America first, Nigeria first: Echoes of a change mantra

Since his inauguration penultimate Friday as the 45th President of the United States of America, Donald Trump has not spared anybody the message that with his tenure, it will no more be business as usual. He said as much even in the inauguration speech with the rhetoric that his tenure will be different from previous ones. As he put it his tenure will mark a transfer of power from Washington - the US power establishment, to the ordinary American people. He has since then been busy launching like ballistic missiles, sundry initiatives with far reaching implications for his country and the rest of the world. Clearly his aim is to reinvent the US and her interests in the context of his adopted ‘America First’ change mantra.

Expectedly, that ‘America First’ mindset has not gone down well with non-Americans in the US as well as people in many other parts of the world who see Trump as laying a questionable foundation for a new, uncharted world order which America may adopt a new isolationist and self-centred role of an assertive super-power that is unchained to any multilateral obligations. In any case he had hinted at such with his expressed disposition to challenge and if possible review any existing business tie involving the US, which fails to meet his expectations.

The first in the line-up for his hammer is the Trans Pacific Partnership (TPP)a multilateral trade agreement between Australia, Brunei, Canada, Chile, Japan, Malaysia, Mexico, New Zealand, Peru, Singapore, the United States and Vietnam. Under the auspices of the TPP these countries with a combined population of about 800 million and 40% of world trade intended to operate a regional economic bloc much like the now cracking up European Union. Even if it is unstated, the TPP at its inception appealed to the US as the most potent vehicle for checkmating China’s economic adventurism and growing clout in the Pacific Basin.

Next door is America’s neighbour Mexico, which now has to deal with the pain of funding an American wall across their border just to keep its own citizens from migrating illegally into the US. In response to Trump’s position that the US will build the wall and Mexico will pay for it, the latter has vowed not to foot the bill. However, how Mexico can escape the toll is difficult to see as it remains tied to the apron strings of its now antagonistic neighbour US, and can be taxed into compliance. Just as well on the domestic scene Trump is targeting several programmes that form the core ingredients of the legacies of his predecessor Barack Obama such as the landmark Obamacare programme which provides an expanded access to better healthcare for the poorer members of the American society.

The new US President hinged his grouse on what he perceives as the structural weaknesses of his country’s economy. According to him “Today’s ceremony, however, has very special meaning because today, we are not merely transferring power from one administration to another or from one party to another, but we are transferring power from Washington, D.C. and giving it back to you, the people”.

Interestingly the impact of Trump’s new deal resonates in virtually every country of the world - Nigeria inclusive and offers in tow, valid inspiration for any nation that so desires, to also adopt a similar posture of placing its interests first before others’.Come to think of it, if the only surviving global super power as the US which is also considered as a foremost model of a functional democracy can have an incoming President talk of ‘America First’ and ‘giving power back to the people’, what are African countries like Nigeria thinking about or even doing about the situation.

It is likely that at the mention of political reforms in Africa the mind easily goes to the complement of despotic rulers that dot the continent and need to be resolved for the continent to grow. Such figures include the recently disgraced and sacked Yahya Jammeh of The Gambia, Robert Mugabe of Zimbabwe, Youweri Museveni of Uganda, Paul Biya of Cameroon and Omar Bongo of Gabon;whose continued stay in power only translates to endless stagnation for their countries. That is an Africa that is riddled with such potentates to whom the mantra of ‘country first’ only means ‘their pockets first’.

Yet the echo from Trump’s advocacy lends itself to serious consideration given that it is not mere wishful thinking, but remains the central factor that will determine the actual turn of global events, sooner than later. In that context therefore, it also remains instructive that with the coming of Trump, developing countries, especially in Africa should wake up from their age-long slumber and confront contemporary realities of global power-play, which at any point in time had never been in their individual or group interest. Can Aso Rock Villa, the seat of the Executive arm of government contemplate taking power back to the people either literally or metaphorically? Ordinarily power belongs to the people. But how much of that power the people actually control is a different matter altogether It is therefore they, who should be talking of placing their countries first.

Coming closer home, a campaign of ‘Nigeria First’ offers interesting scenarios. Stretching the dispensation to Trump’s starting point of taking ‘power from Washington back to the people’, will in Nigerian terms translate into granting more say to ordinary Nigerians in the affairs of the country. Can Aso Rock Villa, the seat of the Executive arm of government contemplate taking power back to the people either literally or metaphorically? Ordinarily power belongs to the people. But how much of that power the people actually control is a different matter altogether.

The context of Trump’s proposed adjustment of the power equation in America is with respect to promoting more responsiveness of government to the expectations of the people which in the advanced political culture of the American society is enhanced by the core value of transparency in governance and accountability of public officers in the discharge of their statutory duties. That situation contrasts sharply with the Nigerian experience.

For in reality the Nigerian masses have never controlled power, right from the colonial times to the present. While there may have been occasional swings of political developments in the direction of populist tendencies, such often remain mere passing phases syndicated by a few spin artistes to achieve predetermined outcomes, in the pursuit of the interest of sponsors.