Nigerian President Bola Tinubu’s special adviser told Lagos-based Channels Television that the partnership, which became official Friday, is pivotal to promoting trade, investment, food security, infrastructure development and energy security.
The adviser, Daniel Bwala, said the pact enables Nigeria to forge deeper strategic relationships with BRICS members beyond traditional bilateral partnerships.
BRICS — an acronym for the founding members of Brazil, Russia, India and China, with South Africa added a year later — is a political and economic bloc. BRICS introduced the "partner country” category in October. Partner nations are a step below full membership.
Economist Emeka Okengwu praised the arrangement.
"Look at the members of BRICS and the economies that they bring to the table. Brazil is probably the biggest producer of livestock and its products globally, then to aircraft, aviation and renewable energy,” Okengwu said. “Look at Russia, India, China and South Africa, Egypt and Ethiopia. These are big populations.
If you put them together, they probably bring 10 times the value of whatever Europe and America can give to you," he said.
In total, the 10 BRICS member states make up 40% of the global economy and 55% of the global population.
In a statement, Nigeria’s Foreign Affairs Ministry said that the country’s participation in BRICS reflects its commitment to leveraging global economic opportunities to advance national development goals.
Last December, Nigeria intensified efforts to join not only BRICS but also the G20 organization of the world’s major economies and the BRICS New Development Bank.
Okengwu said the partnership will help Nigeria at "being productive, taking goods and services in there, being able to meet global standards and being competitive.”
“It would've been horrible if Nigeria was not in BRICS and then we would've been left hanging with all these challenges we're having with our neighbors in the Sahel," Okengwu said.
Despite the optimism, analysts say Nigeria faces significant hurdles.
The country’s struggling economy and inadequate infrastructure raise concerns about its capacity for meaningful growth through BRICS. There's also concern about how Nigeria will balance its alliances with Western nations while deepening ties with BRICS.
However, Ndu Nwokolo, an economist with Nextier, suggested the challenge is manageable.
"It's about how smart you are to benefit from everybody,” Nwokolo said. “With what we're seeing by some of the pronouncements of [U.S.] President [Donald] Trump, Nigeria may benefit from it because already Trump is talking about increasing taxes [tariffs] even within ally states.
“So, if he's going to do that with countries we think are traditional partners, so who's telling you that he will not do more with countries that he considers outsiders,” he said. “So, we're looking at a situation where countries that are not originally traditional allies of America will try to pull together, and Nigeria may benefit from that.”
Related story: Video - Nigeria joins BRICS as ninth partner country
