UN 'Weak' Now, BRICS Could Be 'One of Options' to Step Up, Says Nigerian Diaspora Leader
14:53 30.05.2023 (Updated: 10:49 03.08.2023)
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On the occasion of last week's Moscow Export Day forum for export-oriented businesses, hosted by the Moscow Export Center, Sputnik Africa spoke with a group of visiting African business leaders and officials about the prospects for Africa's development and Russian-African cooperation.
The dynamics of international cooperation and relations between countries are constantly evolving and changing, with the United Nations organization becoming "weaker" nowadays, the rise of clubs such as the BRICS could bring about a shift in the global balance of power, Sampson Uwem-Edimo, Chairman of the Nigerians in Diaspora Organization (NIDO) in Russia, told Sputnik Africa in an interview.
"I don't know what's going to happen, but I can see that there's going to be a shift in how things are done, in our case, how business is done, and how countries will relate to each other," the Nigerian diaspora leader said.
Uwem-Edimo added, "We can even look at, maybe 80 years ago, we had the League of Nations, and then it changed, for reasons we all know, to the United Nations. And now we can see how weak the United Nations is, and we can see a lot of things changing. So I think BRICS may be just one of the options that will come up, but we will see what happens."
Uwem-Edimo's shared his thoughts on cooperation between developing countries in a joint interview with Sputnik Africa, where the Nigerian diaspora leader joined other African businessmen and officials on the sidelines of the Moscow Export Day forum for export-oriented businesses last week. The interviewees shared their thoughts on the prospects for Africa's development and Russian-African cooperation.
As chairman of NIDO, an organization founded in 2002 by former Nigerian President Olusegun Obasanjo, Uwem-Edimo explained that the organization has two main missions: first, to ensure the welfare of the Nigerian community in Russia, and second, to develop ties between Nigeria and Russia and explore potential areas of cooperation between the two nations.
Noting the increasing number of Nigerians studying in Russia, Uwem-Edimo spoke about the role of education and training opportunities that Russia offers to Africans. He also noted that one of the objectives of the establishment of NIDO was to identify Nigerian skills abroad that can be used to develop the West African country.
Uwem-Edimo referred to a program last year in which Russian language courses were introduced in Nigerian universities to help students who wanted to study in Russia. He argued that this program should be pushed more aggressively to bridge the communication gap that exists between the two nations.
The diaspora leader noted that language plays a crucial role in effective communication, and that it is necessary for people to speak Russian to better understand Russian culture and perspectives.
"I think something that the Nigerian community here is looking for [...] is how Russia and Nigeria can have good cooperation and where they can [be useful] as individuals. And this commercial collaboration can help to drive that forward," Uwem-Edim said.
The Nigerian added that his country is one of the most populous countries in Africa, and with a GDP of 16% of the total GDP of Africa, it is vital for Nigeria to continually up its technological and agricultural game to boost its economy and improve the lives of its people. He stressed the importance of technology and specialists trained in Russia to help boost Nigeria's development.
"I don't want to go to mention anything, though, so I wouldn't be making an advertisement for anybody because technology is very important for Africa. One, I think that the technology from Russia will be cheaper comparatively for Africa," Uwem-Edimo highlighted. "And I think that for the population of Nigeria, Nigeria doesn't really need to just be buying but can establish a kind of assembly plant in Nigeria for Nigeria and spread across Africa also."
However, the Nigerian noted that there are "some basic problems" that usually face Russian-African economic cooperation in the past as well as in the present, in particular, the problems of logistics, financial transactions and, finally, the weak popularity of Russian goods in Africa.
"We have the problems of awareness of Russian-made goods to Africa as a missile offset, lots of good engineering or equipment that nobody knows about and nobody is willing to push it out. And nobody is using the instrument, which is the people who have studied here," Uwem-Edimo stated.
