Abuja, Dec 04: Queen Elizabeth II, attending a Commonwealth summit, arrived in Nigeria today, her first visit to the former British colony in nearly 50 years. Singers and traditional dancers with faces painted white greeted the 77-year-old British monarch at the airport in Nigeria's capital, Abuja.
Nigerian President Olusegun Obasanjo, in green cap and flowing blue robe, welcomed Elizabeth, sharing a dais with her and Prince Philip as a Nigerian military band played ‘God save the Queen’. An honor guard delivered a 21-gun salute.
Elizabeth and other world leaders are converging on Abuja for a British Commonwealth summit opening Friday.
The British Queen's last visit was in 1956, when she was just four years into her reign.
Nigeria then was four years away from independence. The young queen, also accompanied then by Prince Philip, stayed 20 days on that first trip, and she and her husband sponsored two young Nigerian orphans.
This visit will last only days. At least in part because of security concerns, the queen's closest contact with ordinary people this time is expected to be a visit Thursday to a re-created village, populated largely by actors.
Bureau Report