Tinubu's UK Visit Indication Nigeria Is Serious Global Partner

The Progressives Institute (TPI), has said the planned visit of President Bola Tinubu to the United Kingdom (UK) demonstrated that Nigeria is being recognised once again as a serious global partner.

According to the intellectual think tank of the ruling All Progressives Congress(APC), the visit also underscored the growing relevance of the country in diplomacy, economic cooperation, and security partnerships.

Tinubu is to embark on a two-day state visit to the United Kingdom from March 18 to 19, 2026, following an official invitation from King Charles III.

The visit was announced via a post on the official X handle of the British royal family, which stated that the Nigerian leader would be formally hosted by King and Queen Camilla at Windsor Castle.

The Director-General of TPI, Dr Lanre Adebayo, underscored the significance of the diplomatic shuttle during this at the signing of Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) between Jade & Jaydens Services Limited and the institute in Abuja.

Adebayo noted that Tinubu’s visit — coming more than three decades after a similar high-level engagement by a Nigerian President — reflects renewed international confidence in Nigeria’s leadership and reform agenda.

According to him, the visit signals that Nigeria is reclaiming its prominence in bilateral and multilateral engagements.

“The invitation to President Tinubu demonstrates that Nigeria is being recognised once again as a serious global partner.

“It underscores the growing relevance of our country in diplomacy, economic cooperation, and security partnerships,”Adebayo said.

Adedayo said President Tinubu had acted like a statesman and not a politician when he embarked on painful reforms, including petrol subsidy removal and floating of Naira at the commencement of his administration.

“I remember during the Obasanjo period, the government spent billions of Naira to canvass for privatisation, removal of fuel subsidy and floating of Naira. At the end of the day, the government didn’t do anything about it. Again, for fear of the huge political cost that may entail.

“President (Muhammadu) Buhari also tried. Same thing with President (Goodluck) Jonathan, but none of them was able to meaningfully confront a major strategic area of our economy — which is the consumption of the money we were making from oil and also the money we were also using to subsidise consumption through subsidised forex regime.

“On May 29th 2023, President Bola Tinubu courageously and boldly announced the removal of fuel subsidy. Some people said, well, it was too fatal that he should have avoided doing it because of the likely impact on the economy. The same thing on the removal of floating the denier.

“You know, statesmen are always concerned about the long term impact of reforms, politicians are always concerned about winning and therefore always avoid taking painful decisions.

“President Bola Tinubu, of course, we know his antecedent. He boldly removed the oil subsidy and the reason for that is this, for every dollar we spend on oil subsidy, we are consuming the money we made,”he said.

Adebayo noted that before 2023, most state governors were borrowing money to pay salaries but the reverse is now the case while resources are deployed to developmental projects.

“All state governors are embarking on massive infrastructure development. You may not agree on their emphasis, but the fact is that they have a lot more resources to work with. The same thing with local governments.

“What happened with removal of subsidy, therefore, is to remove money from consumption to investment, to production. That is what most sane leaders all over the world do. They free money from consumption to production.

“Of course, there was an immediate impact on prices, but as we have seen the last one year or thereabout even the prices of petroleum are already responding to the dynamics of the interplay of the free market system,”he said.

Chairman Progressive local government chairmen Forum, Dr. Mustapha Jibrin, called on party leaders to propagate the policies and achievements of the Tinubu administration, assuring continued support for the Institute’s objectives.