Turkish foreign policy in Nigeria

This study investigates the evolution and strategic orientation of Turkey's foreign policy toward Nigeria between 2016 and 2024. Within the context of Turkey's broader Africa strategy, Nigeria emerges as a critical anchor state in Ankara's multipolar ambitions across Sub-Saharan Africa. This period is characterized by high-level diplomatic exchanges, the signing of multi-sectoral memoranda of understanding (MoUs), and intensified cooperation in trade, defense, education, and cultural diplomacy. Turkey's engagement with Nigeria reflects a blend of soft power, humanitarian diplomacy, and broader geopolitical considerations. The study adopts a qualitative research design rooted in interpretivism, utilizing document analysis, elite interviews, and secondary literature to assess how Turkish foreign policy is received, understood, and institutionalized in Nigeria. Drawing upon the concept of soft power, Neorealism, and Postcolonial International Relations theory, it explores how Turkey's non-Western and non-colonial identity aligns with Nigeria's strategic goals in an increasingly multipolar global order. Findings reveal that Turkey has effectively employed tools such as the Türkiye Scholarships program, the Maarif Foundation, and the Turkish Cooperation and Coordination Agency (TİKA). Nonetheless, challenges persist in areas such as transparency, long-term planning, and mutual trust. Nigeria's response, though diplomatically warm, remains cautious due to overlapping strategic interests with other global actors including China, the United States, and the European Union. This study concludes that Turkish foreign policy in Nigeria operates through a hybrid model combining religious solidarity, developmental diplomacy, and economic expansion. It offers an Afrocentric, empirically grounded contribution to the understanding of how rising powers engage African states beyond the traditional donor–recipient paradigm.