Tinubu Begins Brazil State Visit to Deepen Strategic Partnership

President Bola Tinubu arrived in Brasília, Brazil, on Monday to begin a state visit aimed at strengthening diplomatic, economic, and cultural ties between the two countries.

Tinubu, who flew in from Los Angeles, United States, was received at the Brasília Air Base by senior Brazilian officials, including Ambassador Carlos Sérgio Sobral Duarte, Secretary for Africa and the Middle East, and Ambassador Carlos José Areias Moreno Garcete, Brazil’s envoy to Nigeria. Nigeria’s Minister of State for Foreign Affairs, Bianca Ojukwu, was also part of the welcoming delegation.

Other Nigerian ministers, heads of government agencies, and private sector leaders later joined the president at his hotel ahead of scheduled bilateral meetings and the signing of cooperation agreements.

According to Bayo Onanuga, Special Adviser to the President on Information and Strategy, the official welcome ceremony with full military honours will take place later on Monday at the Planalto Palace. There, President Tinubu and Brazilian President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva will hold private discussions, followed by expanded bilateral talks with senior officials of both governments.

“The leaders will witness the signing of Memoranda of Understanding (MoUs) and address a joint press conference afterwards,” Onanuga said.

During his visit, Tinubu is also expected to meet with the President of the Brazilian Senate, the President of the Chamber of Deputies, and the President of the Supreme Federal Court. He will participate in the Nigeria-Brazil Business Forum, designed to boost trade and investment between the two nations.

Onanuga highlighted that Nigeria and Brazil have enjoyed cordial diplomatic relations since the early 1960s, noting that Brazil was the only Latin American nation represented at Nigeria’s independence celebrations in 1960. Nigeria later opened its embassy in Brazil in 1966.

He recalled that high-level engagements between both countries have increased since President Tinubu assumed office in May 2023. These include Tinubu’s participation at the BRICS Leaders’ Summit in Rio de Janeiro in July 2025 and the G20 Summit in Brazil in November 2024, as well as the visit of Brazilian Vice President Geraldo Alckmin and his wife to Abuja in June 2025 for the Second Session of the Mechanism for Strategic Dialogue.

That dialogue, co-chaired annually by the vice presidents of both countries, produced seven MoUs covering defence, energy, tourism, livestock development, counternarcotics, audio-visual co-production, and renewal of the strategic cooperation mechanism.

Brazil has also emerged as a strategic partner in Nigeria’s food security initiatives. Onanuga pointed to the \$2.5 billion JBS investment signed during the 2024 G20 Summit in Brazil, aimed at strengthening food supply chains and creating jobs for Nigerian youth. He also cited the \$1.1 billion Green Imperative Programme, launched in 2019, which is advancing agricultural mechanisation through the planned supply of 10,000 tractors and 50,000 farm equipment units for local assembly.

Tinubu’s state visit, Onanuga noted, is expected to consolidate these partnerships while opening new avenues for cooperation between Africa’s largest economy and Latin America’s biggest nation.