News and discussions are circulating about China’s intention to negotiate and sign a new economic pact with Africa that will remove tariffs on 53 African countries (Eswathini not included). Many people are excitedly touting the great opportunities for Africa, including access to China’s sizable domestic market.
However, if you are an African nation-builder who lives in a perpetual state of envisioning and strategic thinking of African interests, seeing beyond the surface and assessing every global geopolitical action from the strategic position of its potential 100-year effect on African development… you will not be moved one bit by such news. Rather you would be cautious, ask objective questions, and even be prompted to conceive and enact safeguarding measures for the welfare of the African people.
There is much value in this proposal for Africa. However, one of my objective concerns is that, considering the disunity and lack of collective strategic cooperation among African leaders, the zero tariff measure is a potential trojan horse for China to capture the benefits that the AfCFTA was supposed to provide Africa.
I will briefly highlight a few points of many others:
The AfCFTA is meant to promote inter-African trade through zero-tariffs, so Africa becomes one marketplace. Increased production and increased supply and demand will increase purchasing power by increasing the rotation of African currencies within Africa. However, by removing tariffs for African countries China has now shrewdly pulled the carpet from under Africa and taken power from the AfCFTA (African Continental Free Trade Agreement)… without many noticing it. How?
China is a master of processes, logistics and efficiency. While that is one of Africa’s weakest points, and African countries have not yet developed the efficient systems and logistics required to fully harness the AfCFTA.
Now China is deeply embedded in African countries today, so with this zero-tariff measure they will just use their established presence and pipeline to make it easier and more efficient for African goods to go to China INSTEAD of another African country. Thereby intercepting the AfCFTA! This is not nefarious on China’s part, just shrewd business!
And once again, African leadership is in disarray and found sleeping! And of course, the African Union as usual will remain in the ineffective shadows, comatose.
When I look at Africa, my mind is seriously always blown by the chaotic and terrible state of its leadership (few exceptions). I search my soul, and I find no understanding for the poor and embarrassing display of statesmanship that I see from African leaders today. The people are so talented and accomplished, but its leadership…! Let me stop now before my blood pressure rises and I get a headache.
In short, African leadership needs leadership.
~Dr. Ikenna A. Ezealah, Ph.D., MBA Builder of the African Future
Excerpts from “A Bucket of Water”: Reflections on Sustainable Rural Development by Dr. Kanayo F. Nwanze.
“The three-quarters of the world’s poor who live in rural areas are responsible for up to 80 percent of the food produced in sub-Saharan Africa and parts of Asia (IFAD, 2016c), yet many must buy food for their own table (Christiaensen and Demery, 2007).”
“It is a terrible irony that so many who produce food for others must buy it for themselves. But more than that, it is a travesty because smallholders are penalized at both ends. Lack of access to markets, poor infrastructure, and other causes often prevent smallholder farmers from benefitting from higher food prices. At the same time, they must pay these high prices to feed their own families.”
“Against this backdrop, we must confront the question of how humanity will feed and sustain itself in the future. The world is becoming increasingly urban, yet cities are still fed by people working the land in rural areas. The health of urban dwellers depends on the quality of the water that flows into cities from rural areas. And without strong rural economies that offer decent jobs and dignified living conditions, the exodus to cities will continue unabated, creating social, economic, and environmental instability.” ~(Nwanze, 2017, p. 4-5)
Further Excerpts from “Africa Unchained”: The Blueprint for Africa’s Future by George B.N. Ayittey
“The third, and perhaps the most important, reason for the failure of collective agriculture was the neglect and downright denigration of peasant traditional farmers. These farmers would have responded to the call to increase output had they been given the right incentives. As Times (June 6, 1986) put it:
‘By and large, African peasants are capable farmers. The problem is that … African states provide little incentive to grow more food. The state-set prices are kept low to please city residents, but in many areas they are not high enough to pay farmers for the cost of production. Unable to make a living on the land, farmers join the exodus to the cities, compounding the hunger problem (p.37).’”
