The President will return to Lagos on Tuesday to celebrate Sallah.
The British High Commissioner to Nigeria, Richard Montgomery, has stated that the UK is waiting for President Bola Tinubu to designate ministers before taking moves to improve partnership.
Montgomery told journalists in Abuja over the weekend that the UK government has identified six areas where both countries could strengthen cooperation and explore “new areas to build upon for mutual benefits.”
Meanwhile, President Tinubu will return to Nigeria on Tuesday, the day before Sallah. Unless something changes at the last minute, the President will spend the Sallah holiday in Lagos State, his first official visit to the nation’s commercial capital since taking office on May 29.
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A Presidency source confirmed this yesterday. An advance team has already been despatched ahead of the President’s arrival in Lagos on Tuesday, according to the source.
According to the envoy, the UK is more interested in bilateral ties with Nigeria as a result of Tinubu’s recent economic moves.
“We have very long-standing ties that are wired by history, and we do have a very strong foundation on which to build, and I am very optimistic about Nigeria’s future direction.”
“We want to strengthen our economic relations in particular, and the new administration’s first decisions show that it is going to make big economic decisions, which I believe will give us the opportunity to expand our trade, investment, and economic relations.”
“And I believe there are several areas where the UK government can strengthen our diplomacy and bilateral relations with Nigeria.” However, we must wait for the nomination of new ministers in order to engage in the essential diplomatic engagement to lay the groundwork for some of these.
“I’ll say there are six areas we’d like to investigate.” The first is a long-standing development partnership.
“And I believe that when a new administration takes office, the UK must always understand the priorities of that administration and how we can adapt and work in mutual partnership and with our development programs.”
“The second area is economic. We already have a good economic interaction, but we would like to take the next step and establish a more enhanced trade and cooperation, which I am forward to discuss with the new trade and industry minister.
“The third area is security and defense, which we want to evolve and advance.” We already have an excellent relationship with your interior ministry and other agencies on home affairs, and we would like to continue working together in that area.
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“Finally, we’d like to have a more systematic conversation about foreign policy.” Nigeria has played an important role in regional and continental challenges, and the UK would like to engage in a more systematic foreign policy discussion with the Nigerian government once ministers and advisers are in place,” he told the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN).
Tinubu wrapped up his official trip to Paris on Friday, where he attended the ‘A New Global Financing Pact’ event sponsored by French President Emmanuel Macron.
The President took use of the summit’s sidelines to meet with fellow heads of state and government, global business leaders, and CEOs of prominent multilateral and development financial institutions from across the world. He was supposed to return to Abuja on Saturday, but instead went to London, United Kingdom (UK), for a short private visit.
Dele Alake, the presidential communications adviser, stated in a statement that Tinubu would return to the country in time for the Eid-el-Kabir festival on Wednesday.