Former Nigerian Ambassador to the Philippines, Dr Yemi Farounbi, in this interview with ROTIMI AGBOLUAJE, spoke about Donald Trump’s presidency, his rash of executive orders, and dire implications for global peace. Notwithstanding the cloud of chaos ahead, he said Trump’s posture is an example of how to govern from day one – a partner worth emulating by African leaders that only want power but not what to do with it. His classic example of such administrative tardiness is the current administration’s withdrawal of ambassadors without replacement over a year later.
President Donald Trump has kept to his promise of sweeping reforms right from day one. What do you make of his executive orders and announcements?
I think the world is going to witness four years of a reckless presidency, typical of a Republican. We are going to see four years of America wanting to re-assert itself as the policeman of the world. In the process, we are going to see America engaging in, perhaps, warfare outside America. He had made pronouncements that certainly would create instability, if not violence in many areas of the world. He has said, for example, that he would reclaim the Panama Canal from Panama.
The Panama President has responded immediately that they are not going to surrender the canal. He said it took them centuries of struggle to recover from America the ownership of the canal that is in their territory. Now, for America to take that canal over, he can only do it by warfare. Trump has said he won’t to take over Greenland. Those people have said the place is not for sale and he has said that if it becomes necessary, America would acquire it by force. Of course, all the powers in the world understand this expansionist policy. They are going to resist it. So, you are likely to have a war there.
Also, he has made a proclamation on immigration that those who are born in America by illegal immigrants cannot claim citizenship. But that is contrary to one of the 27 Amendments to their Constitution, which says that anybody born in America automatically becomes a citizen. By the time of conducting this interview, 18 governors and two cities have gone to court to challenge the violation of the Constitution through executive orders. They are saying he has no right to amend the Constitution. The way things look now, he is going to have instability throughout the four years. He has said he’s going to declare an emergency at the southern boundary between Mexico and America. That doesn’t show any love at all. So, if he’s going to do that, he’s going to be in conflict with Mexico and Panama.
He has also issued warnings to Iran. So, we already know that he is a President that wants to wage wars, and he is ready to reassert what he thinks is the golden age of America. So, he’s not going to have a peaceful presidential term of four years.
The world knows what to expect from Trump’s presidency. How will you compare his preparedness to govern America to what obtains in Nigeria where the President or governors would not have clear direction several months after assuming office?
Yes, that was the one thing good about it. Though some of the orders he gave are meaningless, the steps showed that he was already thinking. This is contrary to the way the Nigerian presidents acted.
A lot of our presidents in Africa and Nigeria are interested in power, not in governance. Trump has shown that he’s interested in governance. Barely seven hours after he was sworn in, he was in the office signing all these executive orders. There’s one that said there must be preservation of freedom of press. There was one that said there must be no demonisation of people. There was one that freed those who were found guilty for contravening the law when he refused to accept the result of the last presidential election. Trump had nominated people before he was sworn in.
The people had already been screened by the Senate. The Secretary of State was screened barely hours after he was sworn in. That’s the American system. But in Nigeria, the President gets there, for six months we don’t have the list of cabinet members. In the case of Muhammadu Buhari, we waited for six months. In the case of Bola Tinubu, we waited for more than three months.
Our recruitment system is wrong. We will be asking the political parties in each state to submit names. They don’t do that in America. As soon as you win, you look for a consulting firm, and you define your goals for the firm, and the kind of person you want for each role. So, the consulting firm goes ahead to bring three people for each role. The President will look at the compatibility between him and the person, and submit the name to the Senate. Their system is based more on governance. Our own system is based on power.
Is that the reason President Bola Tinubu has not appointed ambassadors for foreign missions?
It is part of it. He had one year of campaign, and won elections in 2023, at least two months before being sworn in on May 29. Somebody who wants to be president of Nigeria ought to have a definite vision for the country and the kind of people he needs to do the job. So, you can’t be waiting endlessly for two years, still thinking of people who help you to do a job when you are already mid-term. They just want positions and power without the responsibilities that go with it.
Why were the ambassadors withdrawn, if he knew he was going to wait for another year to compile the list? Those ambassadors were appointed by the All Progressives Congress (APC) government of Buhari. Tinubu is an APC president. So, what is difficult about continuity? He should have allowed them to continue to perform their functions until the government is ready for the posting of the new ambassadors.
