THREE POINTS FOREIGN POLICY AGENDA AN APPRAISAL OF PRESIDENT MUHAMMADU BUHARI’S FIRST TERM FOREIGN POLICY AGENDA

On assumption of office on May 29 2015, President Muhammad Buhari outlined three cardinal issues his administration will place a premium on Economic Development, the Fight against terrorism and the Fight against Corruption. These three issues have also continued to guide the administration’sforeign policy. This paper aims to appraise how the administration has performed in its first term from 2015-2019 with regard to these three cardinal foreign policy principles. Using secondary data sources from journals, books, newspapers, and government reports, the research found that President Buhari's trips across the world capital are in tandem with the administration’s foreign policy goals for the implication on national development. Considerable effort has been made towards the fight against insurgency by raising a multinational coalition to tackle the menace of terrorism, which had negatively affected Nigeria’s image on the International scene. This was made possible with collaboration with Chad, Cameroon and Niger to form Multinational Joint Task Force (MNJTF) which played an important role in degrading Boko Haram Insurgency. As for economic development, the president's trip to China has brought about considerable infrastructural development and Foreign Direct Investment from other world capitals, which help the government in exiting the recession. The paper concludes that there is a need for the administration to follow up on agreements signed during this foreign trip to engender national development effectively.