“And even the World Bank acknowledged as far back as 1982 in its World Development Report that: ‘Small farmers can be highly productive, typically producing more from each acre than large farmers do, despite the often considerable disadvantages of their limited access to services, markets and production inputs such as fertilizer’ (West Africa, Aug 23, 1982; p. 2147).” (Ayittey, 2005, p. 257)
“… the authorities need to recognize that peasant farmers produce the bulk (over 90 percent) of Africa’s foodstuffs and about 80 percent of these peasant farmers are women.” (Ayittey, 2005, p. 259)
Reflections & Next Steps in relation to African Development by Dr. Ikenna A. Ezealah
A brief overview:
Three-quarters of the world’s poor who live in rural areas in Africa produce about 80-90 percent of Africa’s food, and the majority are women.
Despite producing most of Africa’s food, most of these smallholder farmers must still buy food for their own table and, due to a combination of factors preventing them from selling/benefiting from higher food prices, they still pay these higher prices to feed their families.
Small farmers in Africa can be highly productive and even produce more per acre than large farmers, despite systemic discrimination and considerable disadvantages of limited access to services, markets, and other production inputs.
From this survey, it follows that a well-established agricultural value chain with the foundation of productive smallholder farming in Africa will have the most immediate and comprehensive effect on national economic growth, poverty, and employment of most of the population of African countries. Thus, smallholder farming and rural development must be a primary focus area for national development agendas.
Next Steps for African Governments
The next steps for many African governments is to significantly invest in smallholder farming and build out the various components of the agricultural value chain, with a strategic focus on rural development with linkages to markets. Markets not only within the African country, but also within the continent by leveraging the AfCFTA. The African Union 2003 Maputo Declaration called on member states allocate at least 10 percent of national budgets to agriculture and rural development. Based on the comprehensive effect of the agricultural value chain on the developmental trajectory of African countries, I recommend an allocation of 10-20 percent.
At first glance the recommendation seems high and appears it will encroach on the budgetary allocations for other critical sectors. However, it only appears so until one understands that the entire agricultural value chain embraces other sectors (e.g. roads, transportation, education). An issue with African governance is the lack of long-term national planning and policy coherence between the different sectors, so often money allocated for one sector is not strategically coordinated to have a multiplicity of effects on others! The consequence for Africa is disjointed budgeting, waste, and a bloated and ineffective government with poor implementation. Thus, my recommendation of 10-20 percent investment also presupposes the onset of policy coherence for strategic African nation-building.
Consider roads. Today many African governments concentrate road projects around major cities and often neglect the rural areas. However, as rural areas are the lifeblood of agriculture that feeds Africa, it is important to build road networks (among other things) in rural communities that connect smallholders to markets and which enables parts of the agriculture value chain to easily interact with them. Transporters should not have to battle through hazardous roads just to reach smallholders and deliver their necessary goods to market. If they do, the prices are marked up (officially or unofficially through private payments) which then lowers the margin of smallholders and puts them at an economic disadvantage to sell at a price that may not cover the cost of production. Overtime this issue and others like artificial price suppression, frustrates smallholders and causes many to start leaving farming and pursue other urban opportunities. The consequence is lower food production, higher prices, more agriculture imports, loss of agricultural self-sufficiency, increased urban congestion and slums, higher poverty and unemployment, continual national decline and more!
Roads in a country are analogous to blood vessels in the body, and are networks meant to connect two areas that, once joined, would trigger broader socioeconomic development and have the most wide-ranging effect on the people. Every road build should have a feasibility study that details how it strategically coordinates with and supports the 25–50-year national development plans embracing all sectors. Every action by African government must be both comprehensive and practical. Thus, if the hand that feeds Africa comes from the rural areas, it makes sense to build and maintain effective roads that the hand must pass to figuratively “put food in the urban mouth”.
Summarized Next Steps —> Ensure effective road networks as linkages of smallholder farmers to the value chain and markets. —> Invest 10-20 percent of national budget in building the agricultural value chain. —> Investment should be within the framework of long-term national planning. —> Ensure policy and strategy coherence between the different sectors in budgetary allocations.
~Dr. Ikenna A. Ezealah, Ph.D., MBA Builder of the African Future
Why do African Peoples still use foreign names? And next steps.
I once visited a business and was attended by a Cameroonian lady. During conversation I asked her name, and she said “Jane”. I then asked about her real name…her African name. She smiled and said she does not have one. I was confounded, and this initiated a friendly dialogue between us about the practice of Africans adopting foreign names.
