It is pertinent to have a synopsis of six companies that undertake contracts execution on behalf of USAID’s worldwide activities. Their sphere of interests covers consultancy services (65 per cent), Non-Governmental Organisations (NGOs)activities, (16.8 per cent) and supplier services (6.7 per cent).

Chemonics international – An international development consulting firm based in Washington DC, which according to data put together by DevelopmentAids, won 95 per cent of all its awards over the years at the behest of UDSAID. Chemonics International, USAID’s topmost contractor, garnered 205 awards valued at $560.4million in 2021 from the agency.

DAI Global – Based in Maryland, U.S., this private development entity that focuses on providing solutions to issues that impede social economic development wreaked by inefficient governance in poor countries, has USAID as its stoutest patron which historical contract awards to the company run to 80 per cent. It remains USAID’s second largest contractor, which in 2021 coasted home 431 contract awards worthed $161.4 million.

Deloitte – Headquartered in London, its share of USAID’s pie in 2021 was 122 awards with a value tag of US$133.8 million. Deloitte, the third largest contractor to USAID, specialises in audit and assurance, consulting, risk and financial advisory services.

ABT Associates – It has its headquarters in Rockville, Maryland and provides consulting/research services on health, social environmental policy and international development. Historical data on its past awards by DevelopmentAid state that 61 per cent of its jobs came from USAID. This fourth largest USAID contractor had, in 2021, 132 contracts which carried monetary value of $38.7 million.

Research Triangle Institute – Headquartered in North Carolina, U.S, and described as an independent, non-profit institute, it offers research development and technical services to clients. About 67 per cent of all past projects awarded to Research Triangle Institute came from USAID. Holding the position as the fifth largest consultant to USAID in 2021, it executed 179 contract awards on behalf of the organisation with the value of $33.2 million.

Tera Tech – Provides consultancy services in engineering, programme development, construction management and technical services. Its data base of past contract awards compiled by DevelopmentAid shows that about 43 per cent of all its awards originated from USAID. In 2021, it received 177 contract wards that worthed $31.7million from USAID. It’s the sixth largest contractor to USAID and it’s based in no other place than the United States of America, specifically in Pasadena, California.

As dusk set in on Friday 7th February, 2025, uproarious rumbles over the U.S. State Department’s directive to curtail the activities of USAID were at fever pitch, spawning in its wakes the possibility of constitutional impasse as well as labour disruption in the U.S.

Already the largest U.S. government workers’ union and an association of foreign service workers have approached a court to scuttle the Trump administration’s poise to disband USAID. The unions were already energised, on the move and high. Before close of work hours Friday, a U.S. judge had temporarily put on hold the Trump administration’s move to furlough 2,200 USAID employees.

There is little doubt about it, Africans did benefit from USAID largesse while it lasted, but there is no gainsaying that it is the U.S. itself that is the primary beneficiary of the agency. Curtailing its activities would hurt America much more than any other entities.

With the curtailment of the activities of USAID, the U.S. is about to trade off its soft power. China would be too glad to occupy the hole it would leave in the hearts of beneficiaries of USAID programmes that have been provided over the years. The implications of that shouldn’t be lost on the U.S. For the Africans, the unfolding scenarios might be a blessing. It could get them unfettered, earning them the freedom to chart a course for their lives.

The fact remains that those who really benefit the most from USAID know themselves and have begun to shed tears. They have threatened to undertake protest marches and have got a judge right on their side. They are Americans, living in America and other places else.

The Africans who pick the crumbs from USAID dining table need a reset, a refocus of their place in the world. They need to reimagine their future. Time is nigh for Africa to break free of USAID’s generosity, however well intentioned. In effect what they would lose would only be the chains with which they have been manacled. Aids benefit the donor more than the données.

May Trump succeed to set Africa free from being a beggarly Continent. “… [T]here is darkness in light, and light in darkness. … A good man has to be blind before he can see.” (God bless Ben Okri).

Concluded.

Bello wrote from Abuja.