President Bola Tinubu on Sunday used the 2026 BRICS Summit in New Delhi, India, to call for an urgent overhaul of global governance structures and international financial institutions, with Vice President Kashim Shettima delivering the address on his behalf. The pitch was dressed up as inclusion. The machinery stayed the same: presidents, prime ministers and summit halls deciding what billions must live with.
Who Gets to Rewrite the Rules
Tinubu said Nigeria supports "a more representative, equitable and responsive global governance architecture, including reform of the United Nations Security Council and the international financial system." He also said BRICS should move "from dialogue to delivery, from commitments to implementation, and from cooperation to measurable development outcomes." That language sounds clean enough. But it still places the future in the hands of states, institutions and investors, not the people who bear the cost when those systems fail.
He told the summit that BRICS "amplifies the voice of the Global South and advances a more inclusive international order, consistent with Nigeria’s call for institutions that reflect contemporary economic and demographic realities." The phrase is polished, but the hierarchy is plain. The same global order that concentrates power at the top now promises to hear more voices while keeping the levers where they already sit.
Tinubu invited foreign investors to take advantage of Nigeria’s investment opportunities and urged them to view the country "as a gateway to Africa’s expanding market under the African Continental Free Trade Area." He defined economic resilience for Nigeria as building an economy capable of withstanding global shocks while creating sustainable opportunities for its citizens. The citizens, naturally, are expected to wait while capital gets the invitation.
What the State Says It Will Build
Tinubu said this goal is embedded in his administration’s Renewed Hope Agenda through reforms aimed at strengthening macroeconomic stability, diversifying production, raising productivity, expanding infrastructure and human capital, attracting investment, promoting private-sector-led growth and deepening climate resilience. He said Nigeria welcomes BRICS cooperation in trade, agriculture, food security, energy, infrastructure, manufacturing, healthcare and critical minerals, especially partnerships that advance technology transfer, local value addition, industrial capacity and employment.
He identified Nigeria’s young and dynamic population as one of its greatest assets, saying its creativity and enterprise are driving the country’s innovation agenda. He outlined key areas of investment to include digital skills, entrepreneurship, research, artificial intelligence and technology-enabled businesses through initiatives such as 3MTT, Project BRIDGE and national AI programmes.
Tinubu said, "We welcome deeper BRICS cooperation in artificial intelligence, digital public infrastructure, fintech, telecommunications, cybersecurity, biotechnology and advanced manufacturing, because developing countries must produce technology, create knowledge and own intellectual property. A nation that owns no technology risks renting its future." That line lands hard. It also exposes the trap: if technology, finance and infrastructure remain tied to state-led partnerships and private investment, ordinary people are still left renting the future from above.
He added, "Nigeria sees cooperation with BRICS as a practical opportunity for trade, investment, technology transfer, and human-capital development. We support partnerships in infrastructure, connectivity, energy, agriculture, healthcare, education, and industrialisation, backed by development finance." Development finance. Another phrase for managed dependence, with a friendlier face.
Project BRIDGE and the Digital Gatekeepers
Tinubu said, "As Project BRIDGE expands broadband, fibre and digital public services, we seek an open, secure, and inclusive digital ecosystem that advances innovation, digital trade, responsible artificial intelligence, and cybersecurity." The promise is access. The structure is still centralized. Digital public services can widen reach, but they also deepen the state’s grip on daily life when the same institutions control the pipes, the platforms and the rules.
He reaffirmed Nigeria’s support for affordable climate finance, technology transfer and capacity-building for Africa, and emphasized cooperation in renewable energy, gas, clean technologies, climate-smart agriculture, sustainable infrastructure and responsible critical-mineral development. He said Nigeria was ready to contribute to a BRICS partnership that is resilient enough to withstand global shocks, innovative enough to embrace the future, cooperative enough to advance shared prosperity and sustainable enough to protect future generations.
"Our partnerships must create jobs, expand trade, transfer technology, and strengthen our nations’ productive capacity. We must build a future in which Africa moves from the margins of global development to the frontiers of global growth and innovation," he said.
Earlier, opening the 18th BRICS Leaders’ Summit, Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi said confidence in BRICS among countries of the Global South had grown because their voices were being heard, their experiences respected and solutions developed with them rather than for them. He said the strength of BRICS lies in its diversity and cooperation, and noted that the bloc was expanding participation beyond governments to entrepreneurs, farmers, researchers, women and young people.
Modi said, "We may be rooted in different realities, but together, we rise through cooperation and blossom for humanity." He added that initiatives such as BRICS CONNECT, the BRICS MSME Cooperation Portal and the BRICS Urban Mobility Hub were designed to promote skills, employment, enterprise development and knowledge-sharing among member and partner countries.
He also stressed the need to balance development with environmental responsibility, saying sustainability must remain central to BRICS cooperation and the interests of future generations. The summit wrapped itself in the language of inclusion, but the decisions still came from the top, in rooms far from the people who will live with the consequences.