Nigeria calls Donald Trump's bluff by continuing with its pursuit of Brics membership

NIGERIA has called US president-elect Donald Trump's bluff by ignoring his threat to sanction countries that embraced Brics with the federal government applying for full membership of the group.

Starting off as a group of ambitious nations made up of Brazil, Russia, India and China, with South Africa joining in 2010, Brics has since grown to become the world's new trading block. With economies such as China and India on board, it is destined to become the new global economic powerhouse and developing nations are joining up on an annual basis.

Clearly seeing it as a threat to US economic dominance, President-elect Trump has threatened sanctions against anyone who embraces Brics. In October, Nigeria emerged as a partner country of Brics and the federal government has initiated a process towards becoming a full member over the next two years.

Brics is clearly seen as an economic rival in the West, especially after the group added Egypt, Ethiopia, Iran and the United Arab Emirates as full members. Among other things, the alliance has been moving towards the development of a new currency to challenge the dominance of the US dollar in global trade.

In a tweet, President Trump had threatened to impose 100% tariffs on countries in the group if they created a new currency to rival the US dollar. He wrote: "The idea that the Brics countries are trying to move away from the dollar while we stand by and watch is over.

"We require a commitment from these countries that they will neither create a new Brics currency, nor back any other currency to replace the mighty US dollar or, they will face 100%  t tariffs and should expect to say goodbye to selling into the wonderful US economy."

Alkasim Abdulkadir, Nigeria's foreign affairs spokesman said the country would continue to push for membership of international bodies to advance its economy, adding that Nigeria reserved the right to align with any country it deemed fit.

He added: “Nigeria continues to explore and advocate the democratisation of global institutions including the United Nations Security Council and G20, ultimately by becoming a member state.  Nigeria is a country in a multi-polar world and we have a history of non-alignment. Our strategic autonomy is sacrosanct.

Yemi Farounbi, a former Nigerian ambassador to the Philippines, however, called for caution, urging Nigeria to prioritise its national interests over aligning with global power blocs. He tasked the Nigerian government to focus on national interest and ensure that its decisions on international matters were borne out of patriotism.