President Bola Tinubu held a meeting with Southeast leaders in Enugu, where he announced plans to drive development in the region.

He promised to complete the Eastern Rail Line, which will connect Port Harcourt to Maiduguri.

The President noted that the Port Harcourt to Aba section of the project is already done and assured that the remaining parts will be finished to improve trade and transportation.

He also pledged to support the development of the Anambra Basin, a region rich in oil and gas, with reserves estimated at 1 billion barrels of oil and 30 billion cubic feet of gas.

Tinubu said this project would boost energy production and help industries grow.

The President spoke about the need to invest in gas infrastructure, which he sees as an important alternative to petrol.

He explained that this would strengthen Nigeria’s energy system and reduce reliance on fuel imports.

On security, Tinubu highlighted the importance of modern methods.

He praised Enugu’s CCTV systems and surveillance-equipped patrol cars, saying these are better than the outdated roadblocks still used in many places.

He assured Southeast leaders that the government would support such advanced security strategies.

Tinubu also commended Enugu State Governor Peter Mbah for his efforts in building roads, schools, and a new Command-and-Control Centre.

The President promised that the federal government would continue to support these initiatives.

During the meeting, Tinubu acknowledged that some of the region’s challenges have been longstanding.

He reassured the leaders that he is committed to solving these problems and working with governors to achieve progress.

The speaker of the US House said Sunday he was pushing an “aggressive” timeframe for getting a multi-trillion-dollar bill addressing immigration, tax cuts and more to Donald Trump’s desk by April, within his first 100 days in office.

Speaker Mike Johnson and fellow congressional Republicans are eager to help the incoming president enact his campaign promises, including unprecedented border security spending, business deregulation, boosting energy production and raising the US debt ceiling.

But with a new razor-thin majority in the House of Representatives and similarly tight Senate margins, Democratic opposition could stymie the efforts.

Johnson said he has strategized with Trump about combining several priorities into one gigantic piece of legislation that could move through Congress under rules of so-called reconciliation.

Such a tool allows budget-related bills to clear the 100-member Senate with a simple majority, rather than a typical 60-vote threshold.

“We can put it all together, one big up-or-down vote, which can save the country, quite literally, because there are so many elements to it,” Johnson told Fox News.

“That’s why we’re going to be so aggressive about getting this through in the first 100 days,” he said.

Johnson said he aimed to have an initial House vote on the bill as early as April 3. He envisioned it then clearing the Senate and being signed into law by month’s end.

According to Johnson, the bill would include funding for securing the US-Mexico border and deporting undocumented immigrants.

Trump focused much of his 2024 presidential campaign on immigration and, after his victory in November, said he could use the military to deport millions of people.

Johnson also said the mega-bill would “restore American energy dominance,” extend tax cuts enacted during Trump’s first term, and slash red tape “that has smothered our free market.”

He also pledged to include a provision extending US borrowing authority.

The United States routinely runs up against a legal constraint on paying for bills already incurred, and Congress is called upon to either formally raise the debt ceiling or suspend it.

A suspension of the debt limit reached by lawmakers in 2023 ended this month, and the country could bump up against the ceiling by June.

During December budget negotiations in Congress, Trump insisted the debt ceiling be raised or even eliminated altogether, but he was unsuccessful.

Johnson on Fox defended the apparent paradox of wanting to increase the limit on government borrowing while boasting of seeking to reduce the deficit.

“We’re the team that wants to cut spending,” he said. “But you have to raise the debt limit on paper so that we don’t frighten the bond markets and the world’s economy.”

Donald Trump‘s attempts to bring Greenland, the Panama Canal and even Canada under American rule are part of his plans for a new US empire, experts say.

The president-elect has stated his intentions for aggressive foreign policy upon returning to the White House which include tariffs on both Canadaand Mexico.

Those aren’t his only plans for our neighbors to the north, as Trump has repeatedly made posts on social media suggesting Canada become America’s ’51st state.’

He’s also reignited his desire for the United States to purchase Greenland and even take back control of the Panama Canal once in office.

‘World leaders are flocking to the table because President Trump is already delivering on his promise to Make America Strong Again. When he officially takes office, foreign nations will think twice before ripping off our country, America will be respected again, and the whole world will be safer,’ Trump spokesperson Anna Kelly told Newsweek in a statement.

Professor Sean Adams, an expert on American history at the University of Florida, said that Trump’s plans harken back to the ideas of Democrats from 200 years ago, especially Andrew Jackson, a known favorite president of Trump.

‘The plan to acquire Greenland does offer a bit of a throwback to the 19th century when many American politicians – particularly Democrats – were quite aggressive about territorial expansion,’ he said.

