Nigerian author and leadership educator, Adewale Ajadi, has launched his new book, Afrilition: 21st Century African Manifesto, challenging negative narratives about Africa and calling for Africans to take a more deliberate role in shaping the continent’s future.
The book was launched virtually on Wednesday at an event attended by journalists, media practitioners, researchers and readers from different parts of the world.
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Mr Ajadi explained that the idea for the book was partly influenced by his experience of what he described as “Afro-pessimism” — a tendency to view Africa mainly through its problems and crises.
He recalled attending a conference where discussions about Africa focused heavily on its challenges, prompting him to question narratives that continually portray the continent through failure and hardship.
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He stated that the answer was not simply to replace such narratives with the “Africa Rising” slogan, but to think more deliberately about the kind of future Africans want to build.
“Afrilition builds steps towards a desirable and probable future of the African world as a critical alternative for humanity,” he said.
Mr Ajadi said the book does not treat Africa’s development as a competition with the West or other parts of the world.
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Rather, he noted that it explores how Africans on the continent and in the diaspora can define their own values and contribute to a changing global order.
In a chapter titled, “Bearing Witness”, Mr Ajadi writes, “Yes, I ignore the pessimists too, lest they infect my sight with the pain of their disease, weariness. Be brave enough to dream tomorrow and be resilient enough to pursue even the frisson of its potential. Africa deserves that and much more.”
He said achieving that future would require more than optimism.
Reviews
Oje Aboyade, one of the book’s reviewers, stated that its emphasis on Pan-Africanism particularly resonated with him.
Mr Aboyade said Africans should question what he described as the default acceptance of “Eurocentric” agendas, exploitative economic systems and social structures.
He described the book as a call for African excellence without external validation and a roadmap for future generations.
Bolatito Kolawole, a researcher at the University of Lagos Institute of African and Diaspora Studies, said the book’s emphasis on values was notable.
Ms Kolawole noted that Afrilition offers another way of looking at Africa’s progress rather than measuring it solely against Western models and material gains.
Martin Banda, a leadership educator and facilitator, reviewed the book in a PREMIUM TIMES article published on 5 September.
Mr Banda focused on the book’s format, which is partly written as a letter from a grandfather to his grandchildren.
“Ajadi writes as a grandfather addressing his grandchildren, though he is plainly writing to anyone still searching,” he wrote.
He said the letter format “forces the book to be both tender and useful”, because writing to a child leaves little room for jargon or cynicism.
In the foreword, Funmi Olonisakin, Deputy President of King’s College London and founder of the African Leadership Centre, stated that the book makes a case for an Africa that contributes “unique and authentic excellence” to the world.
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She said it links African excellence to the need for a more balanced world that moves away from exploitation and hegemony.
In the afterword, Ifeoluwatari Ajadi noted that the book is based on the belief that Africa’s future must be actively shaped rather than simply awaited.
“Afrilition reflects a deep belief that African Futures are not something we wait for, but something we actively shape through our choices, relationships and responsibilities,” he wrote.
Afrilition examines choices that could shape Africa’s place in the world over the next two generations.
It extends its focus beyond the continent to Africans and people of African heritage in the Caribbean, South America, North America and Europe.
The book also argues for a broader understanding of prosperity, with emphasis on humanity, humility, service and the communities people build.
It promotes cooperation and community as part of the way Africans can respond to the challenges facing the continent.
For Mr Ajadi, the book is ultimately an attempt to shift the conversation from how Africa is viewed by others to what Africans themselves choose to build.
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