Over the weekend, Nigeria officially became the ninth member of the BRICS group of nations as a partner country.
- Nigeria becomes the ninth member of the BRICS group of nations as a partner country.
- Nigeria aims to form strategic partnerships with other BRICS countries.
- Nigeria’s membership will focus on trade, investment, energy security, infrastructure development, technology, and climate change,
This would mean that the West African country can now more intricately form strategic partnerships with other BRICS countries which include Brazil, Russia, and India, amongst others.
As a result, the country officially stated that it would be bolstering its economic cooperation with other BRICS nations across different sectors.
Nigeria’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs, on Saturday via a statement, relayed; “The formal acceptance to participate as a partner country [of BRICS] underscores Nigeria’s commitment to fostering international collaboration, leveraging economic opportunities, and advancing strategic partnerships that align with Nigeria’s development objectives.
BRICS, as a collective of major emerging economies, presents a unique platform for Nigeria to enhance trade, investment, and socio-economic cooperation with member countries.”
According to the statement, as seen on Sputnik, the West African country is ready to use its membership to advance shared objectives in trade and investment, energy security, infrastructure development, technology, and climate change.
“This partnership also aligns with our national aspirations for inclusive growth, regional integration, and active participation in shaping a fair and equitable global economic order in line with our ethos of strategic autonomy,” the ministry emphasized.
Nigeria and BRICS
The Nigerian government back in December 2024 ramped up efforts to join BRICS, the G20, the BRICS New Development Bank (NDB).
Ambassador Bianca Odumegwu-Ojukwu, Nigeria’s Minister of State for Foreign Affairs,at the time reiterated interests for Nigeria’s BRICS membership during the Ministerial session of the 11th Nigeria-South Africa Bi-National Commission (BNC) in Cape Town, South Africa.
Earlier in the year, Nigeria had noted that it planned to join the group with or without the West’s stamp of approval.
Nigeria’s current membership falls in line with its original goal, as it had stated back in 2023, that it planned to join BRICS within the next 2 years.
BRICS
The BRICS group, which originally included Brazil, Russia, India, China, and South Africa, has been aggressively trying to restructure the global economic system.
The group’s major goal is to control the worldwide market by expanding its economic power.
To do this, the organization began by assembling the aforementioned initial members, all of whom have a common economic philosophy.
They’ve also resolved to expand the group’s membership to reinforce its cause and increase its efforts to alter the current economic status quo.
