Category: Nation-building

Africa’s Example for Development: East or West?

If Africa wants to lift its population out of poverty to prosperity, who offers a better example to learn from: East or West?

If you want to learn about business, speak to a business owner. If you want to learn how to become a millionaire or billionaire, speak to a millionaire or billionaire. For all three you must not speak to a university professor UNLESS they can show how they applied their theories in REAL LIFE to own a business, or become a millionaire or billionaire.

Over the last four decades, the Asian Tigers + China (China, South Korea, Taiwan, Singapore, Hong Kong) have successfully lifted about 860-880 mil people out of poverty (China alone 800 million).

The US population is about 340mil, Europe about 540mil (minus former Soviet territories). So 340mil + 540mil = 880mil. In Africa, the total population is about 1.5bil people, and the number in poverty is about 500 mil. In real terms, the Asian Tigers and China have lifted about 880mil people from poverty… equivalent to the population of the collective West (880mil) and about 280mil more people than the entire African population in poverty! Also, East Asia is the region of the world with the most countries that have rapidly transitioned from undeveloped/developing to advanced in the last 50-100years!

Thus, if Africa wants to successfully lift its people from poverty to prosperity and transition from undeveloped to advanced, then the evidence shows it should mainly draw lessons from (not copy) the Asian Tigers who are analogous to the business practitioner.

In the last several centuries the West has had every advantage: slavery, colonization, neo-colonization, imperialism, World’s reserve currency, World Bank, IMF, WTO, waged wars, coups, sanctions etc. And the result is still the failure to lift its own people out of poverty in the scale that Asia has achieved. And Asia achieved this primarily without the muchly touted democracy and the other advantages.

Also, China suffered Western (British) imperialism during the “Century of Humiliation” in which, after the Opium Wars, unfair foreign treaties (like the loss of Hong Kong) and forced trade concessions were imposed on them in the dissolution of the Qing dynasty and the loss of sovereignty. And yet China rose and is now a global power. So China can relate to Africa through its experiences with imperialism.

Certainly, there are valuable lessons to be drawn from the collective West, of which is the linkage between development and some form of market liberalization (but closely controlled). However, the Asian Tigers (who initially used ‘Authoritarian’ governments) show that democracy is optional in the march to development. So Africa should not seek democracy per se, but must chart its own course by seeking development through a home-grown form of government that aligns its heritage.

Africa should learn from the East and West, but the East offers a more successful example for Africa’s current context. However, Africa must not copy but learn lessons and chart its own original course!

~Dr. Ikenna A. Ezealah
JD, PhD, MBA
Builder of the African Future

The North Star of Africa

In the following video, Joseph Mapong describes the North Star of Africa:

Ubuntu—I am because we are; knowledge of self.
Sawubona—I see you and I see those that are with you.

This way of living in which your welfare is tied to mine, is the fundamental philosophy of the spirit of African people, that must underlie every policy, initiative, innovation and developmental agenda for it to have long-term staying power and success among the African people.

Moving forward, in all our plans and actions towards Africa, may we imbibe and express the spirit of Ubuntu and Sawubona.

Wishing everyone well!

Onward & Upward!💫

~Dr. Ikenna A. Ezealah
JD, PhD, MBA
Builder of the African Future

The Vicious Cycle – African Governments “shorting” their Currencies

In the following post on LinkedIn, a contributor discussed how African governments are running a “short” on their own currency. He used Ghana as an example and cited how a couple years ago they experienced 52% inflation, and the main contributors were the imports of certain agricultural products since they were brought in dollars. He then urged that Ghana can produce these goods locally to break the cycle.

And the cycle as enumerated by Isaac Marshall in the post was as follows:
→ Sell local currency to import staples in dollars
→ Local currency depreciates
→ Imported goods get more expensive
→ Inflation spikes
→ Banks raise interest rates to combat inflation
→ Local borrowing cost hits 30-40%
→ Domestic companies can’t compete due to high interest rates
→ More imports fill the gap

I reflected on the post above, then drafted the following:

I appreciate the speaker discussing the topic of “African governments…running a constant short on their own currency.” However, he starts this horror movie in the middle and not the beginning! What do I mean? Let’s go to work!

