The top Political Science expert, Bolaji Akinyemi, mentioned that South Africa is trying to lower Nigeria’s global ranking through unfair competition.
Prof Akinyemi, who used to lead the Nigerian Institute of International Affairs (NIIA), shared his views on Channels Television’s Sunday Politics show. He believes Nigeria deserves to be part of BRICS+, a powerful group of nine countries, but South Africa is holding them back with their negative actions.
An elderly person suggested that Nigeria should have been a member of BRICS from the start. He mentioned discussing this idea with a President who indicated that Nigeria would not ask to join BRICS.
The elderly person felt that the President at the time should explain why Nigeria did not become part of the group. He believed that the reason Nigeria was not included in the second group of countries invited to join BRICS was due to negative competition between South Africa and Nigeria, which was not Nigeria’s fault. Despite Nigeria’s efforts to help South Africa, the elderly person felt that South Africa was trying to undermine Nigeria whenever possible.
The big question is who will get a permanent seat on the United Nations Security Council from Africa. The expert said that since Nigeria is not part of BRICS anymore, the other BRICS countries will likely support South Africa. This is why South Africa is working hard to win this seat. The expert suggested that Nigeria should focus on building a strong economy like South Africa, which is a big player in Africa, before trying to join BRICS. He mentioned that Nigerian leaders need to make Nigeria more industrialized and stop exporting raw materials without adding value to them.
South Africa, with a population of about 62.4 million and a GDP of $373.23bn, is part of BRICS+ and the G20, while Nigeria, with 227 million people and a GDP of $252.74bn, is not part of either group. BRICS was formed in 2006 to unite developing economies like Brazil, Russia, India, China, and South Africa in order to challenge the political and economic dominance of wealthier nations in North America and Western Europe. In January, BRICS+ welcomed four new countries into its group: Egypt, Ethiopia, Iran, and the United Arab Emirates. BRICS+ now makes up around 37% of the world’s GDP.
