African development demands return to indigenous ruling systems, Gambari, others insist
Former Chief of Staff to late President Muhammadu Buhari, Prof.
Former Chief of Staff to late President Muhammadu Buhari, Prof. Ibrahim Gambari, diplomat Moudjib Djinadou, and Dimas Garba have called on African leaders and citizens to embrace self-rediscovery as a pathway to the continent’s progress, arguing that decades of reliance on imported political, economic and governance models have failed to deliver desired development outcomes.
Speaking at the launch of Renegade Africa: All it Takes to Be African, written by Djinadou, a former United Nations official and founder of the Itumo Institute, a think tank based in Porto-Novo, Republic of Benin, on Tuesday at the Savannah Centre for Diplomacy, Democracy and Development, Utako, Abuja, the speakers urged a return to indigenous governance systems, values and knowledge structures.
They noted that Africa currently faces numerous economic, security and social challenges, despite possessing vast resources and potential needed for sustainable development.
Chairman of the book launch, Gambari, said sustainable development in Africa can only be achieved when policies and institutions are rooted in the continent’s historical realities, cultural heritage and collective aspirations.
He stated, “The external cannot love us more than we love ourselves. And we are the ones who know where the shoe pinches because we wear it. We are the ones who need to show that we care about life. And the book asks a simple question, one that too many African intellectuals forbid themselves from voicing frankly: despite all our efforts, could it be that Africa’s shortcomings in building genuine sovereignty are first and foremost failures toward itself?
“And if you don’t define yourself, if you don’t promote your own narrative, other people will not do it for you. And if you don’t blow your own trumpet, nobody else will blow it for you because they are very busy blowing their own trumpets.
“So really, what we need to look at is the book’s central argument, which is this: that our weakness is not geographical or historical; it is the result of an alienation that has led us to undervalue our own governance systems, our own indigenous economic philosophies, our own languages, and our collective knowledge. We have imitated, persisted in, and mimicked—never adapted—values and policies external to our environment.
“This mimicry has, in many regards, made us strangers to ourselves. So we have to rediscover ourselves in order to move forward. Let’s reclaim ourselves. Let’s go deep into ourselves. Let’s bring out our souls because that’s unique to us. You will recall that the Chinese, for example, when they adopted socialism, always said socialism with Chinese characteristics. We practice democracy without African characteristics, and then we are surprised that sometimes it does not work.
“So the author points out, furthermore, that in order to open up to the world and make a contribution to it, one must first be oneself. And for that, we must unearth our pre-colonial heritage, which is our true patrimony—its political institutions founded on deliberation and consensus.”
Gambari also said Africa remains economically constrained by exporting raw materials while importing manufactured goods, including food.
He said, “On the economic front, particularly, we are trapped by extroversion. We export our raw materials and import manufactured goods, including food. The solution lies, therefore, in productive sovereignty through the development of local domestic capacity.
“We must escape from situations where our place in the global value chain is more chain than value. And it will not change unless we add value to our production, so that we can be true participants in a value chain that benefits all of us.
“On demography, often presented as a threat, it is, on the contrary, an incredible opportunity if we invest massively in education, mentoring, and training of our youthful population.”
The book reviewer, a Baze University lecturer, Garba, said the book examines how Africa has gradually abandoned its values, systems and cultural heritage in favour of Western models.
He stated that this abandonment has been gradual, tracing Africa’s contact with the West as far back as the 8th century, driven by trade routes and resource exploration, which he said contributed to Africa’s distortion and perceived inferiority.
Garba said the work is structured into three parts: a diagnosis of African society, law, power and its “confiscated heritage”; an examination of Africa’s condition through Enlightenment ideas, racism and multilateralism; and a final section exploring democracy, economy, security and education.
He added that Africa’s underdevelopment stems not only from colonial history but also from the loss of pre-colonial values and systems replaced by imported models.
The reviewer said, “What is more worrisome to the author is Africa’s acceptance of Western values. It is an acceptance no longer imposed by economic or geopolitical power relations, but one chosen directly as an act of consciousness.
“Now Africans have come to accept, willfully and consciously, the fact that our own ways are inferior to those of the West.”
The author, Djinadou, said he wrote the book to address fundamental questions, lamenting that six decades after independence, Africa has made limited progress despite multiple reform attempts.
He said, “We have tried structural adjustment programmes. We have imported multi-party democracies. We have partnered with all kinds of countries… And none of these paths has really delivered the emancipation we are looking for.
“And to me, the answer lies in the fact that we have been seeking solutions outside ourselves, without even trying to draw deeply from what we are. And the culprit, I personally identify, is the education system.
“Because rather than generating domestic, local and indigenous solutions and knowledge, we have been trained to consume ideas and concepts produced elsewhere.”
Djinadou added that Africa’s progress is ultimately an African responsibility, stressing the need to reconnect with historical and cultural foundations to address present challenges.
