Embassy of Belgium in Nigeria

Brussels, Belgium🇧🇪

| 🇧🇪 Each week, we share the latest Belgian news.

1️⃣ In the under-25 category, a Belgian rider dominates international show jumping competitions. 🔗 https://focusonbelgium.be/en/sport/rider-thibeau-spits-world-number-one © Pixabay

2️⃣A rare drawing by Peter Paul Rubens has made it to the museum in Antwerp dedicated to him. 🔗 https://focusonbelgium.be/en/culture/rubenshuis-acquires-rare-drawing-handwritten-letter © Rubenshuis

3️⃣ On the clay courts of Paris, new Belgian tennis figures are taking their first steps in a Grand Slam tournament.🔗 https://focusonbelgium.be/en/sport/tennis-belgiums-next-generation-rise-blockx-and-collignon © Belga

4️⃣ Who said flax was a thing of the past? In the Belgian province of West Flanders, it’s a booming industry.🔗 https://focusonbelgium.be/en/business/flax-making-comeback-belgium © Pixabay

5️⃣ With Virginie Efira more dazzling than ever and Emmanuel Macchia— the breakthrough discovery of director Lukas Dhont—Belgian cinema shone brightly on the Croisette. 🔗 https://focusonbelgium.be/en/international/belgian-cinema-spotlight-cannes-film-festival © Shutterstock

Otobong Nkanga, one of the most prominent members of the Nigerian diaspora in Belgium, currently has a major exhibition with the name ‘I dreamed of you in colours’. It ran in the Musée d’Art Moderne in Paris earlier this year, and can currently be visited at rhe Musée cantonal des Beaux Arts behind the main train station in Lausanne, Switzerland. That is also where our ambassador attended Otobong’s performance Solid Maneuvers yesterday - an artistic meditation about ageing, minerals and work routines.

Earlier today in Zaria, Kaduna State. Happy Eid el-Kabir/Eid-ul-adha!

After the indeed colourful and fabulous Zaria Durbar, ambassador Pieter Leenknegt enjoyed the substantial exchanges his Italian, Dutch, Swiss, Austrian colleagues and himself were granted with HRH the Emir of Zazzau. This traditional ruler in one of the territoriallly vastest emirates in Nigeria is a former Nigerian ambassador to Thailand 🇹🇭 and Myanmar 🇲🇲, and since 2020 in his current royal role a crucial focal point for all kinds of mediation processes and alternative dispute settlement procedures in a not so easy part of his own country.

Theme of this year's Brussels Flower Carpet revealed The iconic display will return to the Grand Place in August.

🇧🇪 Each week, our colleagues from share the latest Belgian news.

In this week’s Bank Holiday Edition ☀️

1️⃣ After her world crown in 2025, the young Belgian has seized the European title and confirmed that she truly is the world’s number one in taekwondo.
🔗 https://focusonbelgium.be/en/sport/taekwondo-sarah-chaari-claims-third-european-title ©Association belge francophone de taekwondo

2️⃣Steven Lowette, a physics professor from the University of Brussels (VUB) will take on an important role at CERN, the site of the Large Hadron Collider.
🔗 https://focusonbelgium.be/en/science/belgian-professor-gets-important-role-cern ©Pixabay

3️⃣ As the FIFA world cup is fast approaching, Belgian national team manager Rudy Garcia has announced his selection.
🔗 https://focusonbelgium.be/en/sport/these-red-devils-will-conquer-world-cup-summer ©Pixabay

4️⃣ Researchers from the University of Leuven have discovered a protein that can predict a relapse in Crohn’s disease after an operation.
🔗 https://focusonbelgium.be/en/science/crohns-disease-breakthrough-ku-leuven-researchers ©Pexels

5️⃣ Enjoy a drink high above the city, eyes fixed on the capital, while spending a great moment on Brussels’ most beautiful rooftops — including the largest in Europe.
🔗 https://focusonbelgium.be/en/lifestyle/europes-largest-rooftop ©Pexels

🇳🇬 On Sunday, our Embassy team experienced Kogi traditions and heritage together with the ambassadors of Denmark, Italy and Spain.

🎭 Through attending traditional masquerades of several ethnic groups in Ihima, we witnessed the community’s embodiment of deities, gods and ancestors. Accompanied by intense drumming, chants and acrobatic dancing, the masquerades serve as an enactment of spiritual law and historic identity.

Some masquerades come for cleansing, some for disciplining, some for pure innocent entertainment. Some decide not to show up until the time is ripe. Contrary to their counterparts in more southern parts of Nigeria, masquerades here come not in groups but as individuals, dressed up in years, decades or even centuries old unwashed clothes, but they also bring hordes of supporters as well as fleeing crowds.

Performers who came over all the way from Delta State closed the event with music and a dancing spectacle.

🙏🏼We are grateful for the very warm welcome by the Ihima communities and for the organisation by Kogi Central Senator Akpoti-Uduaghan, who acted as our cultural translator and made it an experience to never forget.

Last Saturday, the political and economic team of our Embassy together with the ambassadors of Denmark, Italy and Spain explored the confluence of the rivers Niger and Benue in Lokoja - that almost mythical spot, heraldically present on each and every coat of arms of virtually any Nigerian federal institution, has been so crucial in the history of Nigeria that even the name “Nigeria” was coined overlooking it.

The waters of Benue and Niger come with slightly different colors because of the different concentrations and content of sediment, and with a visible dividing line on the water’s surface for a while.

Making the Niger navigable again all the way from the ocean to Lokoja would restore a powerful transport axis into the country’s overall arsenal, and European and Belgian expertise can be put to good use in this regard.

Our heartfelt gratitude goes to the National Inland Waterways Authority and the Hon. Senator for Kogi Central who made this very insightful bit of navigation possible, and the beauty of the natural surroundings tangible for us foreign guests.

On 17 May, we marked the International Day Against Homophobia, Biphobia and Transphobia ( ), under this year’s theme: “At the Heart of Democracy.”

Democracy flourishes when everyone can live freely, safely, and with dignity.

Around the world, many LGBTQI persons still face discrimination, violence, stigmatization, and restrictions on their freedoms simply for being who they are. Belgium remains committed to promoting and protecting the human rights of LGBTQI persons, and to supporting societies where diversity, inclusion, and respect are valued.

It is a reminder that inclusion, equality, and human dignity must remain at the heart of our societies.