It has become habitual for the Global African People to have and give their children foreign names. Even if they are born and raised in Africa. What is the origin of this practice? And how can we change it?
For Africans it stems from colonization and religious imperialism. For African descendants it is the slave trade in which enslaved Africans were forced to relinquish their original African ethnic groups and adopt a European name.
Religious groups like Christianity encouraged Africans to adopt a biblical name to fully convert. but this was just cultural imperialism masked in religious evangelism. Using two biblical examples: Saul became Paul and Simon became Peter after an inner spiritual change. Their names changed but within the SAME broader ethnic group. Africans see this, miss the point, and change names to a different race. Additionally, African names often even have a direct reference to the Creator in their meaning. So objectively why change it?
Among African Americans, despite achieving freedom for decades very few have bothered to reclaim their ethnic identity and change their names, or at least give their children an African name. Today both groups have become so comfortable with this practice that most will argue till thy kingdom come why they should keep it.
People will give many reasons, but their roots are mostly the same: generational habit, assimilation for social/professional ascension, and deification of all things foreign. You are African… why are you running from an African name? Do you see Europeans or Westerners giving themselves African names? Here are recommended next steps:
-For African descendants: Individuals, families, and marital couples can adopt an African ethnic group, choose a last name, then change names. Or to start small adopt an African first or middle name. When people have children, give them an African name from an adopted African ethnic group. I believe all African descendants on earth should have an African name.
-For Africans and African in the diaspora: No explanations needed. You are African, so just give yourselves and your children African names. The practice of foreign middle names, unless necessary through marriage, should end. You can even choose a “softer” middle name from your ethnic group or one from another African ethnic group.
The message here is for the global African peoples to start reclaiming their ethnic identity through the name, and thus start correcting the erroneous practices that originated from historical cultural disruptions and intrusions by foreign parties.
Names are words, and words have power. Remember in the beginning was the Word, and the Word is the Creator who has a Name that releases Creative Powers. Thus, the ethnic name on earth for human beings is the starting point of personal beingness and power. When your parents call you by your real African name, do you not inwardly feel a mysterious power resounding in it? It is time to reclaim it.
And I practice what I preach! For I was born with an English middle name, but I recently reclaimed my ethnic sovereignty by changing it to an Igbo one. But this is reserved for another post.
~Dr. Ikenna A. Ezealah, Ph.D., MBA Builder of the African Future
Excerpts from “A Bucket of Water”: Reflections on Sustainable Rural Development by Dr. Kanayo F. Nwanze.
“In the beginning, Jane Njagurara – a farmer in Kenya – had a single goat. By the time I met her, she had poultry, cows, and a thriving milling business. Not only could she send her children to school, she was also employing others in the community. In other words, to echo the theme of this book, Jane had fetched her bucket of water.”
“Undoubtedly, many factors contributed to Jane’s achievements, including her membership of a dairy group supported by an IFAD-supported project. But a development project can only provide opportunity; it is only a drop in the bucket. I suspect the reason for Jane’s success had as much to do with an inner drive to provide a better life for her family.”
“In my career as both a scientist and an administrator, I have learned to track success through objective indicators. But I have also found that to understand results we must go beyond what can be measured in a test tube or plotted on a spreadsheet. In the end, development is about what really matters to people. It’s about empowering them to take greater control of their lives, against all the odds that may be stacked against them.”
“Sometimes a project’s success can be measured against tangible factors. For me, however, the most important outcomes are often intangible, such as the pride of a mother who can send her children to school well-fed and well-nourished, perhaps for the first time. When I am privileged to witness such a moment in people’s lives I know that real change is possible.” ~(Nwanze, 2017, p. 1-2).
Reflections & Next Steps in relation to African Development by Dr. Ikenna A. Ezealah
1. Development is endogenic—occurs from within, and multiplies the abilities already possessed. Jane was a skilled farmer with one goat, so development just enhanced what she already possessed and multiplied her enterprise into a thriving milling business. Just as a tree bears fruit with a seed for further development, so could Jane’s business plant the new seed of her children’s educational future and employ others in the community. Development for Africa starts with identifying the abilities the people already possess, then just supporting them to enhance and multiply it.
