Africa, home of the brave and a land endowed with enormous natural resources. Youthful population, abundant sun light, rain, fertile soil, rich forest, and river. Africa is a blessed continent. Although colonialism has left indelible scars on the continent, but there is potential for growth and development.

We’re in the 21st century and it appears a lot of African nations are crawling in terms of development. There is a lot more to be done in all sectors. Healthcare is appalling, mass unemployment, leadership crisis, outdated school curriculum, poor road networks, bribery and corruption, nepotism, tribalism, underdeveloped infrastructure and so on.

As an African under 30, I have a vision for a better Africa and the world at large. This is highly achievable if more people commit to working for the common good. I challenge you, dear reader to be a good citizen of the world. There is no better time for concerted efforts for development than now. Below are my take for a better Africa.

(1) Servant Leadership: It is an open secret that one of the greatest challenges currently faced by Africa is leadership crisis. For a relatively long time, the continent has a track record of poor leadership. Part of this problem is political illiteracy and lack of patriotism. Although we produced good leaders like Nelson Mandela and Paul Kagame. The former is an icon and symbol of a servant leader recognized internationally. However, majority of African leaders have contributed to our underdevelopment and several other problems. They use politics as a means of enriching themselves, their immediate families, and relatives. Presidents and cabinet ministers usually assume a lifestyle of luxury while the masses wallow in abject poverty and misery. Official abuse and gross misuse of limited national resources is the order of the day. Their conduct contradicts what leadership entails. Lifestyle of African leaders would be a separate post. Today, I want to share my general take for the way forward as a continent.

Africa is in dire need of servant leaders, committed to the common good. While we may not have many examples or pointers, we can’t give up hope. One thing is clear, Africa has many energetic youths who need some form of coaching and mentoring to take the continent to the next level.

(2) Responsible Citizenry: I am sad to admit that most of the citizens are not responsible enough in Africa. It is more of a blame game. Leaders keep on blaming the colonialists for our underdevelopment, citizens blame their leaders for lack of jobs without improving their skills. More often than not, students blame teachers for academic failure. Some go to the extend of blaming their parents why they are not enrolled in a particular school or given certain privileges like private tutors. Yet, they spend several hours on irrelevant things everyday. In a nutshell, Africans according to my own view are not generally responsible. Did you know that some well to do individuals expect the government to take care of the potholes in their local government area? Did you know that some people blame the president for their standard of living without trying to acquire work or develop their manpower? Would you believe that in Africa, less than 6 in every 10 people who talk about politics actually vote during elections? These are just few of the examples I have to express how irresponsible Africans could be and yet expect progress. One of my favourite quotes is from Mahatma Gandhi “You must be the change you wish to see in the world“. I believe change is possible if more citizens take responsibility for their lives and start playing their roles towards national development.

(3) Irrelevant School Curriculum: For way too long, Africa has been using a curriculum that was designed to meet a particular need. It was basic literacy and arithmetic to ease the work of our colonial masters. The system is generally to train people to be job seekers after years of schooling without meaningful transformation. This type of education system is no longer relevant in our time and age. We are in the 21st century and preparing millions of people for jobs they don’t have passion for is deception. The current education does not encourage individuals to know who they are and how to contribute meaningfully to the world. Education is not properly understood. It’s about getting good grades for promotion and indoctrinated that academic success is a guarantee for success in life. When in actual it was an unintended lie by our teachers and even parents.

Everything about human existence has changed around the 18th century. The question is why do we still maintain such a curriculum after several decades? We still encourage everyone to go to elementary school through college or university and no consideration for life skills or entrepreneurship. I believe in the power of education, but one that transforms individuals to contribute their quota to the world. I don’t think traditional education will help make the world a better place. Africa need a more relevant school curriculum. Education should transform individuals and accord them the opportunity to practice what they learn and not just theory as it is currently the case. I share the vision of Vishen Lihiani, the founder of mindvalley; one of the biggest online learning platforms with millions of students worldwide. He is an advocate of transformational education which is evident in mindvalley programs with the world’s best teachers in every area of human development. This justifies why after more than 6 decades of formal education, Africa still has very little to show for it. Students are not equipped to put their knowledge to practice.

Read the following at least twice. “Education is a private matter between the world of knowledge and experience, and has nothing to do with school or college”. Lillian Smith. “Real education involves teaching children to discover who they are, their strengths, weaknesses and life’s mission. Real education consists of teaching a child to understand how never to separate life from work, because both ought to be the same, both ought to be fun and exciting”. Steve Courage.

(4) Investment in Modern Infrastructure: We are living in a fast pace world and most of it is seen in the type of infrastructure. African government should invest in modern infrastructure. The super powers are expoliting undergound and space when some African countries are struggling with outdated road network. While few are doing well in this regard, majority have little or nothing to show for it. Connecting certain towns is a major problem. The question is not about competition, but adapting to the realities of our time, new technology and development trends. Truly, the way forward is to invest heavily on modern infrastructure.

