Nigeria Restates Intention to Join the BRICS Group 

Nigeria reiterates its goal of joining the BRICS group. Nigeria’s Minister of Foreign Affairs, Yusuf Tuggar, stated to the media in February that Nigeria is hoping to submit an application to become a member of the exclusive group.

He reiterated very recently that the nation is still committed to joining the BRICS within the next two years, as he has been doing since 2023. Nigeria also seeks to strengthen its ties to Russia.

In an interview with the Russian news publication Sputnik Africa, Yusuf Tuggar noted that Nigeria is planning to apply to join the BRICS group of nations once the required internal processes are completed.

“We intend to do it. Like I said before, Nigeria runs a deliberative democratic system. So there tends to be a lot of engagement with different interest groups, different internal bodies before such an action is taken,” Tuggar said.

He said that the 2023 BRICS Summit in South Africa, which the nation’s vice president, Kashim Shettima, attended, was extremely important. He added that the West would not have any influence on the nation’s decision to join the BRICS group.

“You have to understand one thing: Nigeria is not the sort of country that succumbs to pressure. We have been single-minded since our inception. Since we became independent in 1960, we have joined the non-aligned movement. We do what we feel is right for us as a country; we are not dictated to by anyone,” Yusuf Tuggar said.

Nigeria and Russia want to collaborate on nuclear energy projects. The minister said that both sides are taking direct action and training people. He also revealed that efforts are being made to speed up the process by the Nigerian Atomic Energy Commission and its partners in Russia’s Rosatom.

In addition, Nigeria seeks to strengthen ties with Russia in non-energy domains such as industrial nuclear technology, medicine, and agriculture.