FOR a long while now I have watched in green envy as some nations bond under the entising tag, BRICS ' Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa.As I followed the nations' growing clout in the global economic sphere, I kept telling myself: 'Nigeria deserves to be in this fold.' Whether for its economic edge or agarandisement, bonding with the BRICS fold bodes good for Nigeria. But we never got invited, named or propped for it. So, I kept sulking, occasionally writing about it or moaning the exclusion on air whenever a chance came. Once a radio presenter asked me on a live programme: 'Mr Nnabuife, what really is the advantage Nigeria being in this BRICS group you mention.'I rambled on the merits of being kin with fellow advancing economies, particularly those nations that have over time emerged as influential regional or continental figures. I also waxed forth on the intrinsic value of being recognised as alternate investment destination and the benefit such association brings to a country that needs permenent seat in United Nations as well as the obvious boost it will offer in bilateral negotiations. Then I anchored on it offering a persistent prod to the nation's leaders and policy makers to move in directions that will always keep the economy growing in the pace of other peers in the BRICS.The broadcaster affirmed my arguement but subtly reminded that all the years of Nigeria's commitment to the Non-Alligned Movement did not yeild visible economic edge. He also noted that Nigeria cannot realistically be appraised as being of the same cadre with Russia and China, economically. But I retorted: 'What about South Africa' Even Brazil and India are far too advanced than us''So our exchange ended on the matter. And when the programme openned its telephone lines to the public, I noted that most callers did not know much about the BRICS even as it is about the rave phenomenon currently in global economics given the on-going slide of the Euro Zone and that of North America.Hence, my last Tuesday when I read of the appearance of Nigeria's Minister of Finance and Coordinating Minister for the Economy, Dr. Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala on a British Broadcasting Coorporation (BBC) programme alongside South Africa's Finance Minister, Pravin Gordhan. At the programme aired on Monday, Mrs Okonjo-Iweala, though in soliciting manner, made the best case so far, for Nigeria's inclusion in the BRICS aggregation.In fact, journalist, Paul Ohia of ThisDay newspaper, Lagos, reported the development under the self-explaining headline, 'Nigeria Fit to Join BRIC Nations, Says Okonjo-Iweala.' (I wonder why the reporter ommitted the 'S' in BRICS. Or was he implying that South Africa is no longer there, and Nigeria wants to replace it as representative of Africa therein')However, let's leave the sematics and face the issue. The news report published on the front page of ThisDay states that 'Nigeria could be on her way to joining the newly advanced economies called BRIC, made up of Brazil, Russia, India and China' (still the ommision of South Africa).It goes on to cite Okonjo-Iweala's perfect prop of Nigeria thus: 'And I think that I always have this one saying that 'if you are not in Nigeria - and with all due respect and support to my colleague Pravin - you are not in Africa' because our fundamentals, that we are the largest country in terms of population, we are growing at a very respectable rate of 7 per cent and better for the past couple of years, and we have got not only the natural resource base but also the human resource base to be able to do better,' she said.'According to her, Nigeria is tackling several constraints that are holding her economy and industries back, like power.'When we solve those problems, we are going to be in the low double digits and that will parachute Nigeria into the BRICS.'Further, the report nails home the crux of the matter which, to me seems to be whether Nigeria should be adopted to replace South Africa. Exerpt from the article: 'Prodded further by the interviewer, Ed Butler, on the representative role South Africa seems to be playing for Africa in every sphere, sports inclusive, Okonjo-Iweala said the way she feels is that the world needs to look towards the dynamics of what's happening with growth and development on the continent and not towards the statistics of the past.'And when you look towards dynamics, I think that we need more African countries at the table, and therefore that's why I think that Nigeria very soon merits a place alongside South Africa at these gatherings.'Being very conversant with the benchmarks and antics of such aggregations, Okonjo-Iweala, who rose through the ranks to become a Managing Director in the World Bank should know the turf and vital ambiances of the issue placed on her table and would surely be communicating the position of Nigeria. But what about the beyond-economics side of the politics' In recent times, the world has seen South Africa tilt more towards Russia and China in crucial political issues. From the post-election crises in Cote de Ivore to the war in Libya and killing of Colonel Muama Gaddaffi to the parting of Sudan, South Africa's positions seemed to differ from that of Nigeria. While the stance of the Southern African nation appeared to follow the slant of Russia and China, Nigeria's tended more towards the positions favoured by United States of America, European Union and NATO. Even as in most of the cases, Nigeria's stance won it would not be deemed to mean that South Africa acquised without discomfort or accepted. In fact, the tone of discussion between Presidents Goodluck Jonathan of Nigeria and Jacob Zuma of South Africa recently during their meeting in Abuja indicates that the leaders of the two nations are aware that an unnecessary gulf is growing between the two big African entities. The mischief poser is: 'Could there not be hidden hands fanning the flames, and for what purpose' During the BRICS Leaders Meeting in April 14 in Sanya, Hainan, China the 17th item in their 32-point 'Sanya Declaration' stated thus: 'Recognizing that the international financial crisis has exposed the inadequacies and deficiencies of the existing international monetary and financial system, we support the reform and improvement of the international monetary system, with a broad-based international reserve currency system providing stability and certainty. We welcome the current discussion about the role of the SDR in the existing international monetary system including the composition of SDR's basket of currencies. We call for more attention to the risks of massive cross-border capital flows now faced by the emerging economies. We call for further international financial regulatory oversight and reform, strengthening policy coordination and financial regulation and supervision cooperation, and promoting the sound development of global financial markets and banking systems.' There were other strong categorical decisions which strike me as not really in ideological line with the stream of thought of the current leadership of Nigeria.Therefore, though I feel strongly that Nigeria should be in the BRICS fold (which possibly would change the acronymal normenclature to BRINCS or BRICSN or whatever) I am not losing sight of the fact that our brothers in the south have become more friendly with the folks there. So, to be there, we have to smartly oil the frictions and carefully walk the rope.The truth is that though a brainwave Jim O'Neill, Chief Economist for the American consultancy firm, Goldman Sachs, formed BRICS just to identify non-North American and non-European Union economies that are growing in promising leaps, the BRICS of today have become very politically savy and with strong positions that would demand a lot from a liberal regime like we have now in Nigeria. But the major challenge is: Any alternative to BRICS'chukacater@yahoo.com 08026472357Article first published on December 17, 2011
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