WIKE URGES AFRICAN LEADERS TO RELY LESS ON FOREIGN AID, ADOPT HOME-GROWN INNOVATIONS

…HAILS PRESIDENT TINUBU’S TRANSFORMATIONAL LEADERSHIP

By: Rabi Musa-Umar and Wisdom Acka

The Minister of the Federal Capital Territory (FCT), Barrister Ezenwo Nyesom Wike, has called on African leaders and policymakers to rely less on foreign aid and adopt decisive, transformational leadership to unlock the continent’s vast potential.

Delivering the Keynote Address at the 2025 Innovate Africa Conference with the theme, “Reimagining Africa’s Leadership and Investment”, held at the ECOWAS Conference Hall in Abuja on Thursday, October 23, 2025, Barr. Wike declared that Africa’s future must be “crafted not in the conference rooms of donor agencies, but in the creative laboratories, farms, classrooms, and workshops of Africans determined to transform their continent”.

The Minister emphatically stated that the time had come for Africa to adopt home-grown solutions. urging African leaders to do away with what he described as poisonous philanthropy and demand genuine opportunities.

Describing it as the continent’s “greatest paradox”, the Minister attributed the challenge to a chronic deficit of visionary leadership.

The Minister bemoened Africa’s history of “self-serving leaders” who prioritize short-term gains over nation-building.

Quoting John C. Maxwell, he advocated for servant-leadership, saying: “A boss says ‘I’; a leader says ‘We.’ true leadership is not about power but about walking the path with the people.”

Barr. Wike cited President Bola Tinubu’s bold reforms -fuel subsidy removal, security investments, and decentralization, as proof that “courageous leadership yields long-term gains.”

Highlighting FCT’s infrastructural revival, the Minister framed roads and bridges as “symbols of dignity,” connecting communities and attracting investment. “Leadership must dare to dream, and deliver,” he asserted.

The Minister’s most provocative model recommended Africa’s self-reliance, rejecting reliance on foreign, saying: “Development cannot be donated; it must be built. Africa must shift from grants to ingenuity, from dumping grounds to industrial hubs.”

According to the Minister, “Development cannot be donated; it must be built. No nation or continent has ever achieved greatness through the benevolence of others. Africa must now declare, with conviction and clarity, that it will no longer be defined by grants and conditionalities but by ideas, innovation, and indigenous strength”.

He stated that seventy per cent of Africa’s population was under 30 years of age, describing it as “a revolution waiting to happen”. The Minister added that with 1.4 billion people and a combined GDP exceeding $3 trillion, Africa was no longer a peripheral actor in the global economy.

“Africa’s greatest resource is not its oil, its minerals, or its fertile soil; it is its people,” Barr. Wike asserted and called for strategic investment that is productive, inclusive, and transformative, prioritizing infrastructure and human capital development to unleash the continent’s youth dividend.

He added that the future of Africa lies in the hands of Africans who believe in the power of their own ideas and ingenuity, who speak with one voice, and are ready to lead, invest and unite.

The Minister applauded the African Continental Free Trade Area (AfCFTA) as the modern reawakening of the Pan-African vision for economic self-reliance, describing the initiative as a declaration of intent that Africa will no longer be a mere supplier of raw materials.

“Through regional integration, Africa can finally replace aid with trade, and dependency with dignity,” he said.

Barr. Wike identified poor and mediocre leadership as the single greatest impediment to Africa’s progress, and declared that the time had come to move beyond transactional leadership that is driven by personal gain to embrace transformational leadership rooted in vision, courage, service, and accountability.

Noting that true 21st-century African leaders must be prepared, principled, and bold enough to take difficult but necessary decisions for the greater good, the Minister lauded President Bola Ahmed Tinubu, GCFR, for embodying this transformational change, citing the President’s “uncommon courage” in confronting one of Nigeria’s most intractable challenges – the removal of the fuel subsidy.

“While previous administrations acknowledged its dangers, none dared to act. Tinubu did”, the Minister said, stressing that the bold decision was already yielding results as seen in increased revenues for states and local governments and the ease in debt burden. He added that the ongoing infrastructural renewal in the FCT—including connecting roads and revitalising public spaces—serves as a clear symbol of what is possible when political will is applied.

The Minister, who was conferred with the Innovate Africa Leadership Award 2025, dedicated the honour to President Tinubu and the resilient people of Nigeria, calling for synergy between leadership and followership to accelerate the continent’s transformation.

Earlier in his address, the Chairman of the conference and CEO of Neimeth International Pharmaceuticals, Mazi Sam Ohuabunwa, explained that the conference was aimed at mobilising Africans globally to harness the tremendous resources that God had endowed the continent with to drive global competitiveness, using innovation, reimagining leadership, structural adjustments, and quick adaptation to technology.

“It is a well-known fact that Africa has been performing chronically below its capacity and capability. So, this conference is to put some focus on how we can use the element of leadership and technology to leverage our opportunity to catch up with the rest of the world”, Mazi Ohuabunwa said.