Director, Initiative for Public Policy Analysis
Director of the Initiative for Public Policy Analysis, an independent think-tank in Lagos, Nigeria, examining economic issues in Africa
PROFILE
Thompson Ayodele
Guest
FROM Thompson Ayodele
To the Point
Barack Obama and Tough Love for Africa On his last day in Italy, the President told African diplomats the legacy of colonialism is no excuse for their lack of prosperous democracies. Then he headed for sub-Saharan Africa, where he'll bypass the undeveloped, politically unstable countries of Nigeria and Kenya -- birthplace of his father -- in favor of Ghana, with its growing economy and recent history of peaceful transitions of power. Why is he going? How is he likely to be received? What's the best way for the developed world to help a troubled continent?
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To the Point
Trump plays scolder-in-chief with NATO allies At the opening of NATO’s dramatic new headquarters in Brussels today, President Trump acknowledged that Article 5 — promising that “an attack on one nation is an attack on all” -- has only been invoked one time: in the aftermath of September 11. But the President failed to provide what 27 other Alliance members have been waiting for: a re-commitment by America’s new leader to Article 5. Instead, they got a scolding.
To the Point
What happens when America retreats from the world? Is President Trump taking his "America First" agenda to extremes, withdrawing the country from the international stage on trade and climate change, distancing America from its traditional allies across the Atlantic and even threatening to physically isolate the country through the building of a wall along its southern border? León Krauze guest hosts.
To the Point
Human Rights in the era of Donald Trump President Trump’s UN Ambassador, Nikki Haley, said today the US might pull out of the United Nations’ Human Rights Council. Serious violators of human rights are members of the Council itself–and a US resignation could make things worse. Later on today’s show, now that he’s into his second term, comedian turned US Senator Al Franken is telling jokes again.