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Prof. ANTHONY KILA Reveals A Lot
Since Pres. Donald Trump assumed office, a few days ago, the big question on many lips has been what should Nigerians, both in the US and in Nigeria expect from the new US President?
There have been stories of how he intends to repatriate immigrants and so on. There are even stories of how he has started doing that, all over the US.
Last week, foreign policy analyst, Professor Anthony Kila, who is a Jean Monnet Professor of Strategy & Development spoke to City People about the issue. He is a Political Economist, Strategist & Public intellectual. He is the Director General & CIAPS Centre in Lagos.
Below are excerpts of his interview with City People Publisher, SEYE KEHINDE & Reporter, GIFT, on what Nigerians should expect from President Donald Trump.
The question many Nigerians are asking is, what are we going to gain from Trump being president? What do you think?
There are 2 questions Nigeria, Africa and the rest of world can be asking. They can be asking, what is going to happen? Or, what are we going to gain? Those questions can be answered, understanding the person of Trump.
Number one, Trump doesn’t care about issues of Climate change, about the weak, about unilateralism, about collaboration, about global world. No, that is not his outlook. That’s not going to happen. He wants Peace that will not disturb business. If the war is going to promote business, he doesn’t care about the kind of war.
So he would be friendly to countries that have the leader that he likes. So he doesn’t care about a lot of those things and he’s talking about Tariffs. He’s talking about pulling out of the WHO -World Health Organization. He’s talking about pulling out of the Paris support for Climate. That means that the rest of the world, Nigeria, Africa, and everybody, has to start thinking: what can we do without Trump? Then, if they have the guts, what can we do against Trump but its not enough to just say what we can do without him if you are reliant on him, because, if you are reliant on him, just because you are poor he’s not going to give you. He will give you, because he either likes you or you can provide something for him. So in the Trump era, it is going to be the ability they’re forced to look inwards and build themselves. You know, they have to think in terms of “There came a pharaoh that did not know Joseph”, or a child that lived with a bad step mom that does not give you food the way she gives to her own children. So you’re now forced to roll up your sleeves and think, in terms of reliance and alternative to Trump, self reliance and alternative to Trump. And if they are bold enough I mean, look at China. You know, you just go and lead the AI, the Technology and boom, you create chaos in the market.
It will force people to look inwards and build on things. I’ve been to some events where I see people pitching for business. And for example, a lot of people pitching are always talking about sustainability of energy. Trump doesn’t care about that. In the new era, you are like, kill the environment. You know, as long as you bring the bacon to the bread. So that is the expectations and reaction. I think African leaders, have two choices to make.
It, is either they suck up to him, allow me to say that, suck up to Trump. And they might be lucky if he likes them because, mind you, you might be trying to get to understand Trump, if he doesn’t like you, it is a waste of time. So it’s either, you know, they look up to him and they treat him well and become his friend, and they get it with lots of goodies, if they’re lucky, or they just think, regardless of him, let’s focus on building ourselves, I will go for the second.
Okay, how about the issue of immigrants? What do you think? I think he is quite clear on that.
He is quite clear. I think anybody who’s staying in an immigrant’s house should start clearing the room, because he or she might come back soon. If you have family members in the United States, and you think they might be illegal, or they might have committed any crime, you better repair their car, because they might come home to take it, you know, clear their rooms and stop depending on whatever they send you atleast for now, because they might be on their way back, and if they’re lucky, they won’t come back.
But what is his own logic for wanting immigrants to leave?
Well, his own logic is part of the five factors we stated because he has created a constituency that wants to believe that immigrants are taking their jobs, they marry their husbands or marry their wife, but now they even marry their husbands. So there are some women who want immigrants to go so they can get the men. There are some men who want immigrants to go so they can keep the women. Some people are going for their jobs. Some people are going for their businesses. Some people say, if there are no immigrants, we can earn more. Immigrants are taking our jobs. Immigrants are putting this strain on our health service. Immigrants are corrupting our country with that culture. I’ve seen Americans who have told me that one of the things they like Trump about is that they look at their country and all of a sudden is full of people wearing hijabs. Because, yeah, I really took my time to listen to the voters to get a feel of why. I think, you know, the work I did, I think that’s, by the way, during this interview, I spoke to close to 500 voters, you know, to get a feel of what is going on.
Yes, he will be tough on immigrants.
From your research, you knew that he was going to win the elections. Were you so clear about it before?
No, I wasn’t so clear, but it was very possible. I knew, contrary to what a lot of my colleagues were saying, Okay, I knew he had a strong chance. Up to the very last moment I thought it was going to be a tie. It was towards the end that I realized this thing is not going to be tied again. And I must say, publicly, I wasn’t happy about it. I didn’t want him to win. But I said so I went over saying, Are you supporting Trump? I said, No, I’m just telling you reality that this man has the votes and now that he has won, and pointing out reality that he has the mandate. I think there’s a problem for non analysts, for a lot of people out here. When you talk about politics, they tend to confuse what you want with what you see. I ask people who’s going to win, and they tell me who they want to win. I say, No, that’s not the question, regardless of what you want. I guess perhaps I’m used to supporting people who do not win elections. Its nothing to me.
What sort of a person is Pres Trump?
I think Trump, and I’m very careful not to insult, Trump, is a very self centered person. He is a narcissist. He likes attention, he likes to shine, but he also likes to be liked and he likes to win. And that affects all his views, and he sees people who do not agree with him as enemies. You know, he doesn’t hate them. So let’s look at this way, from my distant profiling of him, it’s not that he goes out to hate people, its just that he doesn’t like anybody that does not like him or does not like him to achieve what he wants to achieve. So the moment he doesn’t like you, he calls you names and he runs you down. His mindset is very pedestrian and very childish. So he moves directly to insult rather than rhetorics. So, you know, he plays it down. He does a lot of well, I don’t know, “he’s ugly”. He says it like somebody’s “short”. You know, that’s the way he deals with matters. So to that extent, everything he does is about what he likes and what he doesn’t like. But the good thing is that also, because he’s very self centered and very goal focused, if you insult him yesterday and today, you say he’s good and he thinks you can let him achieve what he wants to achieve, he will take you on. Eg, his running mate now Vice President. I mean, JD Vance said the worst thing about him in the world, but the moment you agree with him, he’s fine, just, just come on board, especially while he needs you. Maybe now that he is president, he might not be so magnanimous, but if he needs you, regardless of what happened yesterday, if he needs you today, he will be fine. That’s the kind of person we’re dealing with.
