When Governance Becomes Theatre: The Tragedy of Nigeria’s Diplomatic Decline

By Abraham Amah

There are moments in a nation’s political life when governance begins to resemble theatre, when official actions raise more questions than answers, and when even the most patient citizen is forced to pause and wonder what direction the country is truly heading. The recent decision by the Nigerian Government to train 50 Senators and Members of the House of Representatives on “how to negotiate with the United States” is one such moment. It is not simply curious—it is a troubling sign of how far we have drifted from seriousness.

At first, the idea sounds almost admirable, perhaps even innovative. But look deeper and you find a quiet tragedy unfolding before our eyes: the steady neglect of the very institutions built to give Nigeria strength, coherence, and credibility on the global stage. It is a symbolic gesture that betrays an uncomfortable truth—that our political class no longer trusts or understands the machinery of statecraft.

For decades, Nigeria’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs has been home to some of Africa’s finest career diplomats—men and women who have dedicated their lives to understanding global power structures, decoding Western policy behaviour, cultivating relationships, negotiating peace, and defending Nigeria’s interests in rooms where every word carries weight. These diplomats are trained, seasoned, and tested. They represent the intellectual capital of our foreign policy tradition.

So what does it say when legislators with little or no background in international relations are packaged into a short seminar to learn how to negotiate with Washington? What becomes of the years of expertise accumulated within the Foreign Affairs Ministry? And why are we now treating diplomacy like a skill that can be acquired in a hotel ballroom over the course of a working week?

The Nigerian Institute of International Affairs—once the nerve centre of our foreign policy thinking—deserves special attention. The NIIA used to be the meeting point for scholars, diplomats, and thinkers whose analyses shaped the continent’s diplomatic direction. Here, doctrines were debated and refined; foreign policy positions were crafted with intellectual weight. Today, however, the NIIA is a shadow of itself, struggling for relevance and funding while lawmakers are sent elsewhere to learn what the institute was created for.

Then there is the National Institute for Policy and Strategic Studies. NIPSS was never meant to be a ceremonial school. It is Nigeria’s apex leadership training institution, designed to prepare senior officials for national and international responsibility. It trains decision-makers in strategic thinking, national interest, security, and diplomacy. Yet instead of sending legislators to Kuru, we now see efforts to send them to crash courses on topics best handled by our own national institutions.

The irony grows deeper when we consider that the Department of State Services and the National Intelligence Agency both possess the analytical and institutional capacity to guide any national engagement with the United States. The DSS understands the internal psychology of governance and monitors foreign influence patterns, while the NIA is Nigeria’s specialist organisation for understanding the motivations, interests, and strategies of foreign governments. Together with the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and the NIIA, they form a formidable structure capable of supporting and shaping high-level negotiations with any global power, including the United States.

That we are ignoring this infrastructure speaks volumes. It suggests a leadership environment that no longer recognises the tools of statecraft. It reveals a governing elite more enthralled by the symbolism of activity than the substance of preparation. It is the kind of behaviour that nations exhibit when they begin to drift from institutional maturity and toward performative governance.

Nigeria was not always like this. We once led Africa with confidence and intellectual depth. We played central roles in resolving conflicts in Liberia and Sierra Leone. Our diplomats influenced decisions at the United Nations and the African Union. We anchored ECOWAS with stability and purpose. We articulated bold foreign policy positions guided by philosophy, national interest, and a deep understanding of Africa’s place in the global order. The world listened when Nigeria spoke.

How did we get from that era of diplomatic clarity to a period where our leaders seek short-term training instead of leaning on our institutional memory? How did we move from producing global statesmen to outsourcing our own diplomatic competence?

Diplomacy is not a casual conversation. It is not something learned on the eve of a foreign trip. It is a delicate and highly intellectual enterprise, requiring emotional intelligence, historical awareness, strategic thinking, psychological sensitivity, and years of experience. It is an accumulation of knowledge, not a weekend tutorial. Countries that take diplomacy seriously rely on their institutions, not on improvised solutions.

So before anyone teaches our lawmakers how to negotiate with Washington, Nigeria must honestly confront the questions that matter:

What happened to our career diplomats, and why are they being sidelined?

What happened to the NIIA, and why is one of Africa’s most important foreign policy think-tanks no longer at the centre of national discourse?

What happened to NIPSS, and why has it been reduced to a neglected option rather than the first stop for strategic training?

What happened to the DSS and NIA, and why are their strengths not being integrated into our external engagements?

And most importantly, what happened to a Nigeria whose voice once carried moral and diplomatic authority across the world?

Nations do not decline only because of economic hardship or political instability. Many decline because they treat knowledge casually, institutions lightly, and national strategy as an afterthought. They collapse when short-termism replaces long-term planning. They become irrelevant when political theatrics crowd out intellectual competence.

If Nigeria is serious about reclaiming her rightful place in the global community, the solution will not be found in hurried workshops for lawmakers. It will be found in the revival of our diplomatic institutions, in the empowerment of our seasoned experts, in restoring the honour and relevance of the NIIA and NIPSS, and in recognising that the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, DSS, and NIA must be the central pillars of any serious engagement with a global superpower.

Until we return to a leadership culture that values expertise, invests in institutions, and respects the depth required for diplomacy, every training of this nature will remain what it truly is—performance, not progress; symbolism, not substance; and ultimately, an embarrassing misuse of national resources.

The world is watching, and history will remember whether we chose competence or convenience.

Elder Amah writes from Umuahia, Abia State