Vice-President Kashim Shettima says African countries cannot continue to rely on foreign blueprints for development.
Shettima spoke on Thursday during a symposium in Abuja to
commemorate the 60th birthday of Kayode Fayemi, former governor of Ekiti state.
In his speech titled: ‘Africa in the post-idea world’,
Shettima said African countries have relied on foreign institutions and
ideologies that treat the continent as consumers not creators.
The vice-president said the continent should not see
prosperity as a gift, but a prize to be won through responsible leadership in
all facets of the society.
“It is a prize to be won. And to win, we must embrace the
responsibility of leadership—not just in politics, but in policy, in business,
in technology, in governance, and in shaping the narratives that define our
place in the world,” he said.
Speaking further, the vice-president said the new world
order does not take excuses, adding that the emergence of modern technologies
have “shattered traditional barriers to knowledge”.
Shettima said answers to the problems facing the continent
are no longer afar off but “they exist at our fingertips, generated in mere
seconds”.
“The answers to our most complex problems are no longer
elusive; they exist at our fingertips, generated in mere seconds,” he said.
“The real question is no longer what should we do? That has
been answered a billion times over.
“The real question is Who will act? Who will rise above
inertia and ensure that our ideas do not remain ink on paper, buried in
symposiums and policy documents?
“But the post-idea world dissolves excuses. With the
democratisation of knowledge, we must empower our youth to innovate in tech
hubs across the continent, from Cairo, down through Nairobi, to Lagos, building
unicorns without the permission of any gatekeepers. What they lack is not ideas
but ecosystems—systems where policy, funding, and political will converge to
scale their genius.
“This is where leadership matters. Leaders must evolve from
custodians of power to architects of platforms.
“Our imagination of Africa must be one where every
government ministry houses AI strategists, where continental trade policies are
drafted by homegrown think tanks like Amandla Institute, not foreign
consultants, and where ‘Made in Africa’ signifies not raw materials but
algorithms, green tech, and cultural capital.
“We are not here to be spectators in the post-idea world.
The pace of change will not pause for Africa’s historical grievances or applaud
our elegies for lost time. Regret, as the opening stanza warns, writes history
in the ink of ‘what if’.”
He added that the world is not waiting for Africa to
catch-up and that leaders in the continent must wake up to face the reality.
“The world is not waiting for Africa to catch up. While we
parse political rivalries, others parse datasets. While we litigate history,
others engineer futures,” he said.
“The train of progress accelerates, yet too many of our
leaders cling to old carriages.
“These are our client-state mentalities, our dependency on
foreign blueprints, and our governance by hashtag activism. This is the tragedy
of our time.”
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