“Going Back and Forth without Leaving”: Re-examining Nigeria-Israel Relations, 1970-1999

Abstract

The experience of the Nigerian Civil War brought a new attitude in the country’s external front. Nigeria learnt some important lesson that survival in international relations rested more on ‘interest’ and less on ‘ideology’. Hence, it began to shift alliances and sought for new friendships that would guarantee important diplomatic relations and economic cooperation necessary for its continued independent existence in the face of unpredictable undercurrents of ideologically polarized world. Israel was one of the new destinations for Nigeria; hence, important relations endured between the two countries afterwards. However, the problem that engages this paper stems from the fact that many scholars appeared to have explained this relation in the period under review only in the perspective of Nigeria’s severance of diplomatic ties with the State of Israel. Therefore, the paper re-examines the country’s relations with the State of Israel between the 1970s and 1990s. It explores the country’s enduring elements and foreign policy interests that predicated the relation. It does not only highlight the diplomatic shifts that characterized the relations but discusses some important bilateral exchanges and cooperation between the two countries. The paper, thus, argues that Nigeria’s severance of diplomatic relation (high politics) with the State of Israel did not stop other forms of relations between the two countries: there were some enduring and beneficial economic exchanges and cooperation (low politics) that continued between the two countries, particularly as it related to Nigeria’s development needs. The paper adopts the qualitative method of research and uses thematic historical method in its analysis. It draws its source of information mainly from documents and press releases in government archives, books, journal articles, and newspaper publications.