Often, the campaign or process leading  to the nomination of candidates for America’s presidential election is comparable to any beauty pageant. It shoves up all sorts of contenders – the ultra conservatives, the extroverts, the introverts to the moderates, a most unlikely description for Republican party contenders.

In the 2016 outing, there are over one dozen Republican contenders, including the billionaire, Donald Trump and the chilly cool Dr. Ben Carson on whom the opinion polls are oscillating for the front runner position at the moment.

Let us assume that the American electorate through the uncertain pendulum swing of polls vote Trump their president come 2016, African leaders will no doubt troop out to dine and wine with him either singly or in groups, courtesy of the power of the White House.

None of them will ever remember the sarcastic, if not the insolent, remarks he made about them (African leaders)     and Africa during his race for power. Their collective amnesia or the politics of gullibility will over-ride their ambition to stay in power.

While other contenders were busy mapping out strategies for educational development, economic improvement, etc, Trump concentrated on the under development of Africa. Even if he does not get the nomination, his trade-off points on issues like race, Mexico, Asia and the entire Latin America have been assimilated and conceptualized as a new vision by poor and racist America. It is the further analysis by more people for eventual reality that will push him down in the polls rating later. America will definitely be too smart to continually accommodate him with his maverick outpours.

This aspect of foreign leaders must be analyzed before our president begins to rush to them. Former UK leaders Tony Blair and Gordon Brown, especially the former, made it very difficult for African leaders to launder money in the UK. But David Cameron who sees people as “swarm” relaxed the convention. Our president had gone to him.

In India he disclosed Nigeria is broke and cannot pay ministers. Perhaps this is part of the reason he’s running Nigeria like a sole administrator. Why is the foreign platform the number one choice for our   leaders to make news. Each time President Muhamadu Buhari had anything new to say he does so overseas. Former NSA to President Goodluck Jonathan, Alhaji Sambo Dasuki chose London to announce the postponement of the last presidential election.

In contrast, the late Sani Abacha as head of state never made any foreign trips except to Ghana and Niger Republic as the chairman of ECOWAS. However, he had a way of making the world, including the influential world news media, to pay attention to him more than any Nigerian leader. The media handlers of Nigerian leaders should be able to explain to them that in these complex and competing news spaces whatever they say is like a drop in the ocean that is only picked up by the home media they are running from.

It is indeed embarrassing that Nigerian leaders often rush abroad for reasons as common as medical check ups, business, tourism and training trips for our lawmakers. What can they not learn on the internet, social media, electronic media or the least of all, newspapers? When Peter Enahoro, aka Peter Pan, was appointed the chairman of the board of Nigeria Broadcasting Commission, NBC, in 1992, he waged a relentless war against the board members.

They wanted to travel overseas – the UK for a learning tour. He was able to suppress their pressure when he asked them: “Who am I going to learn from, people with whom I was on one-on-one? I will now go to them with the cream of Nigerian leaders for a tutorial. I cannot do this.” That explanation put paid to their clamour for overseas learning trip. It took a lot of courage and patriotism to be that rigid.

It is pretty obvious that such a training  trip for our leaders is a waste of resources and apart from being humiliating. This inclination towards visiting the United States of American, USA, to observe and learn first hand about the presidential system, the presidency and their Congress started with the Third Republic National Assembly members. Let us be realistic: What can one learn in a setting like that from people discussing their constituency issues that are  different from ours.  It will be better to read books and newspapers to know how those intricate issues originate than to understudy them as observers. This is an after-effect of the oil wealth as it was unknown in the First Republic.

There was also the case of our national lawmakers going to Malaysia to study their palm oil production mechanism or revolution which has its root in Nigeria. The government and people of Malaysia first learnt about the Nigerian burgeoning palm produce industry in the 1960s. And because of the similarity in climate, sent a delegation to learn about it.

Recently, law makers in Delta State House of Assembly (DTHA) went to America for a learning process about Republicanism. It was rumoured that they demanded for N750 million in a state where teachers and local government workers are heavily owed. When it hit the rumor mill, the state governor, Ifeanyi Okowa, of course denied it. But they went anyway. Whatever they want to know, buoyed by enthusiasm and patriotism, can be learnt in the comfort of their homes

They came to Benin City, the headquarters of the West African Palm Oil Research Institute (now NIFOR). Our agricultural experts taught them. At the end they left with seedlings and other samples.

Today their tinned and bottled oil are common sights in the Nigerian market.  The Malaysian government sent agriculture workers. But something happened and Nigerian lawmakers stopped making Malaysia a site for frequent visits. It was when they reminded our people that they only came here once and broke protocol by keeping them waiting endlessly, if not unattended to. Another was the case of Issa Hayattu, Confederation of African Football (CAF) boss, He was at the headquarters of NFF, Surulere where he was tutored by late Patrick Okpomo. Issa Hayattu became the mentor of Dr. Amos Ademu. The CAF boss made success of his learning process in Lagos.

Why do our people not gain from theirs. There is an untold story embedded in these trips. Because the people are not aware of everything leaves   room for unlimited speculation to the detriment of unhealthy co-existence. Let me give an analogy before the point of my headline for this write-up because it took place before this overseas trip in question. Recently, Pope Francis visited the USA.

The intrigues, the manipulation, the rivalry between the Democratic Party and the Republican Party were made manifest for a discerning America to play with. Right from the arrival at the airport to the White House, the House of the Representatives whose speaker, Mr Brenner who initiated the visit. Before the Pope met with the speaker, one who could see the joy, the tears, the lamentations and the loneliness of power he made manifest, his maneuver in the House   et al. What else, or take up Barack Obama’s.

The Audacity of Hope, where he talks about ambition, organizing election campaigns, the functions of staff, town hall meetings, constituency offices, travels raising money, how to initiate bills, building alliances, learning from older senators, et al. With this kind of information, why do our leaders need to go abroad for? Like my doctor, Janel Perceveil in London told me, most of the ailments your people come here for can be treated in Nigeria and went on to tell me about her Nigeria class mate in the U.K. “If I can handle these he can equally do it in Nigeria.”

Recently, law makers in Delta State House of Assembly (DTHA) went to America for a learning process about Republicanism. It was rumoured that they demanded for N750M in a state where teachers and local government workers are heavily owed. When it hit the rumor mill, the state governor, Ifeanyi Okowa, of course denied it. But they went anyway. This set of lawmakers including those from NASS are more comfortable seeing themselves as parliamentarians. Did they ever hear that word in America.

The Americans have their Congress, and allow Nigerians to pride themselves in their National Assembly. Nobody in that level goes out to learn anything anyway. Whatever they want to know buoyed by enthusiasm and patriotism can be learnt in the comfort of their luxuriant homes. Stop embarrassing us. Like the Malaysians reminded our National Assembly lawmakers “we only visited your country once,” and left them on their own. Tax payers are weeping!.

Mr. Ben Etaghene is the editorial  director of The Bulletin, Sapele.