Vice President takes Nigeria’s trade, investment and Global South agenda to New Delhi as BRICS confronts a fractured geopolitical landscape
UNITY TIMES FOREIGN DESK
Grow your business with us
Vice President Kashim Shettima has arrived in New Delhi, India, to represent President Bola Ahmed Tinubu at the 18th BRICS Leaders’ Summit, placing Nigeria’s economic and diplomatic interests at the centre of one of the world’s most influential emerging-country forums.
Nigeria, which holds BRICS partner-country status, is seeking to use the summit to deepen relations with major emerging economies and attract investment across strategic sectors.
The Vice President’s delegation is expected to pursue opportunities in trade and investment, energy, agriculture, solid minerals, technology and innovation, according to his spokesperson, Stanley Nkwocha.
The summit takes place in New Delhi on September 12–13 under India’s 2026 chairmanship, with the theme “Building for Resilience, Innovation, Cooperation and Sustainability.”
Nigeria’s opportunity
For Nigeria, BRICS is becoming increasingly important. The expanded bloc brings together major economies including China, India, Russia, Brazil, Iran, Egypt, Ethiopia, Indonesia, South Africa and the United Arab Emirates, while a growing group of partner countries—including Nigeria—now participates in its wider activities.
For Abuja, the attraction is obvious. Nigeria needs new sources of foreign capital, technology, energy partnerships and export markets at a time when the government is trying to transform the economy, strengthen foreign-exchange earnings and reduce dependence on traditional Western financial and trade relationships.
The summit therefore offers an opportunity to turn diplomatic relationships into commercial ones.
Nigeria has enormous deposits of solid minerals, an agricultural sector with substantial untapped potential and a large consumer market. The challenge has always been converting those advantages into productive investment.
BRICS itself faces a test
But Shettima is arriving in New Delhi at a difficult moment for the bloc.
The ongoing U.S.-Israeli war against Iran has exposed divisions among BRICS members. Iran is a BRICS member, while the United Arab Emirates—also a member—has been drawn into the conflict and suspended trade and financial transactions with Tehran.
The war has also disrupted energy flows through the Strait of Hormuz and pushed crude prices above $100 a barrel. That means the summit is not merely about economics.
It is also about whether the expanded BRICS can develop a coherent voice on global conflicts, sanctions, energy security and the future of the international financial system.
What Nigeria should bring home
For Nigeria, the most important measure of the trip will not be photographs with world leaders. It will be deals.
Can Nigeria secure new investment in its refineries, energy sector and critical minerals? Can Nigerian agricultural products gain greater access to Asian and Middle Eastern markets? Can Nigerian technology companies connect with BRICS investors? Can the country attract financing for infrastructure without creating unsustainable debt?
Those are the questions that will determine whether Nigeria’s BRICS partnership becomes strategically valuable. Shettima has arrived in New Delhi with a large economic agenda.
The challenge now is to turn diplomatic handshakes into factories, investments, jobs and exports back home.
About The Author