Foremost Professor of Political Science, Bolaji Akinyemi, says South Africa is determined to derail Nigeria’s international ranking with “negative competition”.
The scholar says South Africa will do anything to secure one of African Permanent Seats in the Security Council of the United Nation
Prof. Akinyemi, also a former Director General of the Nigerian Institute of International Affairs (NIIA), was a guest on Channels Television’s Sunday Politics programme.
He said Nigeria should be a member of BRICS+, a nine-member global economic and political force, but for South Africa’s “negative competition”.
“Nigeria should have been a BRICS member at the beginning,” the octogenarian said, adding that he discussed the idea with a sitting President who said Nigeria won’t beg to join BRICS. He said the President of Nigeria as of the time of the establishment of the bloc.
South Africa, with about 62.4 million people and a Gross Domestic Product (GDP) of $373.23bn, according to data by the International Monetary Fund (IMF), is a member of BRICS+ and the G20, while Nigeria with 227 million people and $252.74bn GDP, is not a member of both blocs.
BRICS, an acronym for Brazil, Russia, India, China, and South Africa, was created in 2006 as a bloc, which brings together the world’s most developing economies to challenge the political and economic power of the wealthier nations of North America and Western Europe.
In January, the bloc, now known as BRICS+, admitted four new members: Egypt, Ethiopia, Iran and the United Arab Emirates. BRICS+ accounts for about 37% of the world’s GDP.
