Nigerian President Bola Tinubu arrived in Brasília for a two-day visit on August 25, where he was given a warm welcome by Brazilian President Lula da Silva, including full military honors and a 21-gun salute. “Nigeria is one of Brazil’s main partners on the African continent,” Lula said on social media, adding that the two countries shared “deep historical and cultural ties.” For his part, Tinubu described the visit as a revival of the “historic relationship” between the two countries.
The two leaders then oversaw the signing of a total of five MOUs which—although there were no headline-grabbing “billion dollar” deals—spoke to the broadening relationship between the two countries of the Global South. Possibly the most significant agreement for future cooperation was the re-establishment of direct flights between the main trading centers of Lagos and Brasília, which not only cut travel times in half but also cut out the (British) middleman. In addition to wide-ranging “science” and diplomatic deals, Tinubu additionally extended an invitation to Lulu/PetroBras to resume operations in Nigeria.
Tinubu has become a frequent visitor. He attended the BRICS Leaders’ Summit in Rio de Janeiro in July. In November 2024, Tinubu attended the G20 Summit in Brazil, at Lula’s invitation.
In June, the two countries signed a $1 billion deal for modernizing Nigerian agriculture, with included investments in energy and petroleum. And in June, the Brazilian state development bank (BNDES) and Nigeria’s state Agriculture Bank, signed an agreement to collaborate more closely with the aim to promote “investment, trade, economic and social development in Brazil and Nigeria.”
