The Nigeria Diaspora Roles in Shaping Nigeria’s Foreign Policy

The paper evaluates the Nigeria Diaspora in shaping Nigeria’s foreign policy, with an estimated population of over 17 million spread across the United States, the United Kingdom, Canada, South Africa, and beyond, the Nigerian diaspora constitutes one of the largest African diasporic communities globally. Their influence is reflected not only in economic contributions through remittances, which constantly rank among the highest Sub-Saharan Africa, but also in political lobbing, advocacy and cultural diplomacy. Guided by Transnationalism Theory, the study adopts a descriptive qualitative research design, relying on primary data from structured interviews and policy documents, alongside secondary sources including books, journals, and international reports. The study reveals that the Nigerian diaspora plays a pivotal role in advancing economic diplomacy by attracting foreign direct investment, fostering business partnerships, and promoting Nigerian products and services abroad. However, challenges such as weak institutional frameworks, political fragmentation among diaspora groups and lack of voting right hinders cohesive engagement. The study concludes that the diaspora represents a critical but underutilized resource of Nigerian’s foreign policy. The study recommends that the Nigerian government should formulate and implement a holistic diaspora policy that provides a clear legal and institutional framework for engaging with diaspora communities. NIDCOM should be empowered with adequate funding, professional staffing, and diplomatic support to coordinate diaspora engagement effectively, also, the government and Diaspora organizations should capitalized on digital technologies to sustain dialogue and collaboration by using virtual investment forums, diaspora knowledge-sharing platform, e- governance tools to foster long-term interaction and policy input from abroad.