President Bola Tinubu, on Thursday in Abuja, urged African leaders to embrace homegrown development models rather than depending on foreign plans.

Mr Tinubu, represented by Vice President Kashim Shettima, made the call at Kayode Fayemi’s commemorative symposium and inauguration of the Amandla Institute for Policy and Leadership Advancement.

The theme of the symposium was “Renewing the Pan-African Ideal for the Changing Times: The Policy and Leadership Challenges and Opportunities.”

The president stated that the African continent was in dire need of leaders who implemented appropriate policies instead of chanting slogans.

“The tragedy of our time is that African leaders do not only confine themselves to foreign blueprints but have also refused to emancipate themselves from client-state mentalities and governance by hashtag activism.

“Whatever our differences across the continent, one fact that can’t be eroded by our infighting is that we are in the age of machines.

“And we can’t fight our development dilemma with spears and arrows, while the rest of the world is fighting the same battle with missiles and tanks. The world is not waiting for Africa to catch up,” he said.

Mr Tinubu pointed out that it would be wishful thinking to hope that the renaissance of Africa would happen as a gift, maintaining that it must be built.

He regretted that for too long, African leaders outsourced their thinking, relying on institutions and ideologies that treated countries on the continent as consumers, not creators.

The president insisted that the youth must be empowered to innovate in tech hubs across the continent.

“We must empower our youths to innovate in tech hubs across the continent, from Cairo down through Nairobi to Lagos, building unicorns without the permission of any gatekeepers.

“What they lack is not ideas but ecosystems—systems where policy, funding, and political will converge to scale their genius,” he noted.

Mr Tinubu also enjoined African leaders to embrace homegrown think tanks like the Amandla Institute to promote green tech and cultural capital rather than relying on raw materials.

Mr Tinubu urged the Amandla Institute to sell Africa to the world as a continent that seeks collaboration and not patronage.

He stated that “the institute must become a command centre for the continent, turning thinkers into doers, policies into progress, and Pan-African ideals into realities.

“As we honour the Fayemis, let us channel their restlessness. Let this symposium be remembered not for its eloquence but for its ignition. It’s time for Africa to stop debating ideas and start deploying them.”

Earlier, Thabo Mbeki, a former South African president, said development aspirations and targets across Africa had not been met due to a multiplicity of factors.

According to him, the factors include inadequate resource mobilisation and poor leadership.

He noted that the way forward, in the context of the establishment of a global multipolar order, was for African leaders to prepare adequately to position the continent correctly.

“Our continent must pay particular attention to the development of the right leadership capable of defending and advancing our vast interests within the context of competing global players,” said Mr Mbeki.

He, however, expressed optimism that the inauguration of the Amandla Institute for Policy and Leadership Advancement would go a long way in the actualisation of Africa’s ideals.

(NAN)