(5) Creation of More Job Opportunities: Africa is blessed with a very youthful population. Year in and year out, thousands of them come out of school to face the real world with few job opportunities. All these graduates are mere job seekers with no entrepreneurial skills, because that is what the system is designed to do. Yet, African policy makers are not creating enough jobs to meet this increasing demand. The job market is literally saturated. Most of it is occupied by incompetent people because of their connections, not based on merit. In the past few decades, the continent has been producing gruaduates who are still roaming the streets in search of lucrative jobs. Some of them compelled to become burglars or armed robbers harassing innocent citizens for survival. Competition for job is getting high yearly. Already we have lost many youths on high seas trying to seek greener pasture in Europe or elsewhere. Even those who succeeded making it there are barely struggling as undocumented foreigners. Of course, few are trying to support their families, but certainly not easy with them.

(6) Encourage Innovation: It will be a blue lie to say Africans are not innovative. The problem is creativity and innovation is rarely encouraged in Africa. That is partly responsible for our stagnation as a continent for a relatively long time. Starting from home, there is need to encourage innovation for a better Africa and the world at large. Even parents kill a lot of sound dreams by encouraging young kids to focus on different things instead of what they demonstrate interest, skills, and love for. For instance, an African will likely discourage a child who shows interest in mechanics, carpentry, sports (gradually changing) music, or design. They will tell say “I want you to be a doctor, teacher (very few), lawyer, or banker”. Just imagine how many potential pilots, engineers, authors, scientists, musicians, or poets have been silenced by their own parents. This is a serious problem and has done more harm than good to the continent. It’s time to encourage innovation and creativity, fellow Africans.

(7) Advocacy for the Empowerment of More Women and Girls: It is disheartening to know that until this time and age, Africans are with the view that females are meant for the kitchen. This limited way of thinking has significantly reduced the potential of females across the globe, but Africa is worst. Although, there is commendable change of mindset over the years. However, it is worth noting that many girls are not enjoying their basic right to education. Those that were privileged to receive education are discriminated against on a daily basis or harassed by callous insecure men in public offices. There is need for increased advocacy to empower more females across Africa. Studies have shown that they are capable of performing certain functions more effectively than men.

(8) Commitment to Clean Environment: I am sad to admit that many African countries are still struggling with clean environment, an eseential determinant of a healthy and prosperous nation. Almost all major religions believe that cleanliness is next to godliness. However, more often than not, it is about carelessness. It is common to see people littering the streets, both young and old. They become defensive immediately a more responsible citizen rebukes them. Even where there are dustbins, people just have reasons to litter the environment. We need to be commited to cleean environment as Africans, because a healthy nation is a wealthy nation.

(9) More Investment in Health: African health sector is appalling. It is unbelievable to know that women still die at childbirth and people die of minor diseases. I don’t know whether it is carelessness on the side of policy makers or lack of financial muscles. As I grow older, I come to believe the former to be the case, carelessness. Huge sums of money is annually allocated for the health sector. A lot of African hospitals lack specialists on major diseases and essential machinery. Many citizens die or their cases worsened before they are treated. Africa must invest heavily in the health sector in order to preserve more lives. Already, the continent has lost several lives, both young and old as a result of underdeveloped health sector.

(10) Change of Attitude Towards Time: African time, Gambian time or Senegalese time is a common phrase among people in the sub-region. They say it with pride as if it is a good thing to be careless about time. People would deliberately show up late for meetings and other important appointments. I read somewhere that time management is life management. It is very common for people to show up an hour late or more with no sign of guilt for being carelessness about time. How do you expect to make significant progress when you are not serious with your most treasured asset that would never be regained once lost? It is high time we changed our attitude towards time if we are serious about going forward as a continent. Africans waste their time and lives on useless things on a daily basis. Everyone, students and civil servants alike. Some students are perpetual late comers. Many people report late to work and leave early. The general norm is, Africans are poor at time management. That is why deadlines are mostly for formality sake. People show on time for job interviews, visa application, pay day or anywhere they expect immediate benefit. This is sad.

(11) See One Another as Fellow Africans: We have been separated by borders and have used it against ourselves for too long. Our colonial masters have succeeded in separating us, but reunification is up to us. However, we look at one another as different people based on nationality. Until we see ourselves as Africans and not Gambians, Senegalese, Nigerians, Congolese etc, Africa will continue to lag behind. Stereotype makes us look at one another with a suspicious eye. Why is it easier for some African nationals to travel to America, Asia or Europe than to some African countries? Also why can’t we have a common currency and why is it very hectic to cross certain borders within the continent? The simple reason is, we refused to see one another as Africans. African Union is just another myth if you closely question certain things.

(12) Change of Mindset: I choose to deliberately end with this, because everyone irrespective of where you come from needs it at some point. We all need a change of mindset in order to experience a new way of living. Africans, more than a anything else need a complete change of mindset. You only need to hear some of their conversations to get what am trying to say. Some people have conditioned their minds to believe there is nothing possible in Africa. There are those with an inferiority complex. Others feel Africa is a symbol of poverty and backwardness. Some think that Africa will never rise to it’s true meaning. Others say you cannot make a decent living in Africa without illegal means. Waw! Is it so? Some said Africa will never invent anything meaningful to the world? To many, Africa is a symbol of poverty and misery.

Written with love, Frank.