US election: What Nigeria must do to get help from Biden govt – Dr. Ejike Orji

Dr. Ejike Orji, the President and Chief Executive Officer, CEO, of Community Development Foundation, has noted that it is left for Nigeria to articulate its national interests in order to get the needed helps from the incoming administration in America.

Ejike, a former House of Representatives aspirant, who is also the Chairman, Coalition for Maternal, Newborn, Child and Adolescent Accountability Mechanism (C4MAN), pointed out that the outgoing President, Donald Trump did not perform very well in terms of America’s relationship with other countries and failed to assert the leadership role the country is known for.

Speaking to osprimetv.com on Tuesday, the Chairman Board of Network of Reproductive Health Journalists, also said that he believes that Biden, if sworn in as the 46th President of America, will respect the views of Nigeria and other African countries regarding the controversial laws on same-sex marriage.

“When it comes to international relationships, it is usually not about individuals, especially in serious countries like America where they have strong institutions and no matter who they are, at the end of the day, they’re very patriotic about what the interest of their country is and being able to look at it before looking at other countries.

“There’s no doubt that the outgoing President of America has been destructive the length America has been able to look at the world before he came.

“America looked at the world with more and more bilateralism. It is able to be part of what is going on around and in that case providing strength and financial support to all the UN organs and providing security support for Europe.

“But Trump has been able to whittle that down because he came on the platform of ‘America first’ trying to look inwards. But in the global political architecture now, no country can stand alone.

The pandemic has shown it all. For us in Nigeria, I think we have to articulate what our natural interests are and see how whatever Biden is bringing on the table is going to meet our needs. Remember that whatever Biden is going to do, he’ll first look at Nigeria’s interests

Despite major changes in laws and norms surrounding the issue of same-sex marriage and the rights of LGBT people around world, the public opinion on the acceptance of homosexuality in society, mostly in Africa remains sharply divided.

Biden was the Vice President for eight years during the tenure of President Barrack Obama who sanctioned the LGBT rights across the world.

And speaking on this, Dr. Ejike added, “Obviously, Biden is a man of his own. Remember the way things are, he was the Vice President, he was not the President.

“If they had disagreements on any issues (including gay marriage) they won’t make it open. And remember even with regard to same-sex marriage, our government at the time made it clear they were not interested in legalizing it and that any international organisation bringing money should take their money and go. I think people should look at the demeanor, the person type of Biden. He looks to me as a very civil person.

On Biden’s choice of Kamala Harris as his Vice, the Women rights activist, added, that “It would make any young person in America to aspire for the highest level.”