By Toyin Falola

Africa remains relevant to global politics. This view shapes the conversation generated on the possible impact of the Trump administration on Africa. Ironically, Africa often conforms to arrangements inspired by the powerful countries of the world, usually because they lack the collective ability to organize themselves as a continent. One emerging question that scholars ask about the unprogressive uncertainty that would emerge from the leadership of Trump is: How do African countries respond, individually or as a continent? The reason for this perspective is clear. If African countries make their demands from the American President who has introduced different policies, would they have the power of negotiations? And if they do as a continent, what if they also lose face in the process?

All these are deeply concerning as it seems the world is gradually moving towards a different character of international relationships. America is sometimes troubled, for example, with South Africa’s position regarding the war in Palestine, and for that reason, they tend to react with one-sided favouritism.

Considering the ongoing realities, however, necessary efforts must be taken regardless of their relationship prior to the emergence of President Trump. In any case, what will happen soon is uncertain, especially because nobody knows the consequences of the United States’ current policies. Even when these policies are unpredictable, Africa is greatly expectant of a future that does not put them in harm’s way, particularly for issues on which they have no input.

Scholars are beaming their searchlight of interest on what the American President means when he indicated that the US would be uninvolved in the international entanglements that some other countries face. They understand, to a considerable extent, that this reveals a posture to stand aloof in any conflict that does not have effects on America and its citizens. While that statement is good on its own, its face value is questioned, given that the same President intends to push an expansionist agenda, which, according to him, would see to the reclamation of what ordinarily belongs to America.

As a result, countries sharing borders with America would become the primary targets, which, on the surface, appears to be a problem that does not involve Africa. However, history has shown otherwise. Panellists understand that expansionism occurs in different dimensions, leading them to ponder how different countries of the world would react to this situation. Up to this moment, there has been ideological expansionism carried out by powerful countries, including America. Such conditions have necessitated the aggressive dislocation of many countries’ internal mechanisms for growth, as they draw inspiration from America, which seems to have established itself as the global police.

I now want to speak in parables. Although change is a constant thing, its underlying causes are often overlooked in the general scheme of things. Evading this germane question has often necessitated conversations that ignore fundamental issues about human development and the social ordering of events. For instance, when people argue that change is constant and believe it is exclusively inspired by nature or some forces against which they stand no chance, they inadvertently assume that making efforts to protect their interests or redirect things is futile. Such an orientation places humans in an extremely uncomfortable spot in matters concerning their welfare. If such thinking persists, they will eternally remove themselves from the possibility of dictating what happens to them. I have interacted with Africans who think in this way, and they are less active in matters that ordinarily concern their collective progress. From the beginning of contact with external civilizations, things that happen to them have either been conceived as nature-induced, against which there is nothing they can do, or seen as a necessary path in the evolution of their society. From natural disasters, which can be predicted and properly managed, to human-induced disasters, many African countries have suffered extensively over their assumption that these changes would happen whether they act or not. Today, they face an indescribable onslaught of their cultural and existential values, they are responding in familiar old ways.

There are several changes caused by humans themselves, and scientific research has established that there is a chain of actions initiated by humans that have tremendous effects on people’s activities, mostly in negative ways. It is common knowledge that human actions cause the current waves of climate disasters. Since climate problems are dispersed in the atmosphere, for example, their environment of influence cannot be pinned to a specific location, even when the centre point of the destruction is public knowledge. It is also a general understanding that Africa is often not mentioned in discussions of rapid technological inventions due to their relaxed nature of being consumers rather than producers of cutting-edge technologies.

Although that is not the focal point of this conversation, it cannot but be mentioned. Africa is never isolated from the problems of climate change, which are predominantly caused by countries and continents heavily involved in the technologization of the world with climate-unfriendly inventions that contribute to the common global problem, specifically climate disasters. Before now, more powerful countries, especially the United States, have made strenuous efforts in collaboration with non-state actors to facilitate programs and projects that would mitigate the burden of climate disasters on many underdeveloped countries so that they would not experience brutal consequences for which they are innocent.

