By Oluwatobi Aigbogun
State visits are masterclasses in optics. The carriage procession. The state banquet. The ceremony designed to signal that two nations value each other. This week, President Tinubu arrives at Windsor Castle for the first Nigerian State Visit to the UK in 37 years, the first since General Babangida’s visit in 1989. Before that, State Visits took place in 1973 and 1981. In the decades between, the relationship continued quietly. King Charles visited Nigeria four times as Prince of Wales, in 1990, 1999, 2006, and 2018. Queen Elizabeth II’s final visit was in 2003 for the Commonwealth Heads of Government Meeting.
Last September, King Charles received President Tinubu at Buckingham Palace, where climate change was reportedly central to their conversation. This relationship is not new. What is new is its elevation. And elevation only matters if it produces something real.
I work at the intersection of international development, philanthropy, and sustainability. I was among the diaspora leaders invited by His Majesty The King to a private reception at St. James’s Palace ahead of this visit. I left that room with a clear sense of the possibilities and an equally clear sense of what will be required to turn them into outcomes that matter.
Nigeria has undertaken significant reforms under President Tinubu. Inflation has fallen sharply from its 2024 peak. GDP growth has returned. The macroeconomic picture offers something genuine to talk about. The UK, post-Brexit, needs partners. Nigeria, with a population approaching 230 million, is an obvious one.
But economic growth in Nigeria has a long history of failing to reach the people who need it most. Any bilateral framework must include explicit commitments to inclusive growth, not just headline trade volumes. If the communique celebrates investment without mentioning poverty reduction, that is a signal worth paying attention to.
The prior conversation between King Charles and President Tinubu on climate is an asset. It must now be built upon. Nigeria is on the front line of climate devastation. Lake Chad has shrunk dramatically. Flooding displaces hundreds of thousands annually. Desertification is pushing communities off land their families have farmed for generations.
Concrete commitments are needed. What climate adaptation funding will reach Nigeria’s most vulnerable communities? What support exists for Nigeria’s energy transition, given that millions still lack reliable electricity? Climate cooperation that serves UK investment interests without addressing Nigerian energy poverty is not partnership. It is extraction with better branding.
The Nigerian diaspora sends more money to Nigeria each year than many bilateral aid programmes. It builds institutions, transfers knowledge, and sustains families across the country. Yet it remains absent from formal development frameworks.
A Diaspora Development Partnership, with its own workstream and accountability structure, would be an achievable and meaningful outcome from this visit. So would a visa framework that reflects the partnership both governments claim to share. Celebrating diaspora contributions at a Windsor banquet while making it harder for Nigerians to move freely is a contradiction this visit should resolve.
UK-Nigeria security cooperation has genuine value. But cooperation without human rights conditionality is a risk. Nigeria’s security forces carry serious, credible allegations of extrajudicial violence. Any deepening of security ties must include explicit commitments to accountability and civilian protection. A relationship that prioritises stability over accountability will ultimately produce neither.
What Success Looks Like
The banquet will be beautiful. The photographs will circulate for years. What will matter in five years is whether any of this moved the needle for a farmer in Kebbi State, a student in Enugu trying to secure a visa, or a British-Nigerian professional who has spent a career building bridges between two countries only now beginning to treat each other as true equals.
King Charles has visited Nigeria four times. He has seen what is at stake. The foundation is there. The question is what gets built on it.
Oluwatobi Aigbogun is a Nigerian leader working across international development, philanthropy, and sustainability. He is Managing Partner at DevTalks Ltd. He serves as Trustee at the United Nations Association UK and co-hosts the award-winning Sustainability and Climate Podcast. He is based in London.
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