Christian faith crusader, Kadzai, laud Trump for suspending USAID
By Kingsley Chukwuka
The Co-chairman of the Interfaith Coalition Conference, Engr. Daniel Kadzai has lauded the President of the United State, Donald Trump for suspending the US Agency for International Development (USAID), saying that the fund is grossly abused especially in Nigeria.
Kadzai said that as a stakeholder in the Northern part of the country, he cannot point to any developmental strides executed with the fund, giving reasons why the region is still grossly under-developed.
He added that the Internally Displaced Persons (IDP) camps in the region are on a daily rise with poor health facilities and staggering increase in hunger among the inmates of the IDPs, leading to sex slavery among the female inmates.
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Speaking to our correspondent on the positive impact of the suspension if sustained, Kadzai who was also a former National President, Youth Wing of the Christian Association of Nigeria, (YOWICAN), predicted that the country will look inwards to generate funds on dealing with the challenges the USAID funds were meant to solve.
He opined that if Nigeria provides funding for humanitarian intervention it will be better monitored especially by the anti graft agencies, he said.
Statistics as gathered by our correspondent indicated that the USAID budget for the fiscal year 2024 was $44 billion, $50 billion in 2023, $47 billion in 2022 and $37.4 billion in 2021.
“If these funds were judiciously used, Nigeria especially the Northern part where most of the funds were targeted because of Insurgency that has ravaged the region would have been better for it.
“Rather than continuous syphoning of the fund, it is with good faith that we welcome the President Trump policy on the suspension of the funds.
“I urge the government to look inwards, generates its own funds to deal with these challenges, as we shall not continue to depend on foreign aid while we have enough resources to handle our challenges”, Kadzai said.
Recall that shortly after his inauguration of Donald Trump on January 20, 2025, Trump signed an executive order implementing a 90-day pause in US foreign development aid, pending a review.
The funding freeze has disrupted various global humanitarian aid efforts and impactfully put almost all of the USAID employees on leave.
The move is being challenged by labour unions and the opposition Democrats, who say the president needs approval from the legislature to shutter a government agency.
Despite this, the Trump administration has moved to fold the aid agency into the State Department
From Africa to Latin America, governments are scrambling to fill the shortfalls caused by the freeze on aid funding from the US.
Terror funder
A Republican lawmaker Scott Perry had said that USAID funded global terrorist organisations like Boko Haram.
Boko Haram, active in Nigeria since 2009, have killed thousands of people and displaced millions, especially in the country’s northeastern region.
Perry’s accusation came during the inaugural hearing of the Subcommittee on Delivering on Government Efficiency on February 12, 2025.
Responding to Perry’s accusation, the US ambassador to Nigeria Richard Mills told local media on February 19 that there is no evidence USAID funded Boko Haram or any terrorist group.
The US embassy in Nigeria posted a statement on its website further explaining it had comprehensive monitoring and evaluation systems in place to help verify that aid reached its intended recipients.
