Relationship dossier
Italy
Nigeria
Relationship assessment
Italy and Nigeria maintain a constructive relationship with cooperation spanning several policy areas.
Italy toward Nigeria
+35The Italian government has pursued cooperation with Nigeria in areas including energy, agriculture, education and security. Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni’s January 2024 visit to Nigeria provided a high-level setting for discussing expanded bilateral cooperation.
Nigeria toward Italy
+35The Nigerian government has engaged with Italy on bilateral cooperation in areas including energy, agriculture, education and security. President Bola Tinubu’s January 2024 meeting with Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni reflected Nigerian participation in efforts to expand cooperation.
Overall relationship
+35The relationship features high-level engagement and practical cooperation across several sectors, rather than a prominent pattern of bilateral confrontation. The scale, durability and implementation of the initiatives are not sufficiently clear to characterize the partnership as close.
How to read these scores
Scores are rough judgments, not objective measurements or current verification. Directional scores describe government policy and conduct, not public opinion. The overall score is an independent estimate, never an average.
- −100
- Extreme sustained hostility
- −50
- Substantially adversarial
- 0
- Mixed or neutral, supported by knowledge
- +50
- Substantially cooperative
- +100
- Exceptionally close sustained partnership
“Not assessed” means there is no recorded score. Pair existence makes no claim about diplomatic recognition or established relations.
Relationship context
Overview
Italy and Nigeria have pursued practical bilateral cooperation, including in energy, agriculture, education and security. A notable recent initiative was Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni’s January 2024 visit to Nigeria, during which the governments discussed expanding cooperation. The relationship appears constructive, although the breadth and implementation of bilateral initiatives are not clear enough to support a stronger assessment.
Key developments
Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni visited Nigeria and met President Bola Tinubu, with discussions focused on strengthening cooperation in areas including energy, agriculture, education and security.
Major uncertainties
- The scope and implementation of bilateral cooperation agreements are unclear.
- The continuity and results of initiatives discussed during the January 2024 visit are uncertain.