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The BRICS expands and Nigeria is not on the list

By Kasirim Nwuke

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Posted on August 25, 2023 15:27

Flags of South Africa, Brazil, Russia, India and China at the 2023 BRICS Summit at the Sandton Convention Centre in Johannesburg on 24 August 2023. (AFP/Marco Longari)
Flags of South Africa, Brazil, Russia, India and China at the 2023 BRICS Summit at the Sandton Convention Centre in Johannesburg on 24 August 2023. (AFP/Marco Longari)

While Egypt and Ethiopia were welcomed into the exclusive club of nations destined to dominate the world economy by 2050, Nigeria was left out. Why be surprised?

Cyril Matemola Ramaphosa, the president of the Republic of South Africa and host of the 2023 BRICS summit, announced on Thursday the names of countries admitted to membership of the exclusive BRICS Club.

The admitted countries, six in all, are Saudi Arabia, Iran, Egypt, the United Arab Emirates, Argentina and Ethiopia. Nigeria, one of the more than 20 countries that had applied for membership, was not on the list.

This must be humiliating for the current Nigerian government and for a country that fancies itself as the ‘Giant of Africa’. Loads of Nigerians, too, expected that their country would be admitted into membership.

Not giant enough

Confident that it would be, the government dispatched the vice president, Kashim Shettima, to South Africa to attend the summit and bring back the good news. Given the sycophancy and ‘eye service’ that characterise Nigeria’s media and politics, praise

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