BRICS, an international economic organisation, wrapped up its 15th heads of state and government summit held in South Africa on Thursday. The founding members of the geopolitical group were Brazil, Russia, India, China, but South Africa joined later, becoming the first non-original member.

The group’s name is an acronym derived from the founding countries’ names.

It was formed for the purpose of promoting friendly multilateral exchange among the member nations. The 2023 summit, themed “BRICS and Africa: Partnership for Mutually Accelerated Growth, Sustainable Development and Inclusive Multilateralism”, addressed a large set of socioeconomic issues pertinent to the members of the group in the presence of interested foreign representatives and organisations.

Kashim Shettima, Nigeria’s vice president, stood in for President Bola Tinubu at the event in Johannesburg, South Africa. Shettima pledged Nigeria’s readiness to collaborate with other countries to advance its economic interest.

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At the close of the event, the forum approved the membership request of six countries, namely: Egypt, Iran, Argentina, United Arab Emirates (UAE), Ethiopia and Saudi Arabia.

Considering her place as Africa’s largest economy, many Nigerians expected Nigeria to have been among the newly-inducted countries whose membership takes effect in January 2024. Many Nigerian have claimed that the country was deliberately excluded while some argued that Nigeria had not even applied.

Woye1, on X (previously known as Twitter) posted Nigeria had not applied to join the body. This user is a well known political poster who described himself as “APC and ANC member” on his bio.

CLAIM: Nigeria had not applied to join BRICS. “Buhari did not apply when he was President. Tinubu did not send Kashim Shettima to South Africa to drop our membership request letter. We were invited as an observer,” according to Woye and other commentators.

VERIFICATION: FIJ reviewed the existing body of information on the membership of BRICS and major conversation around countries willing to sign up for the membership of the forum.

In March 2023, Naledi Pandor, South Africa’s Minister of Foreign Affairs, revealed during an interview in India that more than 12 countries had written to be admitted to BRICS. She went on to name a few of such countries.

Speaking to WION’s Sidhant Sibal, Pandor said, “Well, on my desk, I suspect 12 letters. And I suspect other foreign ministers have had approaches from their own region.

“See, they’ve come out publicly. Saudi Arabia is one…United Arab Emirates, Egypt, Algeria, and Argentina. So, it’s a growing list of Mexico and Nigeria. So, there’s huge interest worldwide. And once we’ve shaped the criteria, we will then make the decision.”

FIJ found that over 40 countries want to join the economic alliance.

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CONCLUSION: Evidently, the current government has not made any official information public clarifying its position, FIJ concludes that Nigeria has joined the list of interested countries lobbying to join the group.

VERDICT: Nigeria has shown interest to become the group’s member. So, the claim that Nigeria has not applied to join the group is not correct.