran claimed the shipment was a handiwork of a private company.
As things continue to unfold in the international arena, it remains to be seen if Nigeria perhaps has lost track of history on the external factors linked to its security challenges.
We hope that authorities in Africa’s most populous country, Nigeria, will rise up to their responsibilities and do more to protect citizens rather than focus on Israel.
