President Bola Tinubu has urged African leaders to break free from their dependence on foreign strategies, emphasizing that the continent needs bold, visionary leaders who use policy as a surgical tool rather than a mere slogan.
Speaking at the Dr. Kayode Fayemi Commemorative Symposium in Abuja on Thursday, Tinubu, represented by Vice President Kashim Shettima, criticized what he called the “tragedy of our time”- a continued reliance on foreign blueprints and a failure to move beyond client-state mentalities and hashtag governance.
Tinubu stressed that Africa cannot afford to lag behind in an era of rapid technological advancement, warning that while other nations are engineering their futures, many African leaders are still preoccupied with political rivalries and historical debates.
“While we parse political rivalries, others parse datasets. While we litigate history, others engineer futures. The train of progress accelerates, yet too many of our leaders cling to old carriages. These are our client-state mentalities, our dependency on foreign blueprints, and our governance by hashtag activism. This is the tragedy of our time,” he said.
The President praised the launch of the Amandla Institute for Policy and Leadership Advancement, describing it as a much-needed initiative to develop leaders who act rather than just theorize.
“We are here not only to generate more ideas but to create executors. We need leaders who wield policy as a scalpel, not a slogan. We need visionaries who see AI as a collaborator, not a competitor. We need a generation of Africans who recognize that Pan-Africanism, renewed for this age, must be rooted in actionable sovereignty”, he added.
Tinubu emphasized that Africa’s renaissance will not be handed to it as a gift – it must be built. He lamented that African leaders have for too long outsourced their thinking to institutions and ideologies that treat African countries as mere consumers, not creators.
He highlighted the need to empower African youth to lead in technology and innovation, stressing that the key challenge is not a lack of ideas but the absence of a supportive ecosystem where policy, funding, and political will converge.
“With the democratization of knowledge, we must empower our youth to innovate in tech hubs across the continent, from Cairo to Nairobi to Lagos, building unicorns without the permission of gatekeepers. What they lack is not ideas but ecosystems”, he stated.
The President urged African leaders to transition from custodians of power to architects of platforms, ensuring that every government institution supports homegrown innovation and economic independence.
He concluded by stressing that Africa’s future must be shaped by Africans, with policies that reflect sovereign ambitions rather than external influences.
