Month: July 2024

I recently finished my Summer reading: “Africa Unchained, The Blueprint for Africa’s Future” by George B.N. Ayittey.

Mr. George Ayittey (late) was a Ghanaian economist, author, president of the Free Africa Foundation in Washington, D.C., a professor at American University, and an associate scholar at the Foreign Policy Research Institute.

For anyone interested in African economic development and nation-building… I highly recommend this book. His straight talk…no nonsense….hard hitting…satirical style is engaging. Ayittey’s comprehensive power of analysis and stratification that situates economics within the comparative context of African contemporary governance and historical cultural practices is incredible.

Mr. George B. N. Ayittey gives a play by play analysis of many African government policies post independence, the interaction with the international community, the role of African traditions in recommended policies, mistakes and successes, African leadership critique, specific ways to address misgovernance, and much more. Naturally when we read we should accept only what resonates within after careful weighing and examination.

His recommendations for African development are practical, and can be applied by those inclined to nation-building. Naturally we should accept only what resonates within after careful examination. The book has received citizenship to one’s personal library. It should be required reading in African schools and among the African diaspora, also in Western countries.

Through this book, my thoughts and approach to African nation-building and governance policies have been enhanced. A thousand thanks to Mr. George Ayittey for the tremendous effort and thought exerted to write this magnus opus. Your insightful thoughts will be part of the foundation for building a brighter African future.

Onward & Upward!

~Dr. Ikenna Ezealah

In 2023, Japan’s GDP was $4.23 trillion

In 2023, Africa’s GDP was $3.1 trillion

Africa is 80 times Japan’s size, but the entire Africa is only 73% of Japan’s GDP.

Give that a moment to sink in and do its work.

If you were to take it a step further and compare the GDP of Africa as a continent with Europe, Asia, and even North America, then the colossal disparity might make your mind ache and bones rattle.

In the 2023 Top 20 GDPs, no African country was in the Top 20. However, if you added the African continent as one unit, it would be tied with France at #7. So when the Osagyefo Dr. Kwame Nkrumah said “Africa must unite”, this is not about idealistic notions of cultural oneness, kumbaya, or hakuna matata, but it is a clear recognition of the unavoidable need for economic survival and global competitiveness that comes through continental unity.

Now you see why some earnest Africans who see the big picture are not impressed by most African governments, who often implement an array of small one-off initiatives that, besides being largely ineffective, often lack any coherence with a broader agenda and vision.

Now you see why there is a clarion call for an urgent change in African leadership to chart a new direction in the continent today. For an ambitious drive for African nation-building with a bold vision, comprehensive strategies, tactical plans in all sectors meticulously coordinated and vigorously executed that continuously expands the economies. Daring leaders with big picture plans and long-term policies whose effects are precisely calculated to stretch at least 100years into the future.

Yes there are influences domestic and abroad that resist this. But this is no longer an excuse, for every continent faces resistance both within and without. Resistance is the cost of progress.

Africa is too blessed as a continent and people to tolerate mediocrity any longer, for bold advancement must be the standard. Looking upward, Africans must initiate the earnest striving for the highest possible goal that brings value and buoyant progress to the African collective.

Africans must energetically engage the political process and no longer shy away! Allowing ourselves to be instruments of the change we desire.

We cannot allow the potential of Africa to be wasted without genuine effort for positive change for the welfare of the people, which will also benefit other continents. We must work together to realize the great African potential, and thus be agents of positive change and ambitious growth!

Focused Upward, Forever Onward!

~Dr. Ikenna Ezealah