The Founder/Director-General, Institute for National Transformation International (INT), Prof. Vincent Anigbogu, has called for a revolution in Africa, urging leaders to move beyond development plans and policy declarations to deliver measurable improvements in citizens’ lives.
He said Africa’s major development challenge was not necessarily the absence of resources or ideas but the inability of governments and institutions to translate them into productive industries, effective institutions and tangible improvements in living standards.
Anigbogu said this in his keynote address at the INT STEP Delegate Leadership Summit in Abuja on Monday.
The summit has the theme, ‘Love Africa Now: Building STI-Driven Economies for the Africa We Want.’
Anigbogu said Africa must shift from importing finished products to competitive production, from consuming knowledge to creating and commercialising it, and from exporting raw materials to manufacturing value-added products.
‘The question is no longer whether Africa possesses the potential to prosper. The question is whether we are prepared to develop the character, competence and discipline required to fulfil that potential,’ he said.
The don identified weak implementation, accountability and impact measurement as recurring problems undermining development initiatives across the continent.
Anigbogu said the summit was designed to help participating institutions translate Africa’s development aspirations into practical programmes, viable financing arrangements and measurable outcomes.
According to him, the programme would focus on aligning institutional mandates with the African Union’s Agenda 2063 and the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals, assessing financing and industrialisation opportunities, identifying development challenges, designing solutions and establishing implementation commitments.
He challenged each delegate to leave Abuja with a credible plan to address at least one significant problem within its area of responsibility.
He said each institution should identify a priority problem, establish a baseline, define a solution, assign responsible officers, determine the resources required and develop a measurable 90-day implementation plan.
The proposed 10-month mentorship programme, he added, would provide opportunities for progress reviews, corrective action, institutional learning and impact measurement.
The wife of the Osun State Governor, Erelu Ngozi Adeleke, urged African leaders to translate their development commitments into practical investments in science, technology and innovation to accelerate economic growth and create jobs.
She said science, technology and innovation were critical to building prosperous economies, empowering women and young people, improving healthcare and addressing the continent’s developmental challenges.
‘The Africa we desire cannot be built on good intentions alone. It requires visionary leadership capable of transforming ideas into practical solutions, scientific discoveries into economic opportunities, and innovation into sustainable development,’ she said.
She called for strategic partnerships to translate innovation into prosperity and ensure that communities across the continent benefited from development initiatives.
Adeleke stressed the need to include more women and young people in leadership and economic development, saying their participation was indispensable to Africa’s transformation.
The President of the Nigerian Institute of Public Relations (NIPR), Dr Ike Neliaku, said Africa’s transformation depended largely on Nigeria’s ability to overcome its leadership challenges and harness its development potential.
He attributed part of the continent’s slow progress to Nigeria’s inability to achieve the desired level of development, stressing that the country had a critical role to play in Africa’s advancement.
Neliaku highlighted leadership, responsibility, productivity and communication as major issues that African countries must address to achieve meaningful transformation.
He said: ‘Africa is where it is because Nigeria has refused to take off. And the world is where it is because Africa has not taken off.’
The NIPR president identified responsibility, leadership programming, productivity, the role of the elite and the need to reinvent Africa as major challenges confronting the continent.
He urged African leaders to take responsibility for the continent’s future rather than allow its development to depend on external actors.
According to him, many people willing to take responsibility lack the opportunity to do so, while those with the opportunity often fail to demonstrate the commitment required to drive meaningful change.
‘The time has come for us to take responsibility,’ he said.