All the visions required for indigenous African progress across all sectors is gifted to the spirit of the African people. More explicitly: all the solutions to Africa’s problems and the ideas for upbuilding flowing from the Creator enters the earth in the natural abilities within the spirit of the African people, which only needs support and an enabling environment to be activated, expressed and implemented for collective progress. Thus, one characteristic of the right visionary and iron-willed African leadership is the capacity organize, coordinate, and implement the pre-existing inspirations and abilities from the spirit of the people around a unified initiative. If championed, Africa will experience a developmental sonic boom!
2. Membership in supported community groups: “If you want to run fast, go alone; if you want to run far, run together”. The African proverb emphasizes the multiplying power of community, the importance of individual effort that can be magnified by the supportive collaboration of people within a group of similar interest. Jane was a farmer, became a member of a group, and the group was supported and provided an opportunity that Jane capitalized. Too often in Africa people labor alone and cannot draw from the power of a well-organized and supported group. Development for Africa needs to encourage the formation of organized membership groups of similar activity, which should be supported by leaders so individuals can achieve more and go far with their initiatives—like Jane.
3. Development that empowers people to take greater control of their lives… and environment. Development in Nature enables greater control and independence. As a baby develops into a youth, it growth learning empowers it take greater control its body, and it becomes more self-sufficient and independent. Jane, through personal diligence and a supportive environment that yielded a successful business, was empowered to take greater control of her life and have a greater influence on the future of her children and members of the community. In Africa, does the leadership empower or deprive people of development? Do the institutions and systems of the society form a supportive or hostile environment to personal success? And do the people or foreigners have greater control/influence over Africa’s government, natural resources, industries, policies, and general development? Development for Africa means leaders empowering the people to use their abilities to develop and take control of their lives, communities, resources, and country.
4. Intangible outcomes of progress—People are human beings, not human bodies, and the human soul is driven by values. Development then is not just about the expression of abilities through the body and the physical improvements of living conditions, but it is also about the ennobled qualities that emanate from the human soul. The deep inner feelings and stirrings. With Jane’s increased success through her thriving milling business, imagine the pride and confidence that wells up from her soul at being able to support her children and further her community! This is the intangible victory of the soul in positive development. Development for Africa also means consciously valuing the intangible outcomes of all policies on the inner life of the people, and the commitment to ensure that progressive outward development is always balanced by the inner drive and expression of furthering values. Therein lies true progress for the African people.
Next Steps for African Governments
Indigenous development: Refrain from just copying and importing what foreigners have developed and calling it progress. Instead, focus on supporting, investing, and developing the preexisting inspirations and talents of the people. These abilities when properly nourished is what grows into innovative indigenous institutions, systems, and industries.
Growth and Protection of Community Groups: Encourage and protect through policy the forming of community groups that pools people of special interests and activities together, so they can speak with one voice, have representation in national policy issues, and gain strength in numbers. For example, a well-supported Farmers’ Cooperative will enable smallholders to have more bargaining power.
Regular Assembly Meetings: To empower people first requires listening to them and reinforcing their needed activities. Traditional African communities had regular assemblies in which the leaders and the people could interact on matters of collective progress. ———-> Officials should be required to visit their constituents and community groups on a numbered basis per quarter in an assembly format. Officials must then listen to the various organized ideas, issues, questions, the specific ways community members need support, then use that information as a basis of policy representation at the state and national level. Officials would also account for every vote, monies, and projects in relation to the community, and the status of previously discussed items. ———-> The meetings create a constant feedback loop between community members and officials that is lacking today, which increases accountability. Empowerment naturally follows. Empowerment is a person’s ability to directly influence or control the factors that determine the developmental direction of their lives, communities, and country. Through the periodic assemblies, people will have the opportunity to directly shape the factors that determine the quality of their life and community.
Intangible outcomes of progress:Genuine leadership in governance is not just about improving physical conditions, but uplifting the soul of the people. The human soul is driven by furthering values. Thus, every policy should first start with a statement of the furthering values it is meant to support within the people. Also, in addition to measuring the physical effects of policies, the intangible effects on the soul of the people should also be assessed, recorded, and discussed. Doing this would put the human soul and furthering values at the focal point of national policies, so leaders with the eyes of the spirit can make decisions that uplift the people inwardly and outwardly.
