The Nigerian Government earlier directed that all flags at government offices in Nigeria and abroad be flown at half-mast on Sunday and Monday to honour the late British monarch.
President Muhammadu Buhari has said the United Kingdom supported Nigeria against Biafra during the Nigerian Civil War.
Buhari noted this while eulogising the late Queen Elizabeth II, praising the monarch for the support that ensured Nigeria remained united in the 1960s despite a civil war.
The civil war, also known as the Nigerian-Biafran War or the Biafran War was fought between Nigeria and the Republic of Biafra, a secessionist state which had declared its independence from Nigeria in 1967. The war lasted for three years, with 500,000 to 2 million Biafrans said to have died of starvation.
Buhari, a military man at the time, fought on the side of Nigeria in the war.
Queen Elizabeth II of England died last Thursday at the age of 96.
The Nigerian Government earlier directed that all flags at government offices in Nigeria and abroad be flown at half-mast on Sunday and Monday to honour the late British monarch.
The President was represented by the Secretary to the Government of the Federation on Saturday, Boss Mustapha, during a condolence visit to Catriona Laing, the British High Commissioner to Nigeria, at her residence in Abuja, Sunday Punch reports.
He said, “We have maintained very close ties with the monarchy. She was a very gracious and elegant queen. For the purposes of remembrance, the fact is that 90 per cent of Nigerians do not know any monarch in the UK other than the queen. We welcome the new king and we look forward to a strong working relationship with the UK.
"They have been a very strong ally even in the midst of our difficult time during the Biafran war; they stood for the indivisibility of the Nigerian state, supported and ensured that we overcame that problem.
"We are partnering to deal with the insurgency so that it doesn’t overwhelm us. They have always stood as a very strong ally."
"The head of the commonwealth to which we belong. Not only that, she was the head of state for three years from 1960 to 1963 and when we became a republic she ceased to be. We have had very close ties with the queen. She visited the country twice; first in 1953 when she spent about 20 days visiting different towns, and the second one was in 2003 during president Olusegun Obasanjo’s tenure," he added.
The British High Commissioner revealed on Friday that a condolence book would be opened at the High Commission Office in the Central Business District area of Abuja from September 12 to 16 and on September 19 from 11am to 3pm.