In the TF Interview on Trump and Africa, one of the panellists reiterated why Africa should not be made to face the deleterious consequences of climate disasters. The awareness of two different facts underscores this informed position. One, the United States is on an accelerated path to conservatism, with the newly elected President Donald Trump committed to protecting Americans first, regardless of the situation. Meanwhile, “protection,” like many terms developed from a similar philosophical paradigm, is relative as it could potentially mean subjecting others to inordinate challenges they cannot surmount. Two, Africans have been innocent or the most climate-friendly continent with minimal contributions to environmental or emission-related disasters. The inventions and factories in Africa, most of which can emit dangerous content into the atmosphere, are either linked to global capitalists or are exclusively owned by them. The people of the continent have not shown similar ambition as others have in recent times.

Africans deserve some measure of respite and not policies that would further complicate their situations. This conversation is necessitated by the understanding that Africans themselves are weakened in global politics. Now that they may face increased climate difficulties, they cannot hold others responsible for their failure to act where and when they should. Across the world, respect is not given unless you demand it.

In any case, Africa should be prepared for uncertainties that would be the brainchild of such development. For example, if America pursues an expansionist agenda without failing, countries like Panama and Greenland, among other proximal societies to America, could trigger waves of terrorist reactions and responses, and no one can predict the consequences.

Therefore, African leaders cannot assume they are going to be unaffected by this development, as any meltdown in these places would ultimately affect the economic and sociopolitical exigencies of their people. This cannot be overemphasized, and African leaders must make necessary adjustments to successfully navigate such extreme conditions.What cannot be denied is that a “big man” is now in power who could reorder things differently. Africans must make the right decisions to ensure their interests.

(This is the final interview report with a panel of scholars on “President Trump and Africa” on January 26, 2025. For the transcript, see YouTube https://www.youtube.com/live/XFjeae1GceY?si=t0IlhQl3Qrs9W35v

Falola is Extraordinary Professor of Political Science,University of Pretoria.

Lerato Mbele  will  on January 19, 2025 hold a conversation with Prof. Kingsley Moghalu under the auspices of the Toyin Falola Interviews. Mbele is an international broadcaster, talkshow host, TV personality & media consultant with a passion for African development.

She is the 2023 Recipient of one South Africa’s highest honours (2023) the Charlotte Maxeke Women in Leadership Award – for her work done in international broadcasting.

She is the owner of “Moon Landing Media” (pty) Ltd & proprietor of the African Leadership Dialogues series. In her native home South Africa, she currently hosts a daily talkshow & podcast titled “PowerTalk with Lerato Mbele”.

Prior to this Lerato Mbele spent nine years as a TV presenter and broadcaster for the global news organization BBC World News.

She hosted the BBC’s main Africa-focused business shows “Talking Business Africa”, “In Business Africa” and “Africa Business Report”, as well as hosting international documentaries such as “Follow the Food” and programming that linked Africa’s relationships in global trade, commerce and international development institutions.

Lerato Mbele has also been a senior business anchor at CNBC Africa and also a prime time news anchor in her native South African Broadcast Corporation.

She has worked as a foreign policy researcher and advisor, as well as heading the multiparty democracy programme at the South African Institute of International Affairs. Here she was co-editor of the book “Designing Democracy in Africa” with Ayesha Kajee.

Her international journalism has seen her interview global leaders, chief executives and Nobel Laureates – amongst others being Bill Gates, Ajay Banga, Christine Lagarde, Kristelina Georgieva, Richard Branson, Sundar Pachai, Graça Machel, Dr. Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala, Wole Soyinka, Muhammed Yunus, the late Kofi Annan & Wangari Maathai, President Paul Kagame, President Thabo Mbeki, Prime Minister Gordon Brown and other leaders.

She has moderated numerous plenaries at the World Bank, World Trade Organization, New Development Bank (BRICS Bank), World Economic Forum, UNGA, UNECA, OPEC Fund Development Forum and AfDB.

Lerato Mbele is a Chevening Scholar who holds an MSc Development Studies from the School of Oriental and African Studies (SOAS) at the University of London.

