Nigeria is at a critical juncture in its engagement with the global order as intensifying conflicts, economic volatility and technological disruptions compel a shift towards strategic autonomy, cooperation and smarter diplomacy, experts warned at a seminar convened by the Institute for Peace and Conflict Resolution (IPCR).
The Director-General of IPCR, Dr. Joseph Ochogwu, said the seminar was organised to deepen public understanding of evolving global dynamics and Nigeria’s efforts to reposition itself through a foreign policy anchored on strategic autonomy and cooperative engagement. He noted that Nigeria is leveraging both multilateral and bilateral platforms to advance its security, economic and diplomatic interests.
Describing the theme as timely, Ochogwu said Nigeria is navigating a world defined by shifting power relations, economic uncertainty, technological change and complex security challenges. He highlighted what he termed the paradox of the contemporary global order—marked by escalating conflicts on one hand, and expanding opportunities for cooperation through diplomacy, regional integration and multilateral engagement on the other.
According to him, Nigeria’s foreign policy approach is guided by the need to balance these competing forces by transforming national vulnerabilities into sources of resilience and mutually beneficial partnerships. He assured participants that the outcomes of the seminar would inform government policy, with concrete recommendations to be forwarded to the Minister of Foreign Affairs and relevant agencies.
In his presentation, Professor Istifanus Zabadi, Director of Research and Innovation at Birmingham University, argued that Nigeria must fundamentally rethink its understanding of stability in a changing global order. He said stability can no longer be defined solely as the absence of violence, but rather by a country’s capacity to manage and contain violence without allowing it to engulf the entire state.
Professor Zabadi cautioned that Nigeria’s heavy reliance on militarised and kinetic responses to insecurity has produced only short-term gains while failing to address the deeper political, economic and social roots of conflict. While acknowledging that military action can be necessary, he stressed that it is insufficient on its own and risks alienating communities if not complemented by governance reforms, human security initiatives and preventive engagement.
He described cooperation as Nigeria’s most undervalued security asset, calling for stronger inter-agency coordination, deeper community engagement and the revitalisation of institutions at federal, state and local levels. He warned against politicising insecurity, noting that no country confronting serious security challenges succeeds by scoring partisan political points.
Also speaking, Dr. Olalekan Babatunde, a security and conflict studies scholar, said Nigeria’s conflict landscape must be understood within a broader global context. He explained that terrorism, banditry, separatism and communal violence in Nigeria are increasingly interconnected with international networks, global economic pressures and wider geopolitical shifts.
According to him, Nigeria’s conflicts are multilayered and mutually reinforcing, ranging from insurgency and terrorism to climate-induced farmer–herder clashes, separatist agitations and transnational banditry. He warned that addressing any one of these challenges in isolation would not deliver sustainable peace.
Dr. Babatunde further noted that global forces such as climate change, transnational terrorism, arms proliferation and digital platforms are intensifying local insecurity. He cited desertification and migration pressures, the flow of arms from conflict zones in the Sahel, and the use of digital platforms for radicalisation and misinformation as key drivers.
He stressed Nigeria’s dual role as both a conflict-affected country and a regional stabilising power, noting that how Nigeria manages its internal security has direct implications for regional trade, migration, diplomacy and international confidence.
The seminar concluded that Nigeria’s stability in the 21st century will depend on a mix of strategic autonomy, cooperation, governance reforms and sustained international engagement. Experts agreed that national resilience should be measured not by the absence of violence alone, but by the capacity to manage conflicts, build trust and maintain Nigeria’s role as a stabilising force in Africa and a responsible actor in the global order.
