Nigerians brace up for Trump’s ‘America first policy’ implementation

…Citizenship by birthright stoppage worrisome – Odugbesan

…Ihekweazu’s WHO appointment applauded, but concerns remain

Nigerians are beginning to come to terms with the 47th president of the United States, Donald Trump’s ‘America First Policy.

Trump had promised the American voting public that he would place Americans first in his attempt to make the United States of America (USA) great again.

While many took the statement as one of the regular campaign talks by politicians to win votes, Trump has however, proven the world wrong as he is gradually implementing his campaign promises to Americans.

Among such promises was the decision to end citizenship by birthright in the U.S. If fully implemented, it means that Nigerians who are pregnant and planning to give birth in the United States to get citizenship for that child would no longer be eligible for such citizenship under the new policy by Trump.

Samuel Odugbesan, a U.K-based Nigerian, told BusinessDay that Trump cannot take a unilateral decision on citizenship by birth because it was backed by the American constitution, and any decision must pass through the Senate.

“He needs to go through the senate,” Odugbesan said.

He however, said that Nigerians in the U.S. have reasons to be worried over Trump’s America first policy. According to him, Trump is unpredictable and unstable, which is why any Nigerian in the U.S should be worried in the coming days.

“They have a lot to worry about. Based on the fact that America has a lunatic as a president, which means anything can happen,” Odugbesan said.

In staying true to his promise, Donald Trump pulled out of the World Health Organization (WHO).

The U.S has been responsible for over $1billion of donations to the WHO, accounting for about 15 percent of the total money the organisation gets.

The implication for a country like Nigeria is that funding for immunizations and other health interventions from the United States Agency for International Development (USAID) will drastically reduce.

Similarly, Trump has pulled out of the Paris agreement; meaning the U.S will no longer commit to funding any climate induced or ‘Green’ campaign across the world. “Drill baby drill,” he said at inauguration.

Suggesting the U.S under his presidency will drill for oil and make sure to do what works for the U.S. economy and not necessarily the environment.

But, in what appears like a push back to the Trump anti-citizenship-by-birth campaign, a US District Judge John Coughenour, on Wednesday, February 5, condemned the order as “blatantly unconstitutional,” though Trump quickly told reporters he planned to appeal the ruling.

The federal judge blocked Trump’s attempt to restrict birthright citizenship in the United States in a blow to the president’s bid to end a right enshrined in the Constitution for more than a century.

Read also: How Trump trade war fallout could affect Nigeria, Africa

The ruling indefinitely bans enforcement of one of Trump’s most controversial executive orders, which was due to come into effect nationwide on February 19.

“The denial of the precious right to citizenship will cause irreparable harm,” District Judge Deborah Boardman was reported as saying during the hearing at a Maryland court.

She noted that Supreme Court precedent protects birthright citizenship, adding that Trump’s order “conflicts with the plain language of the 14th Amendment,” the Washington Post reported.

“No court in the country has ever endorsed the president’s interpretation,” she said. “This court will not be the first.”

The injunction adds to a 14-day stay on enforcement of Trump’s executive order issued in January by a federal judge in Washington State.

Birthright citizenship is enshrined in the US Constitution under the 14th Amendment which decrees that anyone born on US soil is a citizen.

Trump’s order was premised on the idea that anyone in the United States illegally, or on a visa, was not “subject to the jurisdiction” of the country, and therefore excluded from this category.

His opponents have argued that the 14th Amendment, which was ratified in 1868 as the United States sought to recover from the Civil War, has been settled law for over a century.

They have cited an 1898 US Supreme Court ruling in the case of a Chinese-American man named Wong Kim Ark, who was denied reentry to the United States on the grounds that he was not a citizen.

The court affirmed that children born in the United States, including those born to immigrants, could not be denied citizenship

Nigerians express concern over Nigeria’s benefit going forward

Nigerians have expressed concern that America’s withdrawal from the WHO could affect the benefits expected from the recent appointment of Chikwe Ihekweazu as acting Regional Director of the African Regional Office of WHO, following the conclusion of Dr. Matshidiso Moeti’s term on Tuesday.
Ihekweazu, a Nigerian infectious disease epidemiologist, joined WHO in 2021 as an Assistant Director-General and Deputy Executive Director of the WHO Health Emergency Preparedness and Response Programme.

In his new capacity, he will serve as Acting Regional Director until a new permanent director is nominated and confirmed by the WHO Executive Board.

The new policy of the United States warranting the withdrawal from the world’s health body is seen to affect the funding and the benefits member-countries normally receive.

“Dr. Ihekweazu’s appointment is well-deserved. It is an honour and image-booster for Nigeria. But I am sad that he is coming at a time when things have taken a drastic turn in WHO. The exit of US with its huge support will likely affect the operations of the organization. Well, we wait and see how things go,” Sebastine Offor, a lecturer with a university, said.