By Charles Pemu 
ABUJA — The Minister of the Federal Capital Territory (FCT), Nyesom Wike, delivered a stirring call to action yesterday, urging African leaders to decisively abandon the continent’s overreliance on foreign aid.
Delivering the keynote address at the 2025 Innovate Africa Conference in Abuja, Wike insisted that Africa’s transformation depends entirely on visionary, accountable, and people-centered governance designed to unlock the continent’s vast potential for self-sustaining development.
Speaking on the theme, “Reimagining Africa’s Leadership and Investment,” the Minister declared that genuine progress would not emerge from donor-driven interventions but from indigenous innovation, bold leadership, and productive investment in infrastructure, youth, and human capital.
“Foreign aid, once embraced as a bridge to development, has too often become a crutch that weakens resolve and distorts priorities,” Wike stated. “Development cannot be donated; it must be built. Africa must now be defined not by grants and conditionalities, but by ideas, innovation and indigenous strength.”
The former Rivers State governor demanded an urgent, collective effort to redefine Africa’s narrative from one of dependency to one of dignity and self-determination, urging the continent to “rise beyond the rhetoric of aid and dependency” and chart a new course of economic sovereignty built on courage and collaboration.
“Africa’s future will not be given to us. We must build it. And we must build it now,” he asserted. “The question is not whether Africa can rise, but whether we possess the courage to lead, the wisdom to invest, and the will to unite.”
Wike argued that Africa’s greatest challenge is not a lack of resources but a deficit of quality leadership. He condemned “the plague of poor and mediocre leadership” that has stifled development, insisting that the 21st century requires prepared, principled, and passionate leaders who care rather than command.
Harnessing Human Capital and Tinubu’s Reforms
Wike called for a paradigm shift in Africa’s investment philosophy—from extractive to productive and inclusive investment.
“Our greatest resource is not oil, minerals, or fertile soil—it is our people,” he declared. He stressed that with 70 percent of Africa’s population under 30, the continent is sitting on a demographic goldmine that must be harnessed through education, digital literacy, entrepreneurship, and innovation.
The Minister also praised President Bola Tinubu’s “bold and difficult” reforms, particularly the fuel subsidy removal and decentralization efforts, as reflecting “leadership that understands sacrifice for the greater good.”
Finally, Wike cited the African Continental Free Trade Area (AfCFTA) as a beacon of renewed hope, describing it as “the modern reawakening of the Lagos Plan of Action” and the “cornerstone of Africa’s second liberation – the liberation of its economy.”
Wike dedicated the Innovate Africa Leadership Award 2025, presented to him at the event, to President Tinubu and the Nigerian people, calling the recognition a testament to the purposeful governance and infrastructural renewal currently underway in the FCT.