The Impact of the Cold War on Nigerian Foreign Policy, 1960 to 1990

This study analyses the impact of Cold War geopolitics on Nigerian foreign policy from independence in 1960 to the end of the Cold War in 1990. Nigeria navigated the ideological contest between the United States-led Western bloc and the Soviet Union through a declared policy of non-alignment, yet the practical conduct of its foreign policy was repeatedly shaped by Cold War pressures, particularly in relation to the Civil War, oil diplomacy, and African liberation movements. Using a descriptive historical design, the study draws on declassified diplomatic cables, United Nations voting records, and secondary literature published between 2020 and 2024. The Non-Alignment Theory and Dependency Theory provide the dual analytical framework. Findings reveal that despite formal non-alignment, Nigeria's foreign policy tilted towards the West on economic matters while adopting more assertive pan-African positions on issues of decolonisation and apartheid in Southern Africa. The decision to nationalise British Petroleum's Nigerian assets in 1979 in response to British oil sales to Rhodesia is identified as one of the boldest deployments of resource nationalism in the service of African solidarity during the Cold War era. The findings contribute to the historical scholarship on African foreign policy in the Cold War context. Keywords: Cold War, Nigerian foreign policy, non-alignment, oil diplomacy, pan-Africanism.