Freezing Of American Int’l Aid: Nigerian’s Reaction And ‘USAID’ As A Trojan Horse For US Influence

Recent discussions on X (formerly Twitter) have reignited debates about the role of the United States Agency for International Development (USAID) in Africa, which has come under scrutiny and potential shutdown, particularly following the Trump-Vance administration’s ‘America First’ policy, that led to a 90-day freeze on aid spending pending review.

Last Monday, Elon Musk, mandated by Donald Trump to reduce federal spending, announced the imminent closure of USAID, a supposedly humanitarian-oriented agency of the U.S. government.

To justify the potential shutdown of USAID, Elon Musk, as the head of the Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) alongside Vivek Ramaswamy, is in charge of cutting federal costs and legal hurdles surrounding its implementation stated this:

USAID is a criminal organisation and a viper’s nest of radical left-wing Marxists who hate America. It’s time for it to go. With Donald Trump’s go-ahead, we are shutting down the agency.”

In Nigeria and Africa, this freeze on USAID will stop many programmes such as malaria vaccination, the manufacture of mosquito nets or the transport of medical supplies throughout Africa. There is also the halt on the President’s Emergency Plan for AIDS Relief (PEPFAR) funding, which has poured over $6 billion into Nigeria’s HIV/AIDS treatment programmes.

With the funding temporarily halted, many Nigerian-based civil society organisations (CSOs) took to social media to express disappointment in the U.S. government, which they relied on to fund the gap the Nigerian government has long left to foreign intervention.

Meanwhile, other observers see the move as a victory for African self-determination and economic independence from Western imperialism.

USAID: A Trojan Horse for U.S. Influence

For decades, USAID has operated under the banner of humanitarian assistance by using U.S. taxpayers’ money to fund health, education and governance programmes across Africa and Worldwide. However, Elon Musk and the DOGE team just exposed one of the primary sources of deep state funding.

Toeing the line as was exposed, critics have argued that the agency, which operated a $50+ billion budget larger than the CIA and almost as big as the entire U.S. intelligence community, has functioned as an extension of U.S. foreign policy that interferes with domestic politics, perpetuates dependency, undermines local industries and shapes economies to benefit American corporations and strategic interests.

Contrary to the “aid-serving” perspective, USAID does not provide aid without strings attached. Instead, according to former US State Department official Mike Benz, it implements U.S. foreign policy through global development and asset-building initiatives, including funding media propaganda, media institutions and CSOs in regions of national interest. These assets are then used by The Pentagon, the US State Department or the CIA to advance the US national interests.

The USAID is not [a] charity. It is not aid. This [USAID] is a cynical, self-serving purpose that seeks to free societies [and] open societies to get the influence in and build assets, topple governments and fund media propaganda to sway hearts and minds,” Benz said.

There is no doubt that USAID funded foreign governments, media outlets, universities, NGOs, and institutions to advance U.S. national interests and not only provide humanitarian aid to countries or regions of interest to the United States. Unlike Nigeria and other African countries, China and Russia have kicked out USAID because they recognise it as a tool for regime change.

Another contrary position that USAID is much more than an “aid-serving” agency is the 2014 report by Global Research that outlined that the supposed aid agency has a “history of working with the CIA as a front operation to help them spread that special kind of “democracy” (read as IMF inspired brutal repression) in nations where [US] have installed brutal dictators in support of [its] neoliberal economic agenda.”

According to the report, USAID provided cover for CIA operatives in South Vietnam so much that the two became almost synonymous.

USAID’s reach covers over 100 countries in the world. It is now facing extinction following numerous reports, including Wikileaks, indicating USAID pushed out nearly half of U.S. taxpayers’ taxpayers’ dollars ($472.7m) into funding U.S. secretive US government NGOs like “Internews Network” (IN), which in turn, has worked with 4,291 media outlets, producing in one year 4,799 hours of broadcasts reaching up to 778 million people and “training” over 9000 journalists (2023 figures), yet supportive of social media censorship aimed at controlling independent voices or media.

In Nigeria, USAID, alongside the UK’s Centre for Information Resilience (CIR), was exposed by West Africa Weekly’s Editor-in-Chief David Hundeyin for paying Nigerian “fact-checking journalists” to write smear pieces describing Pan-Africanists and anti-GMO campaigners as “pro-Russia.” More so, USAID funds Dai Global LLC, a supposed climate NGO operating in Abuja, in a questionable payment as most were labelled “ALL OTHER PROFESSIONAL, SCIENTIFIC, AND TECHNICAL SERVICES.”

With Nigeria, Africa and the world waking up to the dire realities of what USAID stood for in terms of reach and influence and interference in global politics, threatening the sovereignty and progress of nations, many are not sorry to see it go.

For most, the closure of this agency will have no consequences. On the contrary, they believe that USAID supports and sponsors destabilisation operations and exploitation in Africa.

According to a Nigerian quoted by Maliweb, “Without the support of the USAID, terrorist groups could find themselves short of weapons, ammunition and reconnaissance means.”

“This is very good news for Africa because USAID is an unconventional weapon of war for American special forces, which use psychological manipulation methods and support insurgency and irregular warfare against Africans,” they added.

Meanwhile, reacting on X to a video where Colombia’s President confirmed that USAID, along with other US agencies, fund and control sections of the country’s police and military, West Africa Weekly founder Hundeyin said:

USAID is the heart of the out-of-control foreign intelligence monster that must be slain and permanently laid to rest for the world to have peace and development. Death to USAID.”

Beyond USAID, Obama’s Subtle Interference in Nigeria’s 2015 Election

The 2015 general election not only brought the economic strength of Nigeria to a low but also brought former President Muhammadu Buhari to power under the All Progressive Congress (APC) and the exit of former President Goodluck Jonathan of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), the latter in his book ‘My Transition Hours’ accused Obama of meddling in the election.

The message was so condescending, it was as if Nigerians did not know what to do and needed Obama to direct them,” President Jonathan said about Obama’s subtle video message.

As shown below, the subtle video endorsing former President Buhari can speak for itself.

In this video, many critics in Nigeria strongly believed Obama’s use of ‘Next Chapter,’ Buhari’s campaign slogan, was a subtle endorsement and a means to an end to effect regime change. The Obama administration never responded to Jonathan’s accusation. However, he applauds Jonathan for conceding defeat, leading to the government transition.

About The Author

Mayowa Durosinmi

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M. Durosinmi is a West Africa Weekly investigative reporter covering Politics, Human Rights, Health, and Security in West Africa and the Sahel Region

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Joy Chukwu

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