~Dr. Ikenna A. Ezealah, Ph.D., MBA Builder of the African Future
I completed the book “A Bucket of Water”: Reflections on Sustainable Rural Development” by Dr. Kanayo F. Nwanze, my late mentor and former President of the UN International Fund for Agricultural Development (IFAD).
In developing countries, if you want to build a sustainable economy that includes most of the population, ends hunger, tackles poverty, and addresses inequality, what critical area and group of people should you first focus on to achieve lasting results? Three-quarters of the world’s poorest and hungriest people live in rural areas. About 57% of the total population in Sub-Saharan Africa live in rural areas. Hundreds of millions of these rural people work small farms. And even as the world becomes more urban, it still depends on rural areas for food, clean water, environmental services, and employment. Rural people and smallholder farming is thus the baseline.
During the 1960s and 1970s when many African economies were more prosperous, many were net exporters of major food crops and some African governments invested as much as 10% of their budgets to agriculture. The continent had universities with agricultural facilities, research centres, and stations worthy of the name. Across the centuries it was agriculture that has given the first impetus to economic growth for more advanced countries today. Thus, Dr. Nwanze states, “The path to modernity and inclusive prosperity must pass through fields and pastures. That is both metaphor and truth.”
In his book “A Bucket of Water”, Dr. Nwanze harnesses his decades of practical observations and hands-on global experience in agricultural research and rural development to provide rich anecdotes in discussing various themes of rural development, while also reflecting on the work of IFAD. He shows that any genuine effort to achieve the Sustainable Development Goals and 2030 Agenda will fail if it does not include small-scale producers. Dr. Nwanze expands the traditional understanding of agriculture, and touches on the numerous inputs and factors that directly and indirectly affects it. He further discusses how the agricultural sector is not only foundational to developing other sectors in an economy, but that other sectors are closely integrated into the intricate agricultural value chain.
The book should be read by anyone interested in sustainable rural and agricultural development, and who is looking for foundational solutions to addressing poverty and hunger which will spur broader economic development and new opportunities. For those inclined to African nation-building and development, “A Bucket of Water” provides a sound blueprint for practical focus areas and action steps for building a brighter African future.
Reflections on Iranian architecture as inspiration for the emergence of modern original African architecture in the call for African nation-building.
Here is Iranian architecture playing an orchestra of colors that beautifully fuses the mathematical precision of geometric patterns with artistic elegance.
This is an example for African nation-building. The need for Africans to indigenously develop and ennoble its own interior design system from its own heritage, and then integrate its various models into standard home construction and interior design in Africa. Visionaries in office must use the executive arm of policy to incentivize this sector to flourish, which is so integral to African-nation building.
If you objectively observe African societies today, you will discover that the buildings African people and governments hail as evidence of “development and modernity” in their towns and cities are for the most part little more than cheap imitations of European and foreign architecture with imported technologies and furnishings! The obedient and indolent continuation of colonial designs and systems, to the exclusion of bringing life and refined expression to indigenous styles. The lack of self-esteem and confidence in one’s cultural capacity that neatly disguises itself as progress, but which is really retrogression.
African people today under wrong leadership are so hell bent on being little Europeans, instead of being proud Africans who constantly build and advance the original abilities and styles they already possess. Under these conditions, the self-respect and self-sufficiency of a people that comes with diligent cultural ennoblement and expression in all national sectors is lost! It is now high time to take a different course and start being original in all we do. So that our uniqueness as a people can beautifully shine and refresh the world with something different that comes from the ennobled spirit of the African people!
Leaders of Africa, remember that, as a gift of the Creator, all Africa needs to indigenously advance in all sectors lies in the abilities within the spirit of the African people, which calls for originality and not copying! Your task is to set the example of proud originality by building from within, create the frameworks and systems that harnesses these abilities, and inspire unification of thought and action around the implementation of original visions from above for African nation-building!
Focused Upward, Forever Onward!
~Dr. Ikenna A. Ezealah, Ph.D., MBA Builder of the African Future
If you want to recognize the true character of a person, pay attention to the small things. The same applies to self-examination.
Based on this principle, when I want to keenly assess the true character of an African country and the quality of their development, I completely ignore all their major cities and every development therein. Instead, I focus almost exclusively on the conditions and developments of their rural areas and the quality of the people’s lives.
