The Gulf of Guinea in Nigeria’s Foreign Relations The Role of the Nigerian Navy

Abstract

The region known as the Gulf of Guinea (GoG) has become a very important area in the world, largely as a result of its enormous natural resources. Today, its sea lanes are conduits of international trade.  Because of this profile, it has becomes a major draw for criminal elements and security threats like sea piracy. Given the importance of trade and energy security or ensuring the uninterrupted flow of trade and energy needs via the GoG, its state, is constantly a source of concern for nations in the region. This has led to bilateral and multi-lateral exchanges between not only nations within the region, but those without, thus impacting foreign relations of nations. Also, the given the nature of environment, Navies of nations in the area, seem to be playing a crucial role in not only driving the relationship of their various nations, but also ensuring that the region is secured-in particular, the role of the Nigerian Navy (NN) becomes critical in this regard. Through the use of mostly secondary sources, the study discovered that the nature of sea piracy poses a threat to security in the GoG, and that these threats have not only severely undermined the geo-strategic environment of the GoG, but it is also playing a key role in how nations relate in the region. The study further found out that while the NN, has been an effective tool to drive Nigeria’s foreign relations in the region, it is still undermined by limited resources. Going forward, the paper calls for strengthening of the NN and building viable regional cooperative structures with states in the GoG.