In today’s increasingly interconnected and volatile global environment, Nigerian business leaders and corporate directors face a landscape marked by shifting alliances, tightening policies, and emerging partnerships.

Over recent months, three significant international developments have stood out: Nigeria’s elevation to “partner country” status in the influential BRICS bloc, the imposition of restrictive visa policies by the United Arab Emirates (UAE), and new limitations on U.S. visa access for Nigerian citizens.

Each of these developments carries wide-reaching implications for Nigeria’s global positioning, trade flows, and executive mobility. More importantly, they signal a new era in which corporate leadership must actively engage with global policy to ensure institutional survival and competitiveness.

Nigeria’s strategic engagement with BRICS, comprising Brazil, Russia, India, China, and South Africa, marks a bold pivot in the country’s foreign economic policy. BRICS, representing over 40% of the world’s population and a substantial share of global trade and GDP, is fast emerging as a powerful alternative to traditional Western economic alliances.

Nigeria’s participation in the 17th BRICS Summit in July 2025 and its subsequent recognition as a “partner country” opens up promising avenues for investment, trade cooperation, technological advancement, and infrastructure financing.

The opportunity to engage with development institutions like the New Development Bank offers Nigerian firms much-needed capital and technical support, especially for large-scale projects in sectors such as energy, logistics, agriculture, and digital infrastructure.

For directors and corporate leaders, this development is not merely a diplomatic milestone; it is a strategic inflection point. Nigerian firms now have access to markets and institutions that can significantly alter their trajectory. However, this access also introduces fresh competition. Firms from BRICS countries, particularly China and India, are technologically advanced, better resourced, and deeply entrenched in global supply chains.

Nigerian businesses must therefore rise to this challenge by prioritising innovation, embracing technology, and investing in value addition. Directors must take proactive roles in guiding strategic partnerships, approving capital investment in research and development, and ensuring that their companies can meet international standards for quality, compliance, and sustainability.

Boards should also look beyond the short-term appeal of BRICS markets to the long-term implications of integration into this economic bloc. Participation in BRICS means adapting to new trade norms, legal frameworks, and regulatory ecosystems. It also means positioning Nigerian firms not just as recipients of investment but as contributors to the shaping of emerging global economic policies.

This will require not only technical capacity but geopolitical intelligence that must be embedded at the board level. Directors must cultivate a deeper understanding of BRICS economies, anticipate policy shifts, and ensure that their organizations are structured to take advantage of this evolving alliance.

While Nigeria’s BRICS alignment offers expansive opportunities, the landscape is complicated by increasingly restrictive policies from the UAE and the United States. The UAE, historically one of Nigeria’s key trade and transit partners, has imposed sweeping visa restrictions on Nigerian citizens. These include a ban on transit visas and highly stringent tourist visa conditions, especially for Nigerians aged 18 to 45.

For decades, cities like Dubai served as vital nodes for Nigerian entrepreneurs and investors, functioning as entry points into Middle Eastern, Asian, and European markets. Nigerian businesses have relied on the UAE not just for trade, but for warehousing, international exhibitions, logistics coordination, and financial services. The loss of access to these hubs presents an acute challenge for companies whose business models are interlinked with UAE networks.

The implications for directors are profound. Executive mobility is central to governance, oversight, and cross-border deal-making. Visa restrictions not only delay operations but also fracture relationships, interrupt negotiations, and reduce the ability of firms to compete internationally. For boards, this calls for immediate action on multiple fronts.

First, companies must strengthen digital capabilities to ensure that operations, negotiations, and oversight can continue virtually where physical access is denied.

Second, directors must lead efforts to diversify trade routes and identify alternative logistics hubs in East Africa, other Gulf nations, or the BRICS region itself. Third, firms must strengthen their domestic supply chains and production ecosystems to reduce overdependence on transit points like Dubai.

Additionally, directors must not overlook the role of corporate diplomacy. Business leaders can and should engage in dialogue with the Nigerian government, diplomatic missions, and regional trade bodies to advocate for better policy outcomes.

Directors sitting on national advisory boards or affiliated with private sector coalitions have a platform to influence negotiations that could help reestablish open channels with the UAE. Such engagement is essential to restoring Nigeria’s access to a major international marketplace.

Compounding the challenge is the policy shift from the United States. The U.S. government revised its visa issuance policy for Nigerians, limiting non-immigrant visas to single-entry access with just three months’ validity. Previously, many Nigerian businesspeople, academics, and professionals had enjoyed five-year multiple-entry visas.

This change significantly constrains international business operations, especially for companies with commercial interests or affiliations in the U.S. The consequences are not limited to trade; they also affect training, innovation exchange, and strategic partnerships. For directors, this restriction demands yet another layer of strategic recalibration.

Companies must adopt early and proactive visa planning, explore permanent or semi-permanent representation in the U.S. through branch offices, and evaluate the feasibility of maintaining operational presence via remote teams or U.S.-based affiliates. More broadly, directors must now actively reconsider their firms’ global orientation.

Reducing dependency on any one market, even one as dominant as the United States, is essential in today’s geopolitical climate. Boards should direct resources toward exploring opportunities in Southeast Asia, Latin America, and intra-African trade, while strengthening their presence in BRICS markets as part of a longer-term diversification strategy.

The convergence of these three developments- Nigeria’s shift toward BRICS, the UAE visa ban, and U.S. visa restrictions offers a clear message: the global order is changing, and Nigerian business leaders must change with it. The implications for directors are clear. Governance can no longer be inward-looking or solely compliance-driven. It must become global, anticipatory, and strategy-focused.

 Directors must understand that today’s boardroom decisions must take into account not only financial performance but also geopolitical positioning, global risk exposure, and reputational management. To lead effectively in this environment, directors must champion geopolitical risk as a standard element of board deliberation. They must promote digital transformation as a core governance strategy.

They must drive market diversification to insulate their firms from international policy shocks. They must invest in leadership development, ensuring that organizations have multiple capable executives who can represent the firm across regions. They must also engage in advocacy, working with policymakers, trade missions, and diplomatic stakeholders to promote policy reforms that support the ease of doing business for Nigerian firms globally.

Nigeria’s evolving international position presents both a cautionary tale and a strategic opportunity. The BRICS engagement offers a platform for long-term growth, innovation, and diversification. Yet the constraints imposed by the UAE and U.S. visa policies are a reminder that access to the global economy is neither automatic nor guaranteed.

For Nigerian directors, the path forward lies in visionary leadership, institutional resilience, and strategic diplomacy. Those who adapt will thrive. Those who remain reactive risk marginalization in an increasingly complex and competitive global arena. Directors must therefore lead the charge, transforming challenges into levers for repositioning Nigeria’s private sector on the global stage.

Research & Advocacy Department,