From this assessment, while most people romanticize Africa’s development and growth, to me barely anything is really happening. Most funds and attention is focused on cities to the detriment and underdevelopment of rural areas.
Africa’s true identity, cultural strength, diverse beauty, values, developmental potential, future growth, and foundation lies in the rural communities and the people. And currently what I see is mostly abandonement, underfunding, and the pretense of advancement in most cities through importing foreign things to show modernization.
Africa has lost its focus and is spending too much time and energy trying to mimic Western forms of development.
Big glamorous African cities that look like foreign cities are not proof of development and national character, but the condition and progress of the rural communities and the people.
It is time for Africa and its leaders to get back to basics.
~Dr. Ikenna A. Ezealah, Ph.D., MBA Builder of the African Future
In Africa, what type of transportation network is best suited to unlock the free movement of persons, seamlessly connect all parts of the continent, and enable the dynamic movement of goods and services?
Before law school, I read the AfCFTA agreement twice and created a series of charts and flowcharts to make the information easily accessible. I reflected on the AfCFTA’s goal of promoting the free movement of people and its aim to enhance economic integration and unity across Africa, and I noticed how it aligns with the African Union’s Agenda 2063 free movement goals.
Considering these objectives, I asked myself what form of transportation would best enable the free movement of people across Africa? And I envisioned a comprehensive and fully integrated African Continental Railway System (ACR).
Airplanes are important modes of transportation, but to best unlock the movement of people, goods and services in Africa, it is my conviction that an African Continental Railway System is best suited to the African dynamics and disposition.
African leaders could collaborate to create a framework for a Continental Railway System, linking all regions of the continent and allowing citizens to travel freely between countries. First, a continental network could be established, followed by regional railway frameworks aligned with the ACR for seamless connectivity. National governments could then layer their railways in coordination with these regional and continental plans. The economic, political, and social impact of such a system would be transformative, releasing a socioeconomic sonic boom into the future.
A continental railway would facilitate the movement of people, goods, ideas, and resources, allowing Africans to live in one country and work in another. Imagine a person living in Nairobi (Kenya) who can work in Enugu (Nigeria). Consider a developmental project in Abijan (Côte d’Ivoire) that can be partially staffed by technical experts from Yaounde (Cameroon) who would get there daily through a highspeed railway linking the countries.
But it would also create jobs across countries for Africa’s growing population, sparking continent-wide productivity and skills development. Rail construction, operation, engineering, and logistics would involve an unprecedented transfer of skills and training, contracts, public-private partnerships, allowing African youths to play a central role in building and sustaining a unified infrastructure. The ACR would facilitate industrialization and manufacturing by also igniting the steel industry in Africa. For it would be Continental Law in promoting self-sufficiency that the production of all components of this Railway System must happen in Africa! Regional hubs connecting businesses, factories, industrial sites, cities, schools, and cultural centers would open Africa to itself, fostering a rich and reciprocal exchange of culture, resources, and labor. Africans could experience the continent’s natural landscapes, while work and leisure become truly continental.
Imagine traveling on the ACR from Conakry (Guinea) to Addis Ababa (Ethiopia) or Khartoum (Sudan) to Pretoria (South Africa). On the major pit stops African people from different ethic groups would embark and disembark. Think about the human and cultural connection! Imagine seeing and experiencing the diverse landscapes and natural wonders of Africa as you travel! It is impossible to see and appreciate the natural beauties of the land through air like you would closeup in a railway!
While challenges would undoubtedly arise, such an initiative would require comprehensive planning, precise coordination, tactical execution, public-private partnership, and the continuous engagement of citizens. However, if Africa’s leaders could establish the African Continental Free Trade Area (AfCFTA) to create a single trade market, they can achieve the same framework for the ACR. It just takes a bold vision, firm will, commitment to planning, and a tenacity for execution! The realization of this vision may take some time, but part of a visionary’s work is to establish frameworks for the future. And I believe the African Continental Railway System represents the best means of achieving a connected Africa for the free movements of persons and goods.
Let African leaders, governments, and institutions take note.
Let nation-builders in Africa step forward, bold and courageous, to build the African future! Leaders of Africa, it is high-time to think big and start leading with bold visions and diligent hands that work to realize it for the progress and development of the African people!
Onward & Upward!
