Nigerian President Bola Tinubu met French President Emmanuel Macron on Thursday for a private dinner at the Élysée Palace in Paris, in the latest of several engagements between the two leaders since Tinubu took office in 2023.
The meeting was disclosed on Friday by presidential aide Bayo Onanuga, who shared photographs from the dinner showing Tinubu with Macron and France’s first lady, Brigitte Macron.
The dinner took place while Tinubu was in Paris during the second leg of a three-week annual leave in Europe, having arrived in the French capital after an earlier stop in London. According to Onanuga, the gathering reflected the longstanding relationship between Nigeria and France.
Tinubu, in a separate post, said the conversation reaffirmed “the strong friendship between Nigeria and France” and both countries’ commitment to deepening cooperation, and thanked Macron for his hospitality.
It was the second such meeting between the two leaders in Paris this month; Tinubu also held a private working lunch with Macron at the Élysée Palace on September 10. Nigeria and France have expanded cooperation in recent years across trade, investment and security, with Tinubu saying in March that France was assisting Nigeria with equipment and support to strengthen its security efforts.
