Though Nigeria is listed as one of the countries that have expressed interest in joining BRICS, a bloc of five major economies – Brazil, Russia, India, China, and South Africa – whose focus is to reduce Western domination and build a new economic order, its membership may have been hampered by its peculiar challenges.?
Experts list the low economic complexity of the country, weak productive capacity, and unstable fiscal position as part of the hurdles the country will need to surmount to stand a chance of being enlisted.?
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There are no documented membership standards, at least, none is accessible to the public, but almost all the BRICS members are ahead of Nigeria in terms of industrial development and economic base.?
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At some of its summits, leaders of the member nations said they would proceed to develop processes and standards to expand BRICS Plus as an alternative for advocating the growth of emerging markets.?
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Interest in the organization has grown tremendously in recent years. Iran and Argentina are said to have applied for membership, while Bangladesh, Indonesia, Mexico, Turkey, Egypt, Algeria, Sudan, Syria, Saudi Arabia, Pakistan, Venezuela, and Nigeria have also shown interest.?
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While it could not be confirmed that Nigeria has commenced the process of applying officially to join, unofficial sources, however, said that “BRICS membership is the least subject the government is worried about at the moment.”