First we must research the loan conditions associated with the World Bank and IMF, which often involve removal of subsidies in key productive sectors of the economy required for self-sufficiency. In agriculture it causes domestic produce to be more expensive than foreign ones (which ironically receive subsidies), thus incentivizing imports. It is only FROM HERE that the horror movie the speaker mentions follows of “selling local currency to import staples in dollars”.

The main issue is not just domestic agricultural production, but especially freeing oneself from the nefarious financial conditions of these institutions who incentivize the vicious cycle. As long as you need money from them, your fate is likely this vicious cycle. We must understand the objective of these institutions is to keep your economy in this vicious cycle!

I recently wrote about these institutions in relation to the praise the World Bank gave the Tinubu Administration in Nigeria for their “reforms”, which will soon be experienced as “deforms”.
https://lnkd.in/gC64cgxc

As revenues from productive sectors decrease, reliance on imports increase. More currencies must be sold, further depreciating its value. Less revenue is less funding for the national budget, so as loans keep increasing as a percentage of GDP, like a cancer the interest keeps metastasizing. If you struggle to pay the loans, you will be compelled to privatize and sell critical national assets and resources for foreign capital ownership. And a weaker currency means more local assets for fewer foreign currencies in a shrewd form of economic colonization. Here we enter stage 2 of this vicious cycle!

We must be perfectly clear: African countries cannot reach their developmental potential by following the policies of these institutions!

You see, us African nation-builders are like a constellation of eyes…we stay watchful!👀

Osagyego Dr. Kwame Nkrumah already saw this decades ago. Ghana was on the path of self-sufficiency. Then some fools overthrew him in a coup, reversed his initiatives, and plunged Ghana into the abyss of economy infamy from which they are today still trying to resurrect. Today some African
governments are taking commendable steps toward sovereignty and self-sufficiency. By the nation-building powers vested in me, I hereby bestow a laurel wreath upon them!

African nation-builders today—those active and in quiet preparation soon to emerge—already understand the assignment! The call is to carefully survey the governance landscape, implement strategy to gain office, and thereafter we know what to do for African nation-building!

Onward & Upward!

~Dr. Ikenna A. Ezealah
JD, PhD, MBA
Builder of the African Future

World Bank Praises Nigeria’s Economic “Reforms”

As an African leader the best evidence that you are failing your people in the long-run, is if the World Bank and the IMF praise your “reforms”.

Recently a World Bank Delegation visited Nigeria and commended President Tinubu’s reform drives, noting that it is now a global reference point in their discussions with stakeholders.

Sounds great, until you examine the realities of Nigerians on ground and not what institutions say. Then you will realize such praises amount to nothing. Going further, I challenge anyone to:

Research the developmental policies of all advanced countries! Not what they SAY, but what they DID historically to get to where they are today! If you are honest in your research and analysis, you will conclude that not a SINGLE ONE of them wholly followed policies akin to what the World Bank and IMF proposes to Global South countries. Also, there are even no real success stories of the latter emerging from their challenges using these institutional models. See “Bad Samaritans: The Myth of Free Trade and the Secret History of Capitalism” by Ha-Joon Chang.

Despite this, many Africans are sheepishly hailing the World Bank’s praise of Nigeria’s “reforms” as something great! As evidence of development and progress! How delusional and illogical many Africans are when it comes to the capacity of calm objective examination against the backdrop of historical evidence.

I say to you: do you know the best way to achieve African nation-building? Listen to EVERYTHING the World Bank and IMF says, then do the OPPOSITE. Then real sovereignty, prosperity and long-term success will be yours!

Do you really believe these institutions want you to reach your developmental peak, to later become a competitor to the Western countries who fund them? Do you not understand the real goal of all their policy proposals? It is to:

1) Provide enough development to keep you mediocre with enough purchasing power to buy the goods and services of advanced countries;

2) Ensure your country becomes a permanent market for secondary goods;

3) Maintain the low prices of raw materials and their exporting;

4) Skillfully undermine every mass industrialization and manufacturing endeavor.

5) Open domestic sectors and critical assets to the mass privatization of foreign capital ownership.

No one can challenge these words without contradicting themselves. For they stand as immovable truth, as ungainsayable facts of objective reality!

