Tinubu should be commended for rejecting BRICS, says Okechukwu

President Bola Tinubu deserves praise for not requesting to join the organisation, according to the Director General of Voice of Nigeria (DG, VON), Mr. Osita Okechukwu, amid conflicting reactions to the alleged rejection of Nigeria’s bid to join the BRICS economic bloc.

Argentina, Egypt, Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates, and other prospective developing nations were accepted into the bloc at the 15th BRICS Summit in South Africa, stoking rumours that Nigeria’s candidature was turned down because it did not meet certain essential membership requirements.

But Okechukwu, a founding member of the All Progressives Congress (APC), said in a statement made available to Obasanjonews24 on Sunday that Nigeria would be better off keeping her long-standing stance as a non-aligned.

He emphasised that he was overjoyed when His Excellency Kashim Shettima, the Vice President, set the record straight by stating, “So far, we have not filed for membership of BRICS. Furthermore, it is significantly influenced by the fact that my principal, President Bola Ahmed Tinubu, is a true democrat who values reaching agreements.

Although one has nothing against the BRICS nations—Brazil, Russia, India, China, and our brothers in South Africa—Nigeria will gain greatly if we stick to our long-standing stance in favour of multilateral diplomacy, according to Okechukwu.

He emphasised the BRICS’s worldview roots by saying, “Records have it that the BRICS, a group made up of Brazil, Russia, India, China, and subsequently South Africa, was founded to promote economic progress outside the Breton Woods system.

Ironically, Goldman Sachs came up with the name in 2001, and in 2006 the firm launched an equity fund for BRICS investors. Since then, the organisation has founded the New Development Bank (NDB).

When it was suggested that the primary objective of Nigeria’s BRICS membership was economic growth, Okechukwu said that while economic growth is vital, it shouldn’t come at the expense of Nigeria’s cherished freedom and rule of law, which the BRICS leadership despises.

“While it is true that the BRICS may promote economic growth, neither the West nor Russia nor China are Father Christmas, therefore our fate is in our own hands. Most significantly, we cannot ignore the potential threat to the BRICS alliance’s beloved principles of freedom and the rule of law.

Otherwise, Okechukwu observed, “not much economic growth was promoted, as at the last count, the New Development Bank (NDB), a multilateral lending organisation established in 2014, based in Shanghai, had $25bn in registered assets in 2022, less than a tenth of the World Bank’s total.

In light of this, he urged President Tinubu to uphold Nigeria’s multilateral diplomatic approach, which he claimed “allows Nigeria today and in the future to operate and relate freely with all blocs and ultimately guard jealously our national interest.”