Wike Urges African Leaders to Prioritise Transformational, People-Centred Governance

• Minister of the Federal Capital Territory, Nyesom Wike, has urged African leaders to embrace transformational leadership rooted in service, accountability, and people empowerment, warning that the continent’s future depends on a new generation of visionary and selfless leaders.

Wike made the call on Thursday while delivering the keynote address at the 2025 Innovate Africa Conference held at the ECOWAS Conference Hall in Abuja.

The conference, themed “Reimagining Africa’s Leadership and Investment,” brought together policymakers, investors, and innovators at a time when Africa faces mounting economic challenges from global inflation, dwindling aid, and sluggish industrial growth despite its vast potential.

Challenging leaders across the continent to move beyond transactional politics, Wike said Africa must “replace leadership driven by personal gain, patronage, and short-term calculations with transformational leadership founded on vision, courage, service, and accountability.”

“True leadership must not exploit but empower; it must not rule but serve; it must not merely transact but transform,” the Minister declared.

“Africa is in urgent need of servant-leaders, leaders who do not see themselves as bosses but as mentors genuinely committed to the upliftment of people.”

He blamed much of Africa’s underdevelopment on poor and self-serving governance, adding that many leaders emerged through “self-serving conspiracies that have little or no relation to national interest.”

Wike maintained that development could only be achieved when leaders create an enabling environment through investment in infrastructure, stable policies, and good governance.

“Roads, power, railways, and digital connectivity are the arteries through which development flows. Without them, the economy cannot freely breathe,” he said.

Citing Abuja’s infrastructure renewal as an example of leadership backed by vision and determination, Wike said the city’s ongoing transformation demonstrates “what is possible when leadership dares to dream and deliver.”

The Minister commended President Bola Tinubu for taking “bold and necessary decisions,” especially the removal of the fuel subsidy, which he described as one of Nigeria’s most difficult policy challenges.

“While previous administrations acknowledged its dangers, none dared to act. Tinubu did, understanding the cost but believing in the long-term gain. Today, this bold decision is beginning to yield results,” Wike said.

Turning to the broader African context, Wike called for an end to the continent’s dependency on foreign aid, insisting that “development cannot be donated; it must be built.”

“For too long, Africa has looked outward for solutions to problems that can only be solved from within. No nation or continent has ever achieved greatness through the benevolence of others,” he noted.

He urged African governments to invest heavily in youth and women, describing them as “the beating heart of Africa’s future.”

With nearly 70 percent of the continent’s population under 30, he said investment in education, digital literacy, and entrepreneurship would unleash Africa’s full potential.

Wike also hailed the African Continental Free Trade Area (AfCFTA) as “the cornerstone of Africa’s second liberation—the liberation of its economy,” stressing that it offers a path to replace “aid with trade, and dependency with dignity.”