Relations between Nigeria and the Republic of Uganda on people to people basis dates back to the colonial era when as students in London and during war campaigns by Britain, the colonial master, and citizens of both countries interacted informally. These initial contacts received a further boost when both countries attained independence in the 1960s. Relations between Nigeria and Uganda have been very warm, fruitful and cordial since then. The two countries hold identical views on major political, economic and social issues of international concern. They also hold common membership of such intergovernmental organisations like the African Union, Commonwealth, Non-Aligned Movement, World Trade Organisation (WTO), among others. The relations also enjoyed an early boost in 1963 when the late Sir Justice Udo Udoma was deployed to Uganda as the country’s First African Chief Justice, a position he would go on to hold for six years (1963-1969).

Actual diplomatic relations were elevated to Ambassadorial level in 1982 when Nigeria appointed its first High Commissioner to the Republic of Uganda. Since then, there has also been deepened exchange of presidential and other high-profile visits between Nigeria and the Republic of Uganda. In 2011 both President Goodluck Ebele Jonathan and President Yoweri Kaguta Museveni exchanged visits by attending each other’s swearing-in ceremony that year. Also in 2013, President Museveni accepted an invitation from President Jonathan to be a guest lecturer at the convocation ceremony of the Nigerian Institute of Advanced Legal Studies held on 4th December 2013. President Museveni also honored an invitation to deliver an inaugural lecture at the National Defence College, Abuja on 16th September 2017. Also, Vice President Yemi Osinbajo represented President Muhammadu Buhari at the 6th inauguration of President Yoweri Kaguta Museveni in Kampala, Uganda on 12th May 2o21.

Other high-profile visits to Uganda were embarked upon by former Head of State Yakubu Gowon and former President Olusegun Obasanjo in 2014 and 2015. President Obasanjo also headed the Commonwealth Election Monitoring Group during the February 2016 Presidential and Parliamentary elections in Uganda. On the other hand, in September 2021, former President Goodluck Jonathan accepted an appointment in Uganda as the Chancellor of Cavendish University, Kampala