Vice President Kashim Shettima has stated that Nigeria did not apply for membership in the BRICS (Brazil, Russia, India, China, and South Africa).
Shettima stated this just hours after the economic bloc announced six new members: Argentina, Egypt, Ethiopia, Iran, Saudi Arabia, and the United Arab Emirates.
While many questioned why Nigeria did not join the organization, Shettima stated today that the government never requested for BRICS membership.
“So far, we have not applied for the membership of BRICS. And it is majorly informed by the fact that my principal President Bola Ahmed Tinubu is a true democrat that believes in consensus building,” he told Channels Television on the sideline of the BRICS Summit which was held in South Africa.
“There are so many variables that need to be taken into cognizance. We have to evaluate so many tendencies and issues that require engagements with the economic advisory council, the Federal Executive Council, and even the National Assembly before an informed decision towards joining the BRICS would be taken.”
Shettima, who has been representing Nigeria at the summit, also called on Nigerians in South Africa to be law-abiding and to respect the host citizens wherever they live.
The newly admitted countries would become full members from January 1.
“This membership expansion is historic,” said Chinese President Xi Jinping, whose nation is the most powerful in the group of large and populous non-Western economies.
“The expansion is also a new starting point for BRICS cooperation. It will bring new vigour to the BRICS cooperation mechanism and further strengthen the force for world peace and development”.
Ethiopian Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed hailed “a great moment” for his country, Africa’s second-most populated.
Mohammad Jamshidi, senior presidential counselor in Iran, lauded the action as a “historic development and a strategic success” for Tehran’s foreign policy.
Egypt and the United Arab Emirates have also signaled their willingness to collaborate with the loosely defined organization that includes billions of people across four continents and a quarter of the world’s wealth.
