By Milton Tella – Ahead of the coronation in London on Friday, 5 May 2023, leaders of the 56 Commonwealth member countries, including Nigeria, met with His Majesty, King Charles lll at Malborough House.
The Rt Hon. Patricia Scotland KC, Secretary-General of the Commonwealth, on behalf of the Commonwealth family offered deep gratitude to His Majesty’s active support of the Commonwealth for a stronger and more sustainable future for all.
His Excellency, Ambassador Sarafa Tunji Isola OFR, High Commissioner of Nigeria to the United Kingdom, congratulated King Charles lll on behalf of his country Nigeria and welcomed him as the new head of the Commonwealth ahead of the coronation. He said that Nigeria pledges to support the empowerment of young people, as 2023 is the ‘Year of Youth’.
Speaking on CNN One World programme with Zain Asher, Ambassador Isola spoke about the future of the Commonwealth under HRM King Charles III.
The High Commissioner of Nigeria to the UK, His Excellency, Ambassador Sarafa Tunji Isola said, “Nigeria is involved with the Commonwealth Leaders Meeting with the focus on youth development.
The ties between Nigeria and Britain are over a century old. In Africa today, Nigeria happens to be the country with the largest Commonwealth population, with about 220 million people, that is very significant. Since Nigeria became a member of the Commonwealth in October 1960, we have participated in all the activities of the Commonwealth.
Nigeria is currently on the executive of the Commonwealth and Nigeria is presently the chairman of the accreditation committee. In the Commonwealth Games, we are quite involved, In the Commonwealth Association of Universities and so many organs of the Commonwealth we play very active roles.
Since Nigeria became a member of the Commonwealth, Nigeria has participated in every organ of the Commonwealth.
The agitation for reparation has been on the table for a long time even before the death of Her Majesty, Queen Elizabeth 11. The level of agitation has been raised with the demise of the Queen and now it is seen as an agenda for the King. Wherever there are challenges and agitations, the best thing is to sit at a table.
l must take this opportunity to appreciate the fact that some of Nigeria’s artefacts have been returned. Cambridge started it; Aberdeen has done it, Horniman Museum as well and so many are following in the next couple of months. These are efforts that we regard as correcting mistakes of the past. In Nigeria we don’t get involved in unnecessary agitation, we present our case and move on.
As Prince of Wales, King Charles lll was very active in the area of climate change. As far as we are concerned in Nigeria; we cherish his kingship, because he was involved with the Green Wall project that is working on the afforestation of the Northern part of Nigeria, the desert area and the drying up of Lake Chad. Most importantly, we see him as someone who is ready to look into issues with human empathy that is what is important in any leadership. We are quite optimistic and that optimism stems from the fact that the president, Muhammadu Buhari GCFR, of the Federal Republic Nigeria is currently here in the UK with a very powerful delegation for the coronation and that signifies that as far as Nigeria is concerned, we look forward to a very robust relationship with Britain and in particular in the areas of business activities and exchange of cultural programmes.”
In another interview with Channels TV, Ambassador Isola gave an insight into Nigeria-UK relations as well as the colourful coronation of HRM King Charles lll and Queen Camilla.
The Ambassador congratulated King Charles lll on his ascension to the throne. He said, “King Charles lll is not new in the monarchy. He has been around for a while as Prince of Wales and this has really placed him in a position to understand the issues and challenges that are ahead of him.
In recent times, British institutions have taken interest in returning our artefacts. That is also something l believe, the palace will also focus on.
As far as Nigeria is concerned, the King has Nigeria in his heart. A couple of times at Buckingham Palace, he has asked after our president. He has taken interest in Nigeria. He has visited Nigeria on a couple of occasions. Nigeria is looking forward to a more robust relationship particularly, in the areas of business activities. l have on a few occasions, brought to the attention of the British government that the flow of direct investment to Nigeria is not good enough for our relationship. We therefore look forward to increasing business related activities away from the goods and services sector to foreign direct investment. All these are issues of direct concern to His Majesty the King. We look forward to having a better relationship on these and other issues.”
His Excellency, Ambassador Isola further said, “We will be looking forward to some positive development to do with the multilateral side during the reign of HRM King Charles lll. These are issues that are dear to the King. Nigeria expects more from the Commonwealth, especially, with HRM King Charles lll as the head. Nigeria occupies a prominent place in the Commonwealth and we look forward to a robust relationship.
Nigeria is committed to the Commonwealth in many ways. We have the same common law with Britain in terms of law and order and that promotes business relationships. Nigeria also still runs on a British curriculum, many of our educational institutions still share the same curriculum. To an average Nigerian, among countries in the western world, Britain is still seen as number one.
Our diaspora community in the UK is very vibrant. Over 250,000 British Nigerians are here in Britain. The population of Nigerians currently in the UK is over 1.5 million, which is far more than the population of some countries of the world.
Nigerians are making giant strides in various facets of society in the UK. We have seven British Nigerian Members of Parliament as at today and among the British Councillors, Nigeria has more representation in many of the constituencies in the just concluded local elections.
In terms of foreign students, Nigeria has about 35,000 undergraduates and postgraduates. The presence of Nigerians in the UK is so significant to the extent that nurturing and deepening the relationship will be pursued vigorously under HRM King Charles lll.“
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