Singapore President Tharman Shanmugaratnam has invited President Bola Ahmed Tinubu to visit Singapore as both countries seek to deepen bilateral ties and cooperation.
Nigeria’s Permanent Representative to the United Nations, Ambassador Jimoh Ibrahim, disclosed this in a statement issued by the Nigerian Mission House in New York on Friday, September 18, 2026.
Ibrahim said Singapore’s UN envoy, Ambassador Burhan Gafoor, delivered Shanmugaratnam’s invitation during a visit to the Nigerian Permanent Mission.
He thanked the Singaporean government and said he would convey the invitation to Tinubu, expressing confidence that the President would visit Singapore soon.
According to Ibrahim, Nigeria’s economic reforms have attracted international interest, including from Singapore, creating scope for exchanges on national development and multilateral affairs.
He compared Tinubu’s reform programme with Singapore’s transformation under its first Prime Minister, the late Lee Kuan Yew, while saying Nigeria was pursuing changes designed to build a modern state, protect citizens’ interests and expand economic opportunities.
READ ALSO: Tinubu, Macron Hold Private Dinner At Élysée Palace
The latest engagement builds on longstanding ties. In February 2019, former President Muhammadu Buhari sent special envoys Ibrahim Gambari and Muhammadu Indimi to Singapore for bilateral discussions.
The economic relationship was further strengthened by the Nigeria-Singapore Bilateral Investment Treaty, signed in November 2016 and brought into force in August 2025.
Ibrahim also disclosed increased diplomatic engagement at Nigeria’s UN mission, citing recent visits by the British and Guyanese ambassadors before Gafoor’s meeting.
The Nigerian envoy recently assumed the chairmanship of the UN Fifth Committee on Administrative and Budgetary Matters and the Special Committee on Peacekeeping Operations, known as the Committee of 34.
He pledged to uphold fairness, accountability and efficiency, assuring member states that resources under the Fifth Committee would be allocated equitably.
The Fifth Committee handles the UN’s administrative and budgetary affairs, while the Committee of 34 focuses on peacekeeping operations.
The invitation comes as Nigeria and Singapore seek to build on existing diplomatic and economic ties through closer cooperation on development and multilateral affairs.