Africa