There is a common and uncritical surrender by many young Africans to the narrative that our continent can never be reimagined, reformed, or repositioned to play a key role in the emerging global economic, political, and social order.
But I have always believed that Africa has the capacity to mount and stamp its feet firmly on the global stage. And my recent tour of several West African countries has profoundly reassured me that Africa is not just a continent of potential—it is a revelation waiting to emerge.
There are just two major clogs holding back Africa’s wheel of development: bad governance and insecurity. The former is a direct result of weak institutions; the latter, a consequence of weak governance.
If only we can solve these two problems, West Africa alone would leave the world in awe.
Imagine a West Africa where insecurity is no longer a plague in the North East of Nigeria, around Lake Chad, the Sahel, and the Sahara. Picture a region free of ISWAP, Boko Haram, banditry, and Al-Qaeda in the Maghreb—where trains and pipelines stretch across the subcontinent, from Abuja to Lagos, Porto Novo to Lomé, Accra to Abidjan.
Consider towns like Arlit in Niger Republic, just 200 km from Algeria, offering a shorter and more strategic route to Europe. A trans-Saharan railway linking Niger to North Africa and into Spain could revolutionize logistics, eliminating months of shipping delays and the high cost of air travel.
Nigeria could become a manufacturing powerhouse. It has the raw materials, human capital, and population to evolve into Africa’s industrial hub. Benin Republic, with its port, could become a vital marketing node for West African trade, easily connecting goods through Togo to Ghana and Ivory Coast.
Ivory Coast and Burkina Faso are agricultural giants, capable of mechanizing and commercializing farming at scale. Niger holds gold and uranium, making it not only rich in resources but also a strategic bridge between North, Central, and West Africa—a gateway to Europe.
Africa is sitting on a gold mine. If we can put insecurity and bad governance in their rightful place, a new Africa will emerge—one that is bold, proud, and unapologetically visionary.
But such an Africa remains far from reach if we continue to get leadership wrong. We need visionary and transformative leadership to unlock this new era. Without it, we remain trapped in cycles of mediocrity.
If we get it right, Africa will no longer be a puzzle of shame and poverty, but a house of hope and vision, where dignity and respect reign.
Fr. Augustine Ikenna Anwuchie is a Nigerian Catholic missionary working in the West African sahel.
