A prominent Nigerian economist has claimed that membership of BRICS is a "win-win situation."
Speaking on Tuesday during an exclusive interview to RT, Muda Yusuf, the CEO of the Nigerian Center for the Promotion of Private Enterprise, said a lot of sectors will benefit if Nigeria joins the BRICS.
"Such sectors as oil and gas, technology sector, agricultural sector, solid mineral sector, and generally our infrastructure" will get advantages from joining the economic block, he added.
Yusuf stressed that with a BRICS membership, "we [Nigeria] are likely to see a much better balance of payment position." Muda Yusuf believes that Abuja will see "a more liberal terms, in terms of what to do" and a lot more "freedom".
"It also helps to reduce the Western dominance generally," he added.
BRICS membership "has a very important value in terms of geopolitical influence" because if the country belongs to such economic bloc, "there's a whole lot of opportunities it gives you in terms of influence among members, and even globally," economist explained.
"We have been talking about balancing the global world order in terms of power, in terms of the financial system. You have a multipolar world. Those things are also necessary for the stability of the global economy," Yusuf stated.
He also pointed out that there are "bilateral relationships among the members of the BRICS and the collective interests that are also protected."
According to the BRICS information portal, Yusuf Tuggar, the Foreign Minister of Nigeria, has stated that the country plans to join the BRICS group of nations in the next two years. “Nigeria has come of age to decide for itself who her partners should be and where they should be. Being multiple aligned is in our best interest,” Tuggar said.
On January 1, five countries became new members of the BRICS group: Saudi Arabia, Egypt, the United Arab Emirates, Iran, and Ethiopia.
In 2006, Brazil, Russia, India, and China formed the BRICS group of emerging economies, and South Africa joined in 2010.