...Trump 2.0 and lessons for Nigeria

UNITED States' 47th President, Donald Trump, got off to an early start after he was declared the winner of the November 6, 2024, election by making clear pronouncements on his key campaign promises. Returning for a second term, Trump is matching his words with action. Within days of getting elected, Trump started assembling his cabinet and forwarding the list to Congress for scrutiny. Joe Biden defeated him four years ago.

He reiterated his 'America First' campaign pledge to tackle illegal immigration, withdraw from international treaties and trade agreements and impose tariffs on countries that fail to adopt acceptable dealings with the US.

His post-election comments became talking points globally as various countries braced for his imminent return to power. Two such talking points were whether America would take Greenland and if Canada would be willing to drop its sovereignty and become the 51st US state.

Upon his inauguration on January 20, Trump signed 42 Executive Orders. He gave an order to law enforcement to raid churches, mosques, hospitals, and schools in search of illegal immigrants while applying "commonsense."

A federal court has temporarily quashed the EO ending automatic citizenship by birth.

Interestingly, within hours of his inauguration, positive signs began emerging from China and Japan, two major rivals of the US, that they were ready to align with his economic plan. Two days after his return to office, Trump announced that some tech giants had teamed up to deploy $500 billion in Artificial Intelligence infrastructure.

Trump addressed the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland virtually. This perhaps signals a possible presidential term of reduced international travel. Addressing over 3,000 attendees, Trump demanded a global drop in interest rates and oil prices.

He stuck to the established political tradition of sending his nominees for screening after he won the election. This is a lesson for Nigeria on how to conduct post-election matters and avoid any waste of time.

Nigerian presidents must learn how to move fast on their campaign promises instead of engaging in a merry-go-round of appointing transition committees of cronies and political jobbers.

This is a departure from the Nigerian style of keeping the citizens waiting for months on the likely shape of a cabinet.

In the United Kingdom, an incoming prime minister never wastes time to assemble his team. Successive Nigerian presidents have been lackadaisical about naming their ministers. Pronouncements are often made and sometimes changed in a way that indicates a lack of consultation with the National Assembly.

The names of ministerial nominees are usually sent to the NASS without positions attached, indicating an abject lack of seriousness. The resulting screening of ministerial nominees then becomes a hollow ritual.

Since no positions are attached, nominees cannot be asked questions based on their suitability for such. This is a huge disservice to the country. The NASS may consider reducing the time for the submission of ministerial nominees by a newly inaugurated president from three months to 30 days.

Positions should accompany the names of nominees while Nigerians expect the lawmakers to learn from their American counterparts and grill those named rigorously.

Governance must be run on strategic decisions and not whimsical acts. Once elections are over, governance must necessarily kick in. The delay in announcing ministerial nominees allows for too many unnecessary trade-offs and interference by different interests seeking to put their own choices on board. Nigerian politicians must imbibe the acumen to govern while running for elections.

Another point to note is that the unwieldy cabinet of successive presidents needs to be reviewed. The US with a $27 trillion GDP, has a far leaner cabinet than President Bola Tinubu's. This must change.