From what I know of the list of ambassadors, not more than 40 per cent of them will be political. At least, 60 per cent of them are career diplomats who have nothing to do with politics. They have experience and training in diplomacy. Why didn’t he retain those people there and withdraw those appointed on political consideration? If for any reason, the current administration thinks that the appointments made by former President Buhari did not represent the true interests of the party, it ought to have made necessary appointments before withdrawing them. If Nigeria has specific goals to achieve there, it ought to have replaced the ambassadors with those he thinks can deliver on that mandate by the time the former ones were being recalled.
Again, we don’t understand how to use ambassadors. We just think it’s a position to be given to somebody who has contributed to the victory of the ruling party or donated money to it. It’s very sad. Ambassadors should be appointed on the basis of the specific focus of the country.
This inaction has a lot of implications. We have just created a vacuum. People may not want to relate with someone that has no mandate or presidential support of the nation, because in the absence of an ambassador, the most senior officer in the embassy will be in charge. There will be no representation at the appropriate level, which will affect even the foreign direct investments we are looking for. We are thoughtless as leaders. There are too many things wrong with us.
Let’s go back to one of those executive orders of President Trump. Is his tough stance on immigration not a blessing in disguise as it would enable African leaders, especially here in Nigeria, to build the economy, and make it competitive to retain its best brains?
Ideally, that’s the best thing. But do we learn? Nigeria has the capacity that America has. We have a very climatic situation like America. There are so many products in this world that we can produce in Nigeria, if we had focused on it. We have minerals, even uranium, tin, coal, gold and other natural deposits in abundance. For power generation, we have solar, hydro, gas, coal, crude oil, and so on. We have the diversity that America has. More importantly, we have more dynamic, resourceful, and focused people who are ready to work.
The insinuations that Nigerians don’t want to work is false. The Nigerians that I know will wake up at 5:30 a.m. to go to the farm. They work in the farm until 12:00 noon, have a break between 12:00 and 2:00 p.m. and start from 2.00 p.m. until about 6.00 p.m. That’s the Nigerian spirit that I know. So, we are not fraudulent people. The Nigerians that I knew were the Nigerians who would see yams by the roadside and with stones indicating how much to be sold. If you didn’t find the yams, you would find the money. That’s the Nigerian that we had. But when we wanted to be like this America, then we became decadent.
Against this backdrop, I expect that Nigeria will decide to be Nigeria for Nigerians, not for foreigners. For example, when you want to build railway lines, instead of giving it to the Chinese who will bring Chinese artisans, we should consider our own artisans. When there was depression in 1942 in America, Roosevelt started building houses on the Appalachian Mountains so that the mason, carpenters, bricklayers, would have work to do. Why don’t we do that? We need to engage local artisans to build this country. Then, nobody will be thinking of leaving the country in the name of japa. Unfortunately, we are not building Nigeria for Nigerians, but for some elites.
How will Trump’s immigration and birthright policies affect Nigeria as a country?
It doesn’t affect us as a country, but it may affect our citizens. There was a special app created by the Joe Biden administration through which one could begin to apply online for citizenship. He has cancelled that. That means limiting the opportunity of foreigners, including Nigerians and other Africans who want to apply to be citizens of America. There are a lot of Nigerians who might be considered illegal immigrants, but who are perhaps, at various stages of processing to become citizens.
I don’t know how he’s going to implement his policy on illegal immigrants. For example, the Chicago Police said they were not going to implement that law, because it is not their duty to identify anybody who is illegal. Their duty is to curb criminality, irrespective of who the person is, whether it’s a citizen or non-citizen. There would be instances like that. So, you’re going to have a very politically divided America. That immigration policy might perhaps dampen the enthusiasm of a number of people who want to adapt to the U.S. citizenship.
You called him a typical bully, but the majority of Americans voted him to be their president for the next four years.
Trump campaigned on the mantra of America for Americans. That touched something in their minds. The second thing is the fact that he played on American intelligence. People think he’s a Pentecostal, which I believe is the reason they invited Pastor Williams Kumuyi to come and pray there. He’s a Pentecostal of the conservative order. He also expressed his objection to lesbianism, gay, and transgender. Again, building a new golden era of America, where they would be saluted all over the world, and would not be challenged by China excited them. So, they voted for him because he said what resonated with them.