She was named a Young Global Leader by the World Economic Forum, in 2014 chapter.

Lerato Mbele was recently awarded one of South Africa’s highest honours (2023) the Charlotte Maxeke Women in Leadership for her contribution to media and broadcasting across Africa. An honour given to her by the Minister of International Relations & Cooperation, and the South African government in recognition of her broadcast journalism across Africa and the developing world, which they stated has helped to change narratives about Africa in the global community.

She has appeared on the power lists of the Oprah Magazine, NewAfrican Women, Leading Ladies Africa, the Star Newspaper, featured in the Mail & Guardian’s biography of the most influential women in South Africa titled “On the shoulders of giants”.

She’s also a former member of the council and board for the University of Cape Town, ranked Africa’s number 1 university and institute of higher learning.

Please join us for a conversation with Kingsley Moghalu, President, African School of Governance (ASG) in Kigali, Rwanda.

Sunday, January 19, 2025
5 PM Nigeria
10 AM Austin
6 PM Rwanda

Register Here:
https://www.tfinterviews.com/post/kingsley-moghalu

Join Via Zoom:
https://us02web.zoom.us/j/87199406999

The Toyin Falola Interviews is set to hold a conversation with Prof . Kingsley Moghalu, President, African School of Governance (ASG) in Kigali, Rwanda.

Sunday, January 19, 2025
5 PM Nigeria
10 AM Austin
6 PM Rwanda

Register Here:
https://www.tfinterviews.com/post/kingsley-moghalu

Join Via Zoom:
https://us02web.zoom.us/j/87199406999

Professor Kingsley Chiedu Moghalu, a political economist and transformational leader in governance and public policy, is the President of the African School of Governance (ASG), a graduate-level pan-African university established to build the next generation of purpose-driven leaders for Africa and headquartered in Kigali, Rwanda.

He was the Founder & President of the Institute for Governance and Public Transformation (IGET), a public policy think tank. Professor Moghalu served as Special Envoy of the United Nations Development Program (UNDP) on Post-COVID Development Finance for Africa, and was Professor of Practice in International Business and Public Policy at The Fletcher School at Tufts University and Senior Fellow at the Council on Emerging Market Enterprises.

He previously served as Deputy Governor of the Central Bank of Nigeria from 2009-2014, leading the implementation of extensive reforms in the banking sector, development finance and impact investing, financial inclusion, and payment system reforms that took Nigeria to become Africa’s largest fintech market and the leading hub for fintech innovation. He also supervised the asset management of Nigeria’s $37 billion foreign reserves.

Prof Moghalu earlier founded Sogato Strategies SA, a global strategy and risk advisory firm in Geneva, Switzerland after a 17-year career in the United Nations system in which he served in strategic planning, legal and external affairs assignments in Cambodia, New York, Croatia, Tanzania, and Switzerland, rising to the highest career rank of Director. He is the author of several books, including the critically acclaimed Emerging Africa: How the Global Economy’s Last Frontier Can Prosper and Matter (Penguin, 2014), and obtained Ph.D., M.A. and LLB degrees at the London School of Economics, The Fletcher School at Tufts University, and the University of Nigeria. Moghalu also is an executive education alumnus of Harvard Kennedy School of Government, Harvard Business School, Wharton, and Columbia Business School.

He is the recipient of several honors including the National Honor of the Officer of the Order of the Niger (OON), Fellow of the Chartered Institute of Bankers (FCIB), and the degree of Doctor of Laws (LL.D.) Honoris Causa conferred by Anambra State University (Chukwuemeka Odumegwu Ojukwu University) , and holds the traditional title of Ifekaego Nnewi, conferred on him by HRH Dr. K.O.N. Orizu III, Igwe of Nnewi Kingdom. He is also the Founder of the Isaac Moghalu Foundation (IMoF), an education-access philanthropic foundation.

Kingsley Moghalu was born in Lagos in 1963 to Isaac Moghalu (now deceased), a Nigerian Foreign Service Officer, and Vidah Moghalu, a teacher at the time and now a long-retired dietician. Professor Moghalu is married to Maryanne Moghalu and they have 5 children.