Vice President Kashim Shettima has returned to Nigeria after a high-level diplomatic and economic offensive in India, where he represented President Bola Tinubu at the 18th BRICS Leaders’ Summit in New Delhi.
Shettima’s return on Monday followed a series of engagements with key global economic and political players, with Nigeria using the BRICS platform to advance its interests in trade, investment, technology, energy and other strategic sectors.
A major highlight of the visit was Shettima’s meeting with Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi, during which both sides explored opportunities to strengthen Nigeria-India economic relations, according to a statement by his media aide, Stanley Nkwocha.
The discussions covered renewed crude oil trade, investment, pharmaceuticals, defence, digital technology, fintech and renewable energy, among other areas identified as strategic to the two countries.
The engagement came as Nigeria seeks to attract more investment and expand economic partnerships beyond traditional markets, while positioning itself to benefit from the rapidly changing architecture of global trade and finance.
At the BRICS summit, Shettima delivered President Tinubu’s message calling for reforms of global governance and international financial institutions, while presenting Nigeria as a strategic gateway to Africa’s expanding market under the African Continental Free Trade Area (AfCFTA).
The Vice President also held talks with Director-General of the World Trade Organisation (WTO), Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala, where he reaffirmed Nigeria’s commitment to multilateralism and the pursuit of a more inclusive global economic order.
According to the Presidency, Nigeria also used the summit to deepen its engagement with BRICS member and partner countries in critical sectors including agriculture, artificial intelligence, digital infrastructure, manufacturing, healthcare, energy and human-capital development.
The engagements, it said, were aimed at opening new avenues for investment, technology transfer, trade expansion and economic cooperation for Nigeria.
The Presidency noted that BRICS summit provided the Tinubu administration with another platform to project Nigeria’s economic interests at a time when developing countries are pushing for greater representation and influence in global economic decision-making.
Shettima’s participation reinforced the administration’s emphasis on positioning Nigeria as a major player in Africa’s emerging single market and in the evolving global economic system.
