Political parties in the country have raised concerns over the coming into power of United States President Donald Trump, expressing fear that his flurry of executive orders might have affected African countries, including Nigeria.
Since his inauguration on Monday, Trump said Washington could impose tariffs on major trading partners; including Canada, Mexico and China, as soon as 1 February.
He also pulled the US out of the Paris Climate Accords and the World Health Organisation (WHO).
Among other things, Trump spoke on the issue of gender surgery, saying he had made it an official policy of the United States that his administration would only recognise two genders; male and female.
His sweeping executive orders and immigration promises have started generating mixed reactions with major parties dissecting its implication and how it may impact Nigeria.
Reacting, the National Publicity Secretary of the New Nigeria People’s Party (NNPP), Ladipo Johnson, predicted that there might be a slump in the price of global price of oil
“For instance, Trump believes in drilling. He wants to drill and increase production. So, it is expected that oil prices will crash. That, of course, will impact the world, including Nigeria.
“The man has an isolationist view of the world. Trump believes that others are not equal and that Americans are superior.
“You will observe this in his utterances and the way he has been going about things. But I always say whenever any of the Western powers believe that they are better than us, it is a wake-up call to our leaders.
“This is because we have the natural resources, but we lack the leadership and managerial resources.
“Again, when you look at his withdrawal from the Paris Climate Agreement and the WHO, it shows that Trump will not give much cooperation. During the Biden era, America showed some leadership in fighting COVID.
“So, when you now have a president who is there to break alliances and threaten neighbours and those who are considered allies, it is not too good for the world.
“The lesson here is that we must realise that we need to elect leaders who will hasten the growth and development of Nigeria. We cannot continue to go cap in hand to the Western world or even to the Chinese or Russians like they have begun to do now. We can’t continue to beg. We have all it takes to be rich and prosperous”.
Speaking to Sunday PUNCH, the National Publicity Director of the All Progressives Congress (APC), Bala Ibrahim, said Nigeria had a lot of lessons to learn from the US policies.
He said, “The lesson for Nigeria is for every citizen travelling to America to ensure that he has the prerequisite requirements so that he will not get there and find himself becoming a nuisance or a victim of the policy.
“So, the lesson is to make sure that whatever they are going to do, they do it according to the books. Nobody should seek to be in America illegally or illegitimately. As long as Nigerian immigrants into America are law abiding and meet the requirements, America does not molest them”.
The APC spokesman emphasised that Nigeria would continue to retain its non-alliance posture.
The National Legal Adviser of the Labour Party (LP), Kehinde Edun, also shared the same sentiment.
Edun stated that Trump’s stance of ‘America first’ should be a case study on how every nation should consider the safety and welfare of its citizens as the first priority.
He said, “The man is putting America first. Of course, you cannot fault him for doing that. You cannot just be going to their country and not be making efforts to make things work in yours. Some people are out there just roaming the streets and constituting a nuisance”.
“Now that he (Trump) is taking steps to deny illegal immigrants citizenship and birthright, other Western countries in the world are taking a cue from America.
“They are making it more difficult for people to come to their country. These include some Nigerian elite who are seeking escape routes for their children after spoiling this country”.
