With Nigeria believed to be exploring the possibility of joining the economic bloc, BRICS (Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa), Economic Experts have opined that the proposed membership would serve the nation well by way of diversifying its trade markets.
The President, Upriver Needys Empirical Solution Centre (UNESC) Foundation, Professor Williams Ijoma has said it’s high time Nigeria joined BRICS for a rescue from the clutches of poverty and a gateways to rapid development and global influence.
The elite Professor spoke at a one-day Summit organized by UNESC Foundation in collaboration with Universal Migration Enlightenment Center (UMEC) on Nigeria’s proposed membership of BRICS.
The Summit is themed: ‘BRICS+ and Global South Collaboration; Problems and Prospects.’
While calling on Stakeholders to work collaboratively towards ensuring that Nigeria becomes a member of BRICS, Professor Ijoma, who also doubles as the President of the Universal Migration Enlightenment Center (UMEC), said it would save Nigerians from selfish economic policies of the West.
He said: “Let me state equivocally that Nigeria is ripe to becoming a member of the organisation.
“It is important to emphasize here that we must all work together, to achieve the set goal of becoming a member of BRICS, thereby putting Nigeria back to global reckoning and freeing itself from economic strangulation policies of the West.”
According to him, BRICS countries operate as an organization that seeks to further economic cooperation amongst member nations and increase their economic and political standing in the world.
“The BRICS nations offer a source of foreign expansion for firms and strong returns for institutional investors.
“The organization seeks to deepen economic cooperation between the member countries and stand in contrast to the Western sphere of power,” he said.
According to him, the alliance has a set of joint priorities which includes:
“Working to resolve regional problems, such as the Iranian nuclear program and conflicts in Libya, Syria, and Afghanistan .
“Tackling financial and economic issues like reforms at the World Bank and International Monetary Fund (IMF) among others .”
On his part, Prof. Maurice Okoli of the North Eastern Federal University Russia, while addressing Journalists on the sidelines of the event, explained that joining BRICS would grow the Nigerian economy and stabilize the Naira.
“As a country you can belong to so many organizations. What you are looking for are ways to help grow your economy and make sure your people economically benefit from what is happening in the world.
“One of the reasons why BRICS was formed was to explore ways to stay away from the dollar. You know the dollar is a reserve currency.
“BRICS is of the idea that countries should deal with each other with their local currency. There are 54 countries in Africa, they cannot trade in their local currency, they have to look for dollars. This is not good for the African economy.
“If you are in Nigeria, you know what it takes to look for a dollar . Even local traders in the village hike the prices of their goods and if you ask them they will tell you the depreciation of Naira to the dollar,” he said.
