The recent nomination of ambassadors by President Bola Tinubu has reopened a long-neglected debate about the direction and purpose of Nigeria’s foreign policy in a rapidly changing world. For decades, Nigeria moved from a champion of anti-colonial struggles and regional peacekeeping to a nation now seeking relevance amid insecurity, shifting power balances, and technological disruption. Its historic achievements from supporting Southern African liberation to creating ECOWAS, remain notable, but the world it must navigate today is far more complex. These appointments therefore raise a defining question: can Nigeria continue relying on symbolic diplomacy, or must it adopt a foreign policy aligned with security and development?