Reconstructing Nigeria’s National Interest in Readiness for Human-Right Duties

Reconstructing the national interest is a requisite first step for any country, Nigeria no different, which seeks to adopt a human-right policy. Using this proposition and related insights as starting points, this chapter unearths modalities for the reconstruction of Nigeria’s national interest to increase its amenability for human-right work, consistent with the Constructivist worldview of foreign policy as what a state makes of it. This chapter is the first in a sample of five discussions on methods. Three interrelated issues this chapter covers are: the intricacies of national interest, the evolution of Nigeria’s national interest since independence in 1960, and strategies for reconstructing Nigeria’s national interest to make it human-right-compliant, including reshaping the country’s foreign policy machinery.