Nigeria apply to be part of the BRICS+ economic bloc , it’s benefits

Caleb Ohaeri

The past two years have been insightful as events occurring have brought about a close need for inner reflection and also increasingly call for a total overhauling of the global financial system and balance of power to ensure shared prosperity and a high sense of patriotism amongst leaders,  nations of the world leading to equity on the international stage.

Since the end of WWII, the world’s economic system has been shaped by the establishment of the Bretton Woods agreement which established a currency exchange regime system in 1944, following years of negotiations among 44 nations.

This system required a currency peg to the U.S. dollar which was in turn pegged to the price of gold. which seeks to creation of the IMF and World Bank for reconstruction and development post WWII. In August 1971, U.S.

President Richard Nixon announced the “temporary” suspension of the dollar’s convertibility into gold. While the dollar had struggled throughout most of the 1960s within the parity established at Bretton Woods, this crisis marked the breakdown of the system which formally ended in the 1976 Jamaica accords.

These systems was subsequently replaced with the Petrodollar system The petrodollar was created in the 1970s through a 6-page agreement signed by US President Richard Nixon and Saudi Prince Fand Ibn Abdel Aziz. While the US provided military supplies and equipment to the KSA, Saudi Arabia agreed to utilize US dollars for the oil agreements.

This system has paced the US at the top of the food chain and also a rise of the US dollars as reserve currency making over 60% of central banks around the world.

With the Russian invasion of Ukraine and rising tensions between Russia and the West which comprises NATO countries.

This has led to unprecedented sanctions on Moscow totalling over 15000 sanctions both financially and militarily.

These moves by the US and West have led to a wide division in the world and have indirectly fast-tracked the world into a stage of multipolarity which has brought about the creation and expansion of BRICS.

In 2006, Brazil, Russia, India, and China created the “Bric” group. South Africa joined in 2010, making it “Brics”.

The group was designed to bring together the world’s most important developing countries, to challenge the political and economic power of the wealthier nations of North America and Western Europe.

BRICS is an intergovernmental organization comprising Brazil, Russia, India, China, South Africa, Iran, Egypt, Ethiopia, and the United Arab Emirates.

This Bloc is mainly an economic alliance and seeks to create an alternative to the Western-led financial system where no country has the sole power to impose sanctions and their self-will on other sovereign nations. This is the organisation that Nigeria has applied to be a part of.

Nigeria is the most populous black nation on Earth and also the largest country according to GDP 15th largest oil-producing nation with a vast deposit of the world gaining independence in 1960 and plagued by coups and counter coups and civil war lasting from 1967 to 1970.

The country has undergone some vigorous changes and also democratic reforms up until this moment. Currently with a population of over 250million with approximately 371 Nigerian tribes across over 250 ethnic groups,

Nigeria recently applied to join the BRICS Bloc and that could potentially set the country on the world map economically. One of the biggest exports is Oil and gas and the Ministry of finance has been preparing a proposal for the country to sell oil and gas in Naira.

Also to boost exportation the country needs to engage more in trade by Bater system to foster international cooperation with both western and eastern countries. The BRICS Bloc is also an alternative to the Western Hedgmonic system and also a protective cover for developing and underdeveloped countries in the world to sanction proof their economies, and promote their own local country with exportation by accepting payment with their currencies and vice versa.

The world is changing rapidly and the balance of power is taking shape. The upcoming BRICS summit coming up in Kazan Russia this year and has an application of over 30 countries as well as Pres Vladimir Putin is the host and chairman of the summit. The world is bracing up for multipolarity and the pros and cons that come with it.