Nigerian President Bola Tinubu lands in London on Tuesday for a state visit hosted by Britain's King Charles III, the first between Africa's most populous nation and its former colonial power in nearly four decades.

Tinubu has visited the United Kingdom several times in his tenure as Nigeria's president and the two countries remain major partners in trade, aid and defence. London is also home to a massive Nigerian diaspora.

Likely on the agenda are issues ranging from major Nigerian port renovations backed by Britain as well as trade, which reached £8.1 billion ($11 billion) in the year to September 2025, an 11.4 percent year-on-year increase.

Tinubu and his wife, Oluremi, will be greeted on Wednesday by Prince William and his wife, Catherine, Princess of Wales.

Scheduled meetings

Charles will later receive Tinubu for an audience at Windsor Castle before hosting a state banquet that evening.

On Thursday, Tinubu is expected to meet British Prime Minister Keir Starmer as well as members of the Nigerian community abroad, according to the official schedule. King Charles hosted a reception last week for members of the Nigerian diaspora at St James's Palace.

First Lady Oluremi Tinubu, a Christian pastor, is set to preach at services at Lambeth Palace and to meet representatives of the Church of England.

London and Abuja concluded a strategic partnership in November 2024 to strengthen economic, immigration and security cooperation.

Many banks from Africa's fourth-largest economy operate subsidiaries in the United Kingdom and the two nations signed an economic cooperation agreement in early 2024, under Britain's previous Conservative government.

Earlier this year, the Nigerian Ministry of Defence said the two countries intended to strengthen their defence cooperation following a massacre of more than 160 people in central Kwara attributed to terrorists.