Nigeria’s Foreign Policy and OIC Membership: The Constitutional Legality for Membership

International Journal of Research and Innovation in Social Science (IJRISS) | Volume III, Issue VI, June 2019 | ISSN 2454–6186

Nigeria’s Foreign Policy and OIC Membership: The Constitutional Legality for Membership

Yusuf Ibrahim Gamawa Ph.D

Olusegun Obasanjo Center for African Studies [OOCAS]
National Open University of Nigeria, Abuja, Nigeria

Abstract: – Nigeria’s membership into the Organization of Islamic Conference has remained controversial over several years. Many have expressed doubts regarding the legality of Nigeria’s since the country is not an Islamic Republic and its constitution is secular in nature. Many have gone to the extent of declaring Nigeria’s membership to the organization unconstitutional, citing Section 10 of the Nigerian 1999 Constitution which states that ‘the Government of the Federation or the State shall not adopt any Religion as State Religion’, to justify their claims. It is not clear if the Supreme Court of Nigeria or any other Court had given interpretation to that section of the 1999 Constitution. However, a closer observation to what is contained in the section will show that it only prohibits the adoption by the Government of Nigeria of any religion as the religion of the State or government, or official religion of choice that will be recognized by government. And if that is what it means, then Nigeria’s membership to the OIC is entirely a different issue that needs to be looked at from another angle, not seen before. This paper argues that Nigeria’s membership must be looked at from IR perspective and specifically from the perspective of Nigeria’s foreign policy objectives and the question of the national interest.

Keywords: Foreign Policy, OIC, Nigeria, Membership, Legality, Constitution.

I. INTRODUCTION

The organization of Islamic Conference [OIC], like all other Inter-governmental International organizations has their roots and foundations in Europe and appeared only in the 19th Century. International Organizations were created by Nations States who are dominant political units of world politics. Prior to the creation of these organizations, nation states already had diplomatic, economic, legal and political relationship with one another, but were again linked by these organizations that came to be founded. It is estimated that there are about Three hundred [300] inter-governmental organizations and about Five thousand [5,000] or more Non-governmental organizations operating in the international system. Most of these organizations were seen to have been established after World War II [Bennett A. LeRoy, James K. Oliver, 2002].

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