Who will claim the 21st century. Many pundits claim that it will be the Asian century. At independence, Africa offered so much hope. However, a string of misteps has pushed the continent to the backburner. One of the most missing ingredients in Africa's prosperity is leadership.
How can we nurture the next generation of leaders that will stand up for Africa? How do we create a generation that will restore Africa's place in the world? One way could be to create universities that will churn out leaders that will stand up for Africa. Our best brains no longer go to Makerere, Ibadan, or the University of Cape Town. Rather, they head to Harvard, Yale, or the Ivy League Universities in the US, or the Oxford and Cambridge Universities in the UK . However, here, they are taught European and American ideas, and after graduation, many end up working there, and thus presenting a loss to Africa.
Our universities are no longer the bastons of thought they were in the 1960s and 70s. Nowadays, bread and butter issues are the major concerning issues. Lecturers are underpaid and often on strike. Students are too busy struggling to survive financially and have little time for anything else. In the 60s and 70s, students would be at the forefront of campaigning for civil issues and would shape the national dialogue of many African countries. In South Africa for instance, Steve Biko was a thorn in the flesh of the apartheid regime until he was murdered in cold blood by the apartheid regime. These are the kind of students we need in our African universities. Can we create a Harvard in Africa that will produce African centered thought leaders?
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