He adds that this policy was known as ‘spread-eagleism’ and an ideology meant to expanding the US style of governance across the world, as the US bought parts of Mexico, Alaska and attempted to annex now known as the Dominican Republic, in addition to Greenland and Iceland.

‘The idea was [that] the Republican government was America’s gift to the world, and it needed to be extended as much as possible. The economic opportunities that came along with expansion was a nice bonus as well.’

Donald Trump ‘s attempts to bring Greenland, the Panama Canal and even Canada under American rule are part of his plans for a new US empire, experts say

The president-elect has stated his intentions for aggressive foreign policy upon returning to the White House which include tariffs on both Canada and Mexico, as well as Trump repeatedly posting on social media suggesting Canada become America’s ’51st state.’

Adams calls the Jackson-inspired imperialism ‘a dramatic departure’ from the current establishment.

Daniel Immerwahr, a professor at Northwestern and an expert in American imperialism, says that while Trump’s plans are a break from the current mold, it may not resemble colonialism of the past.

‘It would not be a stretch to see the United States’s hundreds of military bases outside of its borders as a type of empire…But Trump is clearly more comfortable with an older form of power projection that harks back to the bloody days of Teddy Roosevelt,’ he said.

In late November, Trump announced plans to slap a 25 percent tariff on Mexican and Canadian goods as long as the countries allowed immigrants to flow over the U.S. border.

He also said he’d impose an additional 10 percent tariff on Chinese goods over the Chinese government’s refusal to make good on a promise to use the death penalty on drug dealers.

These actions, Trump said, would take place on the first day of his administration.

He said the Mexican and Canadian tariffs would apply to  ‘ALL products coming into the United States, and its ridiculous Open Borders.’

‘This Tariff will remain in effect until such time as Drugs, in particular Fentanyl, and all Illegal Aliens stop this Invasion of our Country!’

Trump has also reignited his desire for the United States to purchase Greenland

He’s even suggesting the US take back control to purchase the Panama Canal once in office

The president-elect also suggested that Mexicoand Canada had ‘the absolute right and power to easily solve this long simmering problem’ – indicating he wanted the neighbors to do more to patrol their borders so migrants couldn’t sneak into the United States.

The president-elect has in recent days suggested a territorial expansion into Canada, Greenland and Panama, and has mocked prime minister Justin Trudeau by calling him ‘governor.’

On Christmas, Trump escalated his campaigns against the governments of both Panama and Canada.

‘Merry Christmas to all, including to the wonderful soldiers of China, who are lovingly, but illegally, operating the Panama Canal (where we lost 38,000 people in its building 110 years ago), always making certain that the United States puts in Billions of Dollars in “repair” money, but will have absolutely nothing to say about “anything,”‘ Trump wrote on Truth Social on Wednesday.

‘Also, to Governor Justin Trudeau of Canada, whose Citizens’ Taxes are far too high, but if Canada was to become our 51st State, their Taxes would be cut by more than 60%, their businesses would immediately double in size, and they would be militarily protected like no other Country anywhere in the World.

‘Likewise, to the people of Greenland, which is needed by the United States for National Security purposes and, who want the U.S. to be there, and we will!’

Trump recently posted that ‘Canadians want Canada to become the 51st State’ and offered an image of himself superimposed on a mountaintop surveying surrounding territory next to a Canadian flag.

Trudeau has suggested that Trump was joking about annexing his country, but the pair met recently at Trump’s Mar-a-Lago club in Florida to discuss Trump’s tariff threats.

Trump expressed interest in buying Greenland, an autonomous territory of Denmark, during his first presidential term.

On Christmas , Trump escalated his campaigns against the governments of both Panama and Canada

How Donald Trump plans to build a new American empire

Trump recently posted that ‘Canadians want Canada to become the 51st State’ and offered an image of himself superimposed on a mountaintop surveying surrounding territory next to a Canadian flag

He was publicly rebuffed by Danish authorities – who reiterated the island was ‘open for business, not for sale’ – before any conversations could take place.

The Danish Prime Minister’s Office said in its own statement that the government is ‘looking forward to welcoming the new American ambassador. And the Government is looking forward to working with the new administration.’

‘In a complex security political situation as the one we currently experience, transatlantic cooperation is crucial,’ the statement said. It noted that it had no comment on Greenland except for it “not being for sale, but open for cooperation.’

Trump again having designs on Greenland comes after the president-elect suggested over the weekend that the US could retake control of the Panama Canal if something isn’t done to ease rising shipping costs required for using the waterway linking the Atlantic and Pacific oceans.

Panama President José Raúl Mulino responded in a video that ‘every square meter of the canal belongs to Panama and will continue to,’ but Trump fired back on his social media site, ‘We’ll see about that!’

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