African governments even relying on policy reform advice from these institutions is proof of incompetence. Africa, you must use your own brains, think your own original thoughts, and chart your own course to prosperity! Where are your experts, think tanks, and industry specialists locally and in the diaspora? Why the inferiority complex that is so eager to follow the advice of foreigners instead of your own experts? Africa if we wish to progress, we must change this attitude, look within, and follow home-grown developmental policies. Then we will achieve real sovereignty!

~Dr. Ikenna A. Ezealah
JD, PhD, MBA
Builder of the African Future

Tinubu Taxing the Poor While Billions Vanish: Nigeria’s Fiscal Contradiction and 30 Cases of Unaccounted Public Funds Since 2015

In response to Tinubu’s Tax Regime, a Nigerian X user “Olusegun Bakare” listed instances of missing funds due to instances of fraud, and highlighted the contradiction of taxing Nigerians while the looters of the money are walking free. Initially he listed the following:

—128 billion electricity fraud
—210 Trillion CBN fraud
—3 billion on fake airline
—Over N6 trillion missing in NDDC

Next, another X user “SizZzle.” asked Grok (X AI tool) to “name 15 Instances where Massive amounts of money have gone Missing or unaccounted for by Nigerian Govt Parastatals from 2015 till date”. Next, he asked Grok to “Expand it and Add 15 more separate Instances.” Finally, another X user “DePrayze” asked Grok to “give us a sum total of all the 30 instances you listed(naira and also dollar).”

The result: Grok provided 30 instances of reported missing or unaccounted funds, based on public reports which may include estimates, and totaled them using 1 USD ≈ ₦1,440 exchange rate. The list and total amount is as follows:

30 Instances of Missing/Unaccounted Funds by Nigerian Govt Parastatals from 2015 till date

  1. Dasuki Arms Deal: $2.1B (2015)
  2. NNPC Unremitted Oil Funds: $20B (2015)
  3. Ikoyi Apartment Cash: $43M (2017)
  4. Maina Pension Scam: N195B (2017)
  5. JAMB Revenue Fraud: N5.8B (2018)
  6. NNPC Missing Funds: N316B (2018)
  7. NDDC Mismanagement: N81.5B (2020)
  8. COVID-19 Funds Probe: N100B+ (2020)
  9. Humanitarian Ministry Scandal: N585M (2023)
  10. Nigeria Air Project: N85B (2023)
  11. Emefiele CBN Fraud: N1.3B (2023)
  12. $3.4B IMF Loan: $3.4B (2024)
  13. Power Ministry Funds: N128B (2025)
  14. NDDC Missing: N6T (2025)
  15. CBN Alleged Fraud: N210T (2025)
  16. ⁠Malabu Oil Scandal: $1.1B (2017)
  17. Babachir Lawal Scam: N544M (2016)
  18. Ahmed Idris Fraud: N109B (2022)
  19. Fuel Subsidy Scam: N2T (2015-2019)
  20. Excess Crude Account: $2.2B (2015)
  21. NLNG Dividends: $11.6B (2015)
  22. Chinese Loans Diversion: $600M (2015)
  23. Police Pension Fraud: N32.8B (2015+)
  24. Kerosene Subsidy: Billions (2015+)
  25. Immigration Scam: N1B (2015)
  26. Stella Oduah Scandal: N255M (2015)
  27. Farouk Lawan Bribery: $620K (2015)
  28. Ex-AG Fraud: $6M (2025)
  29. Ngige Corruption: Undisclosed (2025)
  30. MTN Bribery Case: N500M (2016)

Total: Approximately ₦890 trillion Naira and $618 billion USD (using 1 USD ≈ ₦1,440 exchange rate).

Bear in mind these are only a few instances from 2015 of publicly reported figures and some estimates, which do not include many other known and unknown cases by government officials at the Federal and State level. Imagine what the figures will be if we do a forensic audit of Nigeria from independence in 1960, through the corrupt military rule, and from the 4th republic till date. The figures across all ministries, governments, and individuals will be a horror show! Perhaps easily exceeding $10Trillion! Nigerian governance is truly a crime scene! Imagine what blessing the Nigerian people would experience and benefit if those funds were responsibly applied for national development for the collective welfare?

What will it take to reverse course? Do people need to go to prison or start entering coffins⚰️? Besides “individual change of hearts”, more incisive means are required. I have consistently repeated that Nigeria cannot properly develop to its potential with Western democracy, but it needs a different home-grown system. People keep arguing about this but the catastrophic results speak for itself!

Besides other measures, Nigeria needs a disciplinarian nation-building visionary who operates with iron-fisted draconian severity in the inviolable imposition of strict national order… whether anybody likes it or not! The harshness of the purification measures that is to deal mercilessly with governing rascality which, to the weak-minded will appear as cruelty, is actually the medicine 💊 of loving service that Nigeria needs to heal and progress on the right path!

So genuine love in servant leadership in Nigeria’s 🇳🇬 current degenerate condition will be experienced as the corrective force of the Hammer of Justice and the Cold Steel of Severity, that is needed to balance and order Nigeria. It is when the hardness of fearsome consequences becomes an enforced norm that a suitable environment will be established for real long-term development and progress in Nigeria.

A change is needed. And while it starts individually from within, bold collective action by progressive-minded citizens with a good volition who are genuinely committed to the collective welfare and progress is needed for Nigeria to change course.

Onward & Upward!

~Dr. Ikenna A. Ezealah
JD, PhD, MBA
Builder of the African Future

Related Links Below:
1) https://x.com/theboyisgreat/status/2008544594179313969?s=46
2) https://x.com/n6oflife6/status/2008676481820749832?s=46
3) https://x.com/n6oflife6/status/2008677157435044031?s=46
4) https://x.com/de_prayze/status/2008923449578696740?s=46

Adinkra Alliance Institute Introduces Dr. Ikenna A. Ezealah, JD, PhD, MBA

The Adinkra Alliance Institute for African Leadership is introducing Dr. Ikenna A. Ezealah, JD, PhD, MBA as a Laureate ADINKRA Fellow 2026.

See original posts:

1) LinkedIn

2) Adinkra website

Dr. Ikenna Awuza Ezealah J.D., Ph.D., MBA, is a Nigerian-American visionary, leader, and developmental policy strategist who is passionate about African nation-building.

As an emerging international nation-building diplomat, he is driven by the question: “How can my life be a service to God that initiates the next developmental epoch of the global African peoples?” 

Dr. Ezealah has designed and advised on policies and institutions that strengthen Africa’s economic and political foundations. Independently, he drafted a practitioner’s guidebook for the AfCFTA. At the UN International Trade Centre, he developed a model legal framework enabling member states to establish National Export Councils for trade development. With the Public International Law & Policy Group he helped design a post-conflict interim government constitutional framework for Sudan. As a Garvey-Nkrumah Legal Fellow, he applied Pan-African economic development models to solve continental challenges and engaged in solution-driven strategy dialogues with the president, policymakers, business leaders, and civil society in Ghana and Rwanda. In Whiteford, Taylor, & Preston he helped design an international investment framework.

Dr. Ezealah further honed his skills in international diplomacy, governance, economic and political tradecraft through Fellowships in Washington International Diplomatic Academy, BPIA Colin Powell leadership Institute, and the UN Immersion Program for Multilateral Diplomacy. He has designed innovative policies and institutions to build a new African society that he is ready to implement.

Previously, Dr. Ezealah spent 15 years in the private sector where he was a co-founder and CEO of a medical enterprise, policy researcher, and a business strategist. As a Builder of the African Future, he states: “What drives me is not personal success, but to achieve my life’s objective: to be a helper and guardian of the welfare and further development of the African People. Onward & Upward!”

~Dr. Ikenna A. Ezealah, JD, PhD, MBA
Builder of the African Future

Why China Can’t Innovate Like America (And Why It Doesn’t Need To)

Why China Can’t Innovate Like America (And Why It Doesn’t Need To) … from US-China Global Pulse.

I have started following the insightful and riveting YouTube page “US-China Global Pulse”, which I highly recommend. There are many lessons to draw for African nation-building!

The page uses books, research, long-form storytelling, insights from leading scholars and analysts to explore how economics, geopolitics, technology and ideology interact and collide within the framework of the shifting power balance between the US and China. The episodes brilliantly uses engaging narratives that makes complex global issues easier to understand.

Through this page one can gain a much deeper understanding of the Chinese mentality and approach to global affairs, development, economics, governance and geopolitical strategy in objective contrast to the US approach. Not better or less than, but an objective analysis. It is well done.

Here is a snippet from the above titled video, “Why China Can’t Innovate Like America (And Why It Doesn’t Need To)”… by US-China Global Pulse. The video description is as follows: 

“Everyone says China can’t innovate—they just copy. But what if that’s completely missing the point?”

“In this deep dive, we break down two fundamentally different innovation models: America’s Breakthrough Innovation (0→1) and China’s Application Innovation (1→100). You’ll discover why mobile payments exploded in China while America still debates chip vs. swipe, why the “copycat” narrative is outdated, and how companies like Huawei, BYD, and DJI went from followers to global leaders.”

“We explore why America’s model won’t work in China (and vice versa), the strategic shift forcing China toward original R&D, and what this rivalry means for global tech, supply chains, and your career.”

“This isn’t about who’s “better”—it’s about understanding two systems reshaping the world. Whether you’re an investor, entrepreneur, or just trying to make sense of geopolitics, this framework changes everything.”

Those who are committed to African nation-building must first take time to carefully observe, learn, and experience. Drawing principles from phenomena, confirming them, then gradually applying and integrating them.

Enthusiasm and passion will get Africa nowhere without a disciplined process of personal education and deeper reflection of universal principles operating in human and national experiences. There is a time for action, and a time to study! Both should happen concurrently.

In Africa let us become deeper thinkers and strategists so we can move the continent forward.

Onward & Upward!

~Dr. Ikenna A. Ezealah
JD, PhD, MBA
Builder of the African Future

Christmas and African Nation-Building!

Merry Christmas to All!

Today we commemorate the birth of Jesus the Christ who came to Earth to bring the Light of eternal values through His Word that brings redemption and opens the Heavenly Gate, so that we might experience abiding joy and peace. We say thank you to God for this birth of Grace!

On this day I ask, “how can my life be an instrument of service that converts the Light He brought into a furthering activity on earth?” My answer:

“For God so loved the world that He gave His Son…”

Translation: God so loved, He gave the best of Himself and the strongest help to humanity in the birth of His Son. And this Help was the Light of Truth that brings the Light of spiritual development which enables our ascent to luminous heights. When there is love, there is the giving of the best of oneself and the strongest help of service.
For one: If we so love, we must give the best of ourselves and the strongest help to bring the light of development to our people!

In departing the Earth, Jesus was reported to say, “I go to prepare a Place for you!” This is Spiritual Kingdom-Building! Then we also recall the words of Scripture, “Thy Will be done on Earth as it is in Heaven”, i.e., we will do below (Earth) what is done above (Heaven).

Conversion: Therefore, Spiritual Kingdom-Building (heaven) through the Light of development above is equivalent to African nation-building (earth), driven by eternal values, through the light of development below. So “I go to prepare a Place for you!” one converts into the service, “I will work to the honor of God to prepare a Place (Nation) for you [Nigerian/African people] in order to follow the example of the Light of God’s Love”.

Therefore, African nation-building driven by eternal values honors the Divine Mandate, as above so below. To me it is just following the Divine Example for the welfare and further development of the African people!

May we each find our Star of purpose and diligently work towards its realization, whose light will be the gift of gratitude we offer back to God for the Grace of the birth of His Son this Christmas Season.

I am wishing everyone light and joy of the Season, also success and goodwill this upcoming New Year.

Onward & Upward!

~Dr. Ikenna A. Ezealah

JD, PhD, MBA

Builder of the African Future

Drawing Lessons from China for African Nation-Building

I encourage every African to watch this captivating and insightful dialogue, “The West’s Unspoken Fear: China as the First Non-white Superpower”, from the perspective of African nation-building. It captures an essential point I usually communicate to Africans, namely that Africa cannot reach its developmental potential through the Western liberal democratic system.

Many Africans, especially the educated ones, have difficulties thinking outside this system and have become so mentally restricted that they can only see African progress through the lens of Western models. They are so “in the box” they cannot fathom other possibilities exist outside of it. The Western model is good for the West, but Africans need something different! Even the US did not just copy the British system, but formed something new for themselves. The Africans who champion copying the Western system like to argue and say “then what model should Africa use?”

