Builders of the African Future,
Do not be distracted by earning degrees, accolades, and prestige here in the West. All these things are merely tools that are meant to serve a higher purpose: Nation-building in Africa. A degree and a profession, no matter how hard-earned, is only a tool, and the value of a tool lies solely in its application to produce lasting value. When you purchase an elaborate tool kit and construction materials with a hammer chiseled from the finest steel, to take pride and classify their acquisition as the achievement is to miss the point.
The decisive question is: What are we using all these materials and tools to build? Destiny presses for an answer.
With all the collective expertise, degrees, and foreign achievements of Africans in the diaspora, I ask: what is the tangible evidence of a corresponding Nation-building back in Africa across all institutions? To be content using all our endowments for a private life abroad so long as we and our personal circle are satisfied, is to narrow the scope of our possibilities and responsibilities. We should set our gaze higher!
We cannot outsource African development to international organizations and governments, no matter how convenient it is. No. Africans must step forward and take the lead in all matters of African development. Must feel personal responsibility in setting the course of the African destiny. Thus, Nation-building is the call of our time.
Will it be easy? No. Will entrenched political interests create severe difficulties? Yes. Will there be failures and setbacks? Yes. But will it be worth it? Yes. Everything worthwhile requires personal sacrifice, and we must be willing to make it. To really make change in Africa, we cannot desire a comfortable life and we must become comfortable with the uncomfortable.
If the specially endowed Africans at home and abroad lack the will, courage, and interest to create a brighter future for the disadvantaged masses, then who will do it? Who is left to struggle for their welfare, to serve their needs, to further their development? Where are the true servants of the people?
To help the African people release their natural abilities, to be productive in indigenous institution and system building, and thereby always be hopeful and happy… is a beautiful goal.
Builders of the African future, refocus your gaze and remember the tools in your hands are not the achievement, but only the means to be applied for a higher purpose. At the crossroads of destiny, the call of our time resounds in one direction: transformative Nation-building in Africa.
May all those who are in earnest come together, pool their expertise and abilities together, work together, and nation-build together.
Onward & Upward!
~Dr. Ikenna Q. Ezealah
Nation Upbuilding 