Trump’s victory will be good for Nigeria

Surprise, surprise. Donald Trump’s message resonated with the America people: He wants to ‘drain the swamp’ – a term coined to show he wants to clean up the corrupted political system in America.

He cashed in on the disappointment the average American worker had — American jobs were going abroad. The enthusiasm among his supporters were palpable in the US. (People didn’t need the presence of Beyoncé and Jay-Z to gather in his packed rallies.)

But the media – which Trump constantly labeled as corrupt – didn’t give him a chance. The polling industry got it wrong most times, as well. Even many who followed the media, betted on Clinton’s victory. Apparently, our very own Pastor T.B. Joshua based his prediction on the media, which was obviously unfair to Trump. Even the Nobel laureate, Wole Soyinka, boasted that he would tear his Green Card, if Trump won.

Foreign media – including Nigeria’s – were irritated with the probability of Trump deporting most decent and undocumented foreigners trying to eke out a living in the US. They called him all kinds of names, but his message was clear and populist. (You needed to see his tweet engagements and his rallies – the enthusiasm from his supporters were infectious.). Some of us correctly read the whole event and went against all established polls to predict a victory for Trump (https://www.thecable.ng/trump-will-win-one-prediction-come-true).

But contrary to what some Nigerians might have heard about Trump, he actually shares many believes with the average Nigerian, who is very conservative.

For example, he believes that marriage should be between a man and woman. He doesn’t agree with the US Supreme Court which made gay marriage available across America. This implies that Nigeria and other African countries are no longer going to get the kind of external pressure they got for throwing away gay marriage in their senates.
On the right to life, he is strongly opposed to abortion, except in cases of rape, incest and threat to the life of the mother. This agrees with the conventional African believe. So, he is not a pagan as one respected Nigerian commentator labeled him. He has strong Christian views.

The argument that isolationisms, which the Trump campaign implied with its anti-globalization and Make America Great Again (MAGA) rhetoric, might isolate America for African and scale down most of its humanitarian gestures, might not be necessarily correct.

US foreign relations has never been guided by altruism, many argue. Thus, trump will aim at establishing special relationships with African countries. In this regards, the recently extended African Growth and Opportunity Act (AGOA) would be continued by his administration. After all, America still wants to develop a strong relationship with African countries, which it intends to export to, when its manufacturing kicks up. (AGOA encourages exports from Africa to America.). There is also no reason to suggest that Obama’s Power Africa initiative will be discontinued.

He has long abandoned his plan to deport millions of undocumented immigrants, who are genuinely contributing to the US economy. This would have hurt America’s economy. Instead, he argues he would deport immigrants with criminal records. This is not bad news for all decent immigrants trying to make a living in the US. Even his rhetoric on Muslims has been moderated.

For trade, he hopes to force China and other countries to pay for the privilege of selling their goods in the US, and he intends to punish companies that move their plants out of the US. And since Nigeria exports little, these days, to the US, we will not be affected with this embargo – when and if it is implemented.

Besides, Trump still has congress to contend with in most of his proposals. He might not be able to do most things unilaterally – building any wall won’t be easy. Even with a Republican controlled congress, he might still have some hard times. (Many GOP chieftains don’t like him. Remember George Bush abstained from voting in this election.)
On African security, there is every reason to believe that Trump would strongly support peace in the continent. He remarked, in September 2014, about how worried he was about South Africa, during the xenophobic killings. He would be definitely worried about Boko Haram in the second biggest economy in Africa. More financial and technical supports would likely come from America to Nigeria.

In the past weeks, Trump’s political incorrectness exacerbated the fears from Africans about his presidency. But Trump knew the ‘correct political message’ to get the local electorate. In the coming days, he is likely to be more politically correct.

I believe Trump’s love for the UK – a country Nigeria shares a lot with — will trickle down to Nigeria. Nigeria, in my view, should not waste time in giving Trump a warm congratulation.