Notable investigative Nigerian journalist, David Hundeyin has outlined reasons and implications of Nigeria being written in Hausa on the BRICS proposed banknote.
The report that Nigeria appeared on the BRICS proposed banknote in Hausa, one of the indigenous languages being spoken in Nigeria, raised eyebrows of many who questioned the reason behind the adoption of Hausa at the expense of Nigeria’s Lingua franca or other indigenous languages which are widely spoken across the country as Hausa.
Hence, David Hundeyin explained that one of the reasons Hausa language was adopted by BRIC is because Nigeria applied to join the league during the “ethnocentric” administration of Muhammadu Buhari whom he described as “parochial”. He further described the former president as man who is incapable of doing good without soiling it.
According to David Hundeyin, former president Buhari was unable to resist ethnocentrism, the reason he “sidestepped” other ethnicities in the country and placed his above others including the lingua franca of Nigeria. As a result, he applied to join BRICS and presented Hausa as the most widely spoken indigenous language in Nigeria.
Secondly, David Hundeyin exonerated president Bola Ahmed Tinubu from any blame over Nigeria being written in Hausa on the BRICS proposed banknote. He argued that president Bola Ahmed Tinubu who boycotted the BRICS conference, did so to please the Washington DC who David Hundeyin alleges had mandated the Nigeria’s president to scuttle Nigeria’s membership to the BRICS.
Thirdly, David Hundeyin pointed out that Nigeria’s obvious absence from the 2024 BRICS submit in Kazan was deliberate. Neither the Nigeria president nor his vice, nor a member of president Tinubu’s cabinet represented Nigeria at the BRICS submit in Kazan. David Hundeyin argues that such a deliberate action by the Tinubu’s administration is a “huge statement” for such an all important submit which most of the leaders of developing countries of the global south attended.
Aside the commentaries by Nigerians on the 2024 BRICS submit in Kazan, the Nigeria’s authority is yet to give any official statement on the success of the submit and why the country had no representative at the submit.
There are speculations that president Tinubu’s administration is afraid of being removed in the good book of the West and strives please the powerful influential western countries even at the expense of his country’s economic liberation and progress.
The administration of the Muhammadu Buhari has been praised for its boldness in joining the BRICS; however, president Tinubu’s administration’s lack of interest in the bloc might result in Nigeria being expelled from the bloc for lack of genuine commitment and interest.