US President Donald Trump said in his inauguration speech Monday that his government’s official policy would only recognize two genders, ending the current practice of providing a third gender option in some settings.

“I will also end the government policy of trying to socially engineer race and gender into every aspect of public and private life… As of today, it will henceforth be the official policy of the United States government that there are only two genders, male and female,” he said.

US President Donald Trump vowed Monday to revamp US trade, promising tariffs and taxes on other countries to aid Americans, in an inaugural address as he took office as 47th president of his country.

“I will immediately begin the overhaul of our trade system to protect American workers and families,” he said. “Instead of taxing our citizens to enrich other countries, we will tariff and tax foreign countries to enrich our citizens.”

US President Donald Trump vowed Monday to deport “millions and millions” of undocumented migrants as he was sworn in after running an election campaign that focused on illegal immigration.

“First, I will declare a national emergency at our southern border. All illegal entry will immediately be halted, and we will begin the process of returning millions and millions of criminal aliens back to the places from which they came,” he said.

Foremost Professor of Political Science, Bolaji Akinyemi, has asked President Bola Tinubu to avoid confrontation with the newly sworn-in 47th President of the United States, Donald Trump.

“If I were President Tinubu, I would try to steer clear of antagonising him because there is nothing a bully likes better than taking on people who are not strong enough to resist him,” Akinyemi said on Channels Television’s Politics Today programme on Monday.

“You know there is that African proverb that if you are not strong enough to take on a bully and you take him on, you are just even going to suffer more for it.

“That’s the advice I will give President Tinubu: try and avoid having a confrontation with him even if that means that he does things that annoy or does things that step on the interests of Nigeria. There are ways in which you could address his reaction without confrontation.”

Prof Akinyemi, a former Director General of the Nigerian Institute of International Affairs (NIIA), faulted the inaugural speech of Trump as uninspiring, “shocking and depressing”.

The octogenarian said rather than rallying the world for peace, Trump took time to threaten the rest of the world with a bouquet of hostile policies including tacking back Panama Canal, renaming the Gulf of Mexico as the Gulf of America, tariff wars, and others.

Akinyemi said the US president would “soon learn that there are repercussions to policies, to jingoism”, adding that the world is “in for a rough ride for four years” of the Trump presidency.

The former Nigerian Minister of External Affairs said Nigeria is out of the focus on the 78-year-old most powerful president and that Africa’s most populous nation should not expect anything extraordinary from the Trump presidency.

Trump was sworn in as president on Monday, succeeding Joe Biden, four years after an electoral defeat that truncated his second-term ambition.

Trump, 78, was a political outsider at his first inauguration in 2017 as the 45th president, but this time around he is surrounded by America’s wealthy and powerful.

The world’s richest man, Elon Musk, Meta boss Mark Zuckerberg, Amazon chief Jeff Bezos and Google CEO Sundar Pichai all had prime seats in the Capitol alongside Trump’s family and cabinet members.

While Trump refused to attend Joe Biden’s 2021 inauguration after falsely claiming electoral fraud by the Democrat, this time Biden has been keen to restore the sense of tradition.

Biden joined former presidents Barack Obama, George W. Bush and Bill Clinton at the Capitol. Former first ladies Hillary Clinton and Laura Bush were there but ex-first lady Michelle Obama pointedly stayed away.

Some northern lawmakers in the House of Representatives have indicated that the Nigeria Governors Forum’s (NGF) endorsement of the revised Value-Added Tax (VAT) sharing formula in the proposed tax bills may be subject to amendments by federal lawmakers before passage.

In 2024, President Bola Tinubu submitted four tax bills to the National Assembly, following recommendations from the Presidential Taskforce on Fiscal Policy and Tax Reforms led by Taiwo Oyedele. The proposed bills include the Nigeria Tax Bill 2024, the Nigeria Tax Administration Bill, the Nigeria Revenue Service (Establishment) Bill, and the Joint Revenue Board (Establishment) Bill.

The bills have sparked diverse opinions, with northern leaders opposing the VAT provisions. On October 29, the Northern Governors Forum opposed the proposed tax amendment bills. Two days later, the National Economic Council advised Tinubu to withdraw the bills for broader consultations.

While the bills saw some success in the Senate, they faced stiff opposition in the House of Representatives, with over 70 northern lawmakers blocking debate on the general principles of the bills. Critics, including former Vice President Atiku Abubakar and Governors Bala Mohammed and Babagana Zulum, argued that the reforms could harm the northern economy, particularly the VAT derivation component.

Last week, the President achieved a breakthrough at a meeting between the NGF and the Oyedele-led committee. The 36 governors proposed that VAT revenue be shared 50% based on equality, 30% on derivation, and 20% based on population.

Speaking to journalists, Sada Soli, representing Jibia/Kaita Federal Constituency, expressed the House’s readiness to support the governors but noted that the bills might face amendments during debates. He emphasized the need for thorough scrutiny to correct fundamental drafting errors.

Joshua Gana, a PDP lawmaker from Niger State, confirmed that the northern caucus had not met over the bills, as the House is mourning the recent death of Deputy Whip Hon Adewunmi Onanuga. He added that caucuses are free to deliberate until the House reconvenes on January 28, 2025.

Terseer Ugbor, representing Kwande/Ushongo Federal Constituency, echoed Gana’s position, indicating that the northern caucus has yet to take a firm stand on the governors’ support for the bills.

Meanwhile, the Arewa Consultative Forum (ACF) is studying the tax reform proposals and plans to provide specific recommendations within 48 hours. ACF National Publicity Secretary Prof Tukur Muhammad-Buba stated that the forum is generally satisfied with the equity, population, and derivation considerations in the proposals.