~Dr. Ikenna A. Ezealah, Ph.D., MBA Builder of the African Future
Respectfully, I call on the African People to cease the bad habit of referring to government officials as “Excellency”.
Not only is this a colonial hangover, but it is not applicable for most African officials today. Excellence is an honorable status of demonstrated elite performance and achievement in public service!
A position does not make you “Excellent”, but only your consistent deeds of genuine service throughout your tenure that advances the welfare of the people. Based on that criteria, who then deserves to be called “Excellency” in Africa today?
Many politicians get into office, often not even in free and fair elections, but through “Selectocracy”. Then, without achieving anything or proving value, they are showered with “Excellency”. Even if they are abominable, detrimental to progress, corrupt, and negligent… they are still “Excellency”.
I cringe whenever I hear “His/Her Excellency” and I cannot reconcile the said Person with the genuine sense of Excellence.
When you give a person an unearned title of honor, you only harm them by flattering their vanity. It only breed’s a condescending arrogance instead of genuine humility.
Look across all governments in post-independence Africa and especially today. Honestly scrutinize and objectively assess their individual contributions and value to African nation-building, then candidly confess: how many are genuinely deserving of Excellency? What achievements can they show that demonstrates Excellence? We should also apply the same scrutiny to ourselves.
Excellency should be awarded over a lifetime of achievement and dedicated labor to uplifting the people. It should not be so cheaply given because someone is “Minister” or “President”. Respect should be given not because you have a position, but you exemplify the qualities demanded by the position!
I also believe any self-respecting African official will feel intuitively uncomfortable with the “Excellency” title, when they know they have not earned it through diligent deeds that show their tangible achievements over a long period.
I say this out of a deed sense of respect for the notion of “Excellency”. In Africa, we need to raise titles and positions again to honor. Officials should not be endowed with Excellence because they occupy a position, but only because they consistently perform their work Excellently!
After a lifetime of such genuine service and achievement, only then should an official who has struggled for the African Cause and its People, who has laid everything on the line… only then should they be anointed with the honorable “Your Excellency”.
On May 12-13, 2025, the Africa CEO Forum took place in Abijan Côte d’Ivoire.
Under the theme, “Can a New Deal Between State and Private Sector Deliver the Continent a Winning Hand?” the forum brought together public and private sector decision-makers for two days of high-level debates, negotiations, discussions, and workshops.
Sounds ambitious and grand, and maybe in the past such gatherings might have peaked my interest, but experiences have stripped the veil. While there is value from such conferences, most of these gatherings tend to be pomp and pageantry and a plethora of recycled rhetoric which seldom lead to revolutionary action that yield tangible results for the African people.
The elephants in the room remain safe and invisible like Casper the Ghost. You observe the participants from government and private sector and wonder how, in view of the current tragedy of Africa and its retrogression, people can be so relaxed and casual even as people face serious hardship.
Where is the fire blazing in people’s eyes? The rolling thunder of urgency in their voices? The roaring tempest of revolutionary action? The inviolable movement of policy tectonic plates that realigns Africa and shakes the globe?
Why are so-called African leaders in government and private sector so nonchalant? And why be so diplomatic with your words? Speak directly to the pressing issues facing the African people without mincing words, and say exactly what you mean!
Stop justifying and explaining to the world, as if the global community needs to be convinced to validate the African position. Take a stand, make a decision, then boldly press forward. The world will adjust.
We need people whose souls are erupting with volcanic heat for aggressive African nation-building…unapologetically! Who are allergic to endless talking and sitting in airconditioned offices writing 200 page reports that no one reads. Whose bones are rattling for action and execution to physically manifest progress that directly affects the lives of the African people in the shortest possible time!
What is all this jamboree I see when people with focused energy should be spinning the wheel of development forward in high speed with strategic planning and tactical execution? There is way too much conviviality and photo ops, or, using local Nigerian parlance, most people just “jollofing and peppersouping”!
Everywhere you turn there is an African Conference on a range of issues, but if you look on ground little is changing. So what are we talking about?
I applaud the genuine efforts of the few who always put in real work. But mostly Africa is facing a crisis of genuine leadership that has transcended talking, and is serious about taking bold action and producing real results on ground for aggressive policy African nation-building!
~Dr. Ikenna A. Ezealah, Ph.D., MBA Builder of the African Future
Nation Upbuilding 