SHUTTLE DIPLOMACYAND SOCIO-ECONOMIC DEVELOPMENT IN NIGERIA

Abstract

Over one and a half decade uninterrupted military regimes up till 1999 had Nigeria’s image in shambles. This development had great impact on Nigeria’s socio-economic standing. Given the democratic transition in 1999, the immediate democratic government of President Obasanjo and subsequent regimes were faced with the responsibility of initiating policies that would revamp Nigeria’s image and foster socio-economic development. Shuttle diplomacy was a viable tool adopted by these administrations to help rescue the situation. However, despite the vast time and resources invested in shuttle diplomacy, Nigeria is still deficient in socio-economic development. The general objective of this paper is to examine the impact of shuttle diplomacy on Socio-economic development in Nigeria between 1999 and 2019. Using the historical method and comparative method of content analysis from primary and secondary sources, the paper examined how the regimes of Presidents- Olusegun Obasanjo, Musa Yar’Adua, Goodluck Jonathan and Muhammadu Buhari adopted shuttle diplomacy to foster socio-economic developments in Nigeria. Through a structured evaluation of their shuttle diplomacy endeavors, this study discovered the frequency and intensity of shuttle diplomacy under each regime. However, the paper concluded that shuttle diplomacy plays a vital role in Nigeria’s socio-economic development given that no country can sit back at home arms folded with high expectations from the international community. However, to avoid wastage of resources and achieve maximal results for socio-economic development in Nigeria, this paper recommends that shuttle diplomacy should be more organized, planned, targeted and goal oriented.