President Tinubu’s historic visit to Saint Lucia advances Africa-Caribbean trade and diplomacy

On a weekend in March 2022, I traveled to Badagry, a historic town bordering Nigeria and Benin, on assignment for Radio France Internationale.

On getting inside the Badagry Heritage Museum, I was greeted with artifacts and stories of the transatlantic slave trade. The tour guide spoke to me, narrating how the slave trade in Badagry took place and the ancestral ties linking West Africa to the black diaspora across Americas, including the Caribbean. That moment planted a seed that has now come full circle. Thanks to President Bola Tinubu’s recent state visit to Saint Lucia, a Caribbean nation significantly connected to those shared roots.

Today’s deep dive explores how those centuries-old bonds are now morphing into diplomatic and economic ties, opening a new chapter in Africa–Caribbean relations.

Let's dive in.

Efforts to integrate Caribbean states into Africa’s evolving trade and investment landscape are gaining traction after Nigeria announced formal diplomatic relations with Saint Lucia during President Bola Tinubu’s historic state visit.

While trade volumes between Africa and the Caribbean remain limited, the foundations for growth are taking shape. According to the Observatory of Economic Complexity, Saint Lucia’s exports to Nigeria rose from just $74 in 2018 to $2,480 in 2023. Meanwhile, overall trade between the African continent and the Caribbean Community (CARICOM) accounts for only 3% of CARICOM’s total commerce, as per 2019, underscoring significant room for expansion.

“Together, we can leverage our respective strengths to attract investments, create jobs, and foster development,” President Tinubu told a joint session of Saint Lucia’s Parliament with Heads of Government of the Organisation of Eastern Caribbean States (OECS) on June 30, framing his visit as “a symbolic bridge” to foster deeper ties with the Eastern Caribbean.

As part of that commitment, Tinubu announced Nigeria’s openness to visa waivers for diplomatic and official passport holders from the Organisation of Eastern Caribbean States (OECS).

“I respectfully urge a reciprocal gesture to enable smoother movement of officials and foster institutional cooperation,” he said, signaling Nigeria’s intent to reduce bureaucratic barriers and promote seamless governmental engagement.

Saint Lucian Prime Minister Philip J. Pierre, welcomed the visit as a moment of “freedom and celebration,” noting the enduring cultural and ancestral bonds between West Africa and the Caribbean. “Our people have been separated, but nothing has ever been able to separate us spiritually and culturally from West Africa,” Pierre said.

He called Saint Lucia “a small fragment of Africa,” and made a case for cooperation in tourism, fintech, sports, renewable energy, and medical collaboration.

Though the country is a major tourist destination, hosting over one million visitors annually, only a few come from Nigeria. Pierre attributes this in part to the absence of direct air links. “This connectivity would boost tourism and enhance trade and investment, deepen people-to-people exchanges, and the spiritual and cultural links between our populations.”

But beyond diplomatic outreach, words will need to be matched with action.

Recent institutional developments are helping to build momentum. In June last year, the African Union and CARICOM signed a Memorandum of Understanding during Afreximbank’s 31st Annual Meeting in Nassau, Bahamas, bringing the two regional blocs one step closer to a formal Free Trade Agreement.

Afreximbank is also investing in infrastructure to bolster these ties. Its African Trade Centres (AATCs), including a newly operational hub in Abuja and a planned facility in Bridgetown, Barbados, are designed to streamline cross-regional logistics, financing, and investment.

“With the African Free Trade Zone Agreement, we are ending up with a common market which is being linked with CARICOM,” said Wale Tinubu, CEO of Nigerian Oil producer Oando, in an interview with CNBC in June last year in the Bahamas, highlighting the immense opportunities that expanding the African Continental Free Trade Area (AfCFTA) to the Caribbean could unlock.

“The logic there is that there are so many opportunities for African businesses to be able to expand their operations into CARICOM and use the Caribbean market as a platform to get into the north American market, as well as the south American market.”

Wale Tinubu stressed the crucial role of the public sector in enabling this integration. “Trade comes before diplomacy,” he noted. “The essence of diplomacy is to facilitate trade. What we’ve seen is an institution like Afreximbank leading the path, making life easier for indigenous African champions to do business in CARICOM.”

With the AfriCaribbean Trade and Investment Forum (ACTIF2025) scheduled later this month (29-29 July, 2025) in St. George’s, Grenada, leaders will be looking to formalize frameworks that translate historical affinity into economic reality.

And as Africa seeks new trade corridors and the Caribbean aims to diversify its economic partnerships, the bridges built in Saint Lucia may become cornerstones for a new chapter in Afro-Caribbean integration.

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P.S. If you’re curious about my reporting trip to Badagry back in 2022, you can read my story for Radio France Internationale here. And if you've got a few more minutes, tune in to the sound-rich podcast version via Africa Calling (link at the end of the article).