Former Chief of Staff to late President Muhammadu Buhari, Prof. Ibrahim Gambari, diplomat Moudjib Djinadou, and Dimas Garba have called on African leaders and citizens to embrace self-rediscovery as a pathway to the continent’s progress, arguing that decades of reliance on imported political, economic and governance models have failed to deliver desired development outcomes.
Speaking at the launch of Renegade Africa: All it Takes to Be African, written by Djinadou, a former United Nations official and founder of the Itumo Institute, a think tank based in Porto-Novo, Republic of Benin, on Tuesday at the Savannah Centre for Diplomacy, Democracy and Development, Utako, Abuja, the speakers urged a return to indigenous governance systems, values and knowledge structures.
They noted that Africa currently faces numerous economic, security and social challenges, despite possessing vast resources and potential needed for sustainable development.
Chairman of the book launch, Gambari, said sustainable development in Africa can only be achieved when policies and institutions are rooted in the continent’s historical realities, cultural heritage and collective aspirations.
He stated, “The external cannot love us more than we love ourselves. And we are the ones who know where the shoe pinches because we wear it. We are the ones who need to show that we care about life. And the book asks a simple question, one that too many African intellectuals forbid themselves from voicing frankly: despite all our efforts, could it be that Africa’s shortcomings in building genuine sovereignty are first and foremost failures toward itself?