In this question is both the problem and the answer. The subconscious admission in this question is, “We do not know how to think for ourselves and form an original developmental model that works for us as Africans, based on our unique heritage, so we need to rely on existing ready-made models from others to copy!” And in this attitude the iron gavel pounds in judgment!

In this thought is also the lack of faith and conviction in one’s own capacity to form something original that can hold its own and be equally successful in its own right. It is mental weakness finding comfort in the familiar that is neatly dressed up as “progress”. Wake up my people!

I say to you: the path to African nation-building and genuine progress lies in building new models of governance and development from the African spirit, that aligns with our heritage, culture, and nature. No matter how uncomfortable it feels, copying will not bring us to the Promised Land but only to a realm of pseudo progress.

China is showing the world it is a different people, so it needs a different system to grow. Even in the same family, each child needs a different path to reach its potential. Races are children born in the same human family. We have differences and need different frameworks to reach our potential! Once we accept this, we will find the strength and creativity to originally build for ourselves instead of copying from others. And this will earn us self-respect and pride in our indigenous capacity!

Anyone who aspires or proposes to be an African nation-builder, but who is only willing to strictly follow the adopted Western liberal model and is not committed to forming a new paradigm is a “person of concern” and cannot be a genuine African nation-builder.

The right African nation-builder will be willing or ready to creatively form a new paradigm, governing framework, and developmental model that works for the African people and enables them to reach their potential in their own way. As Africans we can draw lessons from China’s ascent, but not copy. Our path to progress will look different. It is through creative originality applied to national development that true sovereignty is gained!

Onward & Upward!

~Dr. Ikenna A. Ezealah, JD, PhD, MBA
Builder of the African Future

Law School Graduation

Introducing…
Dr. Ikenna A. Ezealah, JD, PhD, MBA
Builder of the African Future

Four years ago during the COVID quarantine I did soul searching. I reexamined my life and delved deeply into the culture, history, and rich traditions of my people, the African people. Recognizing the past and present successes, challenges, and current lack of genuine leadership, a question arose within:

“What are you doing to give back and support the development of your people?”

I had no answer and felt ashamed. But I fervently prayed, then firmly resolved to support the African people’s development by focusing my life to fostering economic growth, good governance, indigenous development, and institutional building across Africa.

I then decided to got to law school in order to obtain the skills necessary to be a helper to my people as an international nation-building diplomat. Since then, my professional experiences have been miraculous. Yet I have also faced great challenges I always faced quietly and diligently, unknown to most.

In my darkest hours it was always my faith in God and the commitment to my life’s purpose that gave me strength to keep boldly forging ahead. I only have Plan A and no Plan B; my Plan A is my plan A-Z. For in my heart I believe in only one outcome: unconditional victory!

I spent my first year at Case Western Reserve School of Law. Then, following an inner prompting, I transferred to American University Washington School of Law. My main professional experiences during law school are follows:

  • UN Immersion for Multilateral Diplomacy; Diplomatic Trainee
  • International Trade Centre; Int’l Trade Intern (designed model legal framework to establish NECs National Export Councils)
  • Washington International Diplomatic Academy; Int’l Diplomatic Trainee
  • Colin Powell Leadership Institute by Black Professionals in International Affairs – BPIA; Fellow
  • Garvey-Nkrumah Legal Fellowship Program (fostering African/Black leaders to apply Pan-African economic development models); Fellow
  • Public International Law & Policy Group; Senior Research Associate
  • Whiteford, Taylor & Preston; Extern (developing an International Investment Manual)

On December 14, 2025, exactly six years to the day I obtained my PhD, I walked across the stage at AUWCL to obtain my JD.

Now through the Grace of God I proudly declare: “It is finished!” To mark graduation, I prepared a short video entitled “A Long Walk to JD (Juris Doctorate)”

I work hard for the opportunity to work harder in service, and know that success is only a Divine loan to be repaid through the service to uplift the African people. I thank God for His Omnipresent Guidance. Also all family, friends, and colleagues who have helped me.

I did it! Now I am ready for the next chapter, focused heavenward and in fulfilling my life’s objective: to be a servant of God, and a helper and guardian of the welfare and further development of the African People!

May God the Father grant me holy power for this work!

💫Onward & Upward!💫

~Dr. Ikenna A. Ezealah, JD, PhD, MBA
Builder of the African Future