APA-Johannesburg (South Africa) Nigeria, Africa’s largest economy, did not apply for membership of the BRICS bloc because the country did not have a cabinet, Abuja’s top envoy in South Africa has said.
According to Nigeria’s High Commissioner to South Africa Muhammad Haruna Manta, his country did not formally apply officially to join BRICS when the bloc made up of Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa held its annual leaders’ summit in Johannesburg last month.
In August, South Africa hosted the BRICS Summit where the bloc officially invited Argentina, Egypt, Ethiopia, Iran, Saudi Arabia and United Arab Emirates to become new members starting in January 2024.
“Nigeria has never formally applied for membership. The same thing happened this year,” Manta said on Sunday in Johannesburg.
He added: “Though there were efforts, it has to be formal. Application has to come from our foreign ministry. And as of that time of the summit, there was no cabinet in place in Nigeria.”
He explained that the Nigerian foreign ministry would need to submit an application to the foreign ministry of the host country, which would subsequently be passed to the host president, who would then table it before the BRICS for deliberations and a decision.
“But when the 2023 meeting was held, there was no cabinet, no foreign minister for Nigeria. So, an application could not be made,” the envoy said.
Meanwhile, the high commissioner has disclosed that some 500,000 Nigerians living in South Africa were classified as undocumented foreigners, while 6,000 were students and 2,900 others were professionals with footprints in medicals, education, and entrepreneurship.
NM/jn/APA