We are a month away from key presidential elections in Nigeria, which is of concern to hundreds of thousands of Nigerian Londoners.

Nigeria is Africa’s largest economy, most populous country, and the continent’s political powerhouse. The UK shares strong cultural and historical ties with it. British-Nigerian superstars are thriving in the music industry, fashion and sports. Watford’s Anthony Joshua is as popular in Nigeria as he is here.

While London remains one of the largest sources of remittances into Nigeria, the City is increasingly looking to the country for opportunities for co-operation, investment, and growth. Annual trade is worth £4.2 billion and Dangote Cement, the continent’s biggest cement producer, is expected to list on the London Stock Exchange in 2019. In recent months Theresa May and the Prince of Wales have visited the Nigerian capital, Abuja.

So far the election on February 16 has failed to catch fire and there is no risk of a Donald Trump or Jair Bolsonaro coming to power. The two chief protagonists, both in their seventies, are the incumbent, President Muhammadu Buhari of the All Progressives Congress, in office since 2015, and Atiku Abubakar of the People’s Democratic Party, who was vice-president for that party but ran against it in 2007.

Buhari was a military ruler in the early Eighties and has messianic support in the north. His mission to abolish the Islamist Boko Haram in his first year continues. He is running on an anti-corruption platform and is arguing that infrastructure is improving. The second Niger bridge is being built. The country is now self-sufficient in rice, which was the cause of import scandals in the past.

Atiku is a billionaire about whom questions have been asked. He is campaigning on moving forward the economy and putting food on the table for Nigeria’s poor, who have otherwise backed Buhari. But although he is remembered for opening up the country’s telecoms market so that the average citizen often has three smartphones, Atiku carries baggage from the PDP’s 16 years in power, not least the mismanagement of oil revenues.

Without much to go on in opinion polls, it looks as if Buhari will win, though turnout is traditionally low and younger voters wish there were a wider choice. Huge problems, including inequity, the environment and an epileptic electricity supply remain, but many argue that Buhari should be given a chance to see his reforms through.

There may not be a million Nigerians in Greater London, as a mayor of Brent claimed in 2014, but there are many brilliant writers and contributors in finance, IT, the creative industries and among the care workers. These Londoners will watch with special interest next month. So should the rest of us.