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Nigeria Global Interests
Nigeria's global interests and roles were demonstrated
in
different ways, most notably in its contribution of
military
units to several UN peacekeeping missions, its leadership
in
various international fora, and its participation in the
global
nuclear nonproliferation movement. Nigeria's only foreign
military deployments other than its border dashes with
Chad and
Cameroon have been multilateral missions. Nigerian units
took
part in operations beyond the colony's borders in both
world
wars. Since independence, Nigeria has proudly boasted
Africa's
longest and most distinguished record of participation in
UN
peacekeeping operations. Nigeria dispatched two infantry
divisions under UN command to Congo in the early 1960s,
and a
battalion to Tanzania after the 1964 mutiny. It also
contributed
to the UN India-Pakistan Observer Mission (UNIPOM) in
1965, the
UN Interim Force in Lebanon (UNIFIL) in 1978, and the UN
observer
mission to oversee the Iran-Iraq cease-fire and the
AngolaNamibia accords in 1988. For reasons of internal politics
and
security, however, Nigeria did not send troops to
participate in
the 1990 Persian Gulf war. All told, Nigeria has
contributed
about 16,000 troops to UN peacekeeping functions. Nigeria
also
called for a permanent African seat on the UN Security
Council.
Nigeria's internationalism also was manifest in its
initiative to create a Concert of Medium Powers among
nonaligned
states in March 1987, at which Nigeria was appointed chair
of the
group and coordinator of its program. Also known as the
Lagos
Forum, the group held a September 1987 meeting attended by
more
than twenty countries. Nigeria also hosted the second
meeting of
the twenty-three-nation Zone of Peace and Cooperation of
the
South Atlantic in July 1990.
Nuclear nonproliferation was another important global
security issue for Nigeria. Lagos signed the Nuclear
Nonproliferation Treaty on the day it was opened for
signature in
1968 and has made proposals at the UN for an African
nuclear-free
zone. Nigeria has made clear, however, that its continued
nuclear
forbearance is contingent on other signatories honoring
their
obligations and on the behavior of nonsignatories, such as
South
Africa. Various Nigerian academicians and officials have
spoken
in favor of keeping open or even of exercising the
military
"nuclear option" to supply energy, to enhance Nigeria's
power and
prestige, and to avoid nuclear blackmail by South Africa,
Libya,
or the superpowers. In early 1988, Nigeria signed a
safeguards
agreement with the International Atomic Energy Agency,
ensuring
peaceful uses of its nuclear reactor project.
Data as of June 1991
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