Afrilition: Setting out a critical pathway towards African excellence, By Adéwálé Àjàdí

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Afrilition sets out a critical pathway towards African excellence… Afrilition is about a systemic realisation of Africa as a global community that exemplifies diversity and alignment, not in competition or comparison with other peoples or parts of world, but focused on the authentic evolution of its own possibilities and purposes.

My new book, Afrilition: 21st Century African Manifesto got released and put on Amazon on the 14th of July. It is a reflection of a lifetime of understanding the meaning of Africa that matters to and excites me. The late US commentator and media pioneer, Tony Brown, who also hosted the eponymous “Journal,” often quoted an African proverb: “It is not what you’re called, but what you answer to, that matters.” To me, Africa means the evolution of the Egyptian phrase, Afru-ika or Motherland. Indeed, the Motherland of all humanity, but more recently, the place of the widest human diversity, ethnically and genetically.

Aside from being the originating home of modern humans, it has the deepest ancestral lineages and the largest genetic variations. Afrilition is an affirmation of the distinction of the future of those who avow Africanness across the world. It is a book for those who are willingly African from across the world, not those who see their Africanness as a prison or accident of circumstance.

Afrilition is an affirmation and dedication to those who are going to live for the next two centuries, choosing to live as Africans, as well as a call to action for those of us living right now, to thrive intentionally and beyond our limitations. Africa is going to be home to the most young people in the world, up to 50 per cent of them, and about one-third of the world’s working population. It will lead the world into the realisation of the promise of the 21st century, with two African countries projected to be among the top 10 largest economies in the world.

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Towards this direction, it must stop reacting to the deep pain of the recent history of enslavement, colonialism, social and economic injustices, racism, and rampant exploitation, prioritising the dream of our future, not the nightmares of the past. To realise a tomorrow of African excellence, we must be intentional about building it. Shifting our minds and gaze beyond seeing Africa as a landmass to seeing it as a world, especially including our diaspora and all those committed to elevating humanity above material subservience, towards expressing our better selves.

The wisdom of Afrilition is not in an orthodoxy but it is in dynamic practice for systemic change based on the spirit of the future as a province of vision, and harnessed by the discipline of prototypes with positive feedback loops. This is burnished by accepting that tomorrow is promised only to those who are not afraid to fail but also capable of constant learning, despite circumstance.

Afrilition began in my teenage years at the University of Ife, now Obafemi Awolowo University. A very long, hot day of Fela Anikulapo Kuti in Oduduwa Hall, where, after a wait of about three to four hours, he seemed to say only one thing that mattered: prepare for the age of Aquarius, when Africa will rise in the next century. A seed was planted in me for pattern observation and recognition. Afrilition is not about competing for world power or domination but about African evolution through its own volition, making its unique contribution to saving humanity from an exploitative, destructive, and insecure race towards destruction.

Afrilition sets out a critical pathway towards African excellence; the legacy of our service to incoming generations, especially from me to my grandchildren who live across the world in very different circumstances and communities. Afrilition is about a systemic realisation of Africa as a global community that exemplifies diversity and alignment, not in competition or comparison with other peoples or parts of world, but focused on the authentic evolution of its own possibilities and purposes.

It builds on the understanding of the complex mix of diverse perspectives as creative drivers of adaptiveness and resilience. It builds into a future prioritising the role of women, engaging the contribution of our youth, and creating bridges across our markets, while establishing education systems that are about learning, not subservience, prioritising self-validation over external reduction, and leveraging our diversity for prosperity. All of these to magnify the critical elements of cooperation for collective and enlightened self-interest.

Africans owe their posterity a deep willingness to sacrifice so they can realise the potentials that have eluded them in recent centuries. We have an opportunity to design originally, build intentionally, and grow distinctively, so that there is prosperity for posterity of our African world. That is simply Afrilition, and over the next two generations, we must establish with resilience and adaptiveness.

Afrilition is fortunate to have a Foreword written by Professor Funmilayo Olonisakin, whose Pan-African credentials pioneered the African Leadership Centre as part of her role within King’s College London, where she continues to build its pursuit of excellence for her academic community with committed African Wisdom. She provides a truly powerful expression of the spirit and letter of the book, as do the incredible colleagues from across the African world who commented on the book’s resonance and commend it to others to read. Over the next few weeks, along with their efforts, I will use the different aspects of the book as convening points of expression on topical points we must engage as I express the essence of Afrilition as the manifest destination of African excellence.

The wisdom of Afrilition is not in an orthodoxy but it is in dynamic practice for systemic change based on the spirit of the future as a province of vision, and harnessed by the discipline of prototypes with positive feedback loops. This is burnished by accepting that tomorrow is promised only to those who are not afraid to fail but also capable of constant learning, despite circumstance. A world in which Africa is at least 50 per cent of all youth cannot afford to be ‘brand new second hand’ Europeans or any other group or people blinded by a false sense of superiority.

Africans owe their posterity a deep willingness to sacrifice so they can realise the potentials that have eluded them in recent centuries. We have an opportunity to design originally, build intentionally, and grow distinctively, so that there is prosperity for posterity of our African world. That is simply Afrilition, and over the next two generations, we must establish with resilience and adaptiveness.

Adéwálé Àjàdí, a lawyer, creative consultant and leadership expert, is author of the newly released Afrilition: 21st Century African Manifesto, and Omoluwabi 2.0: A Code of Transformation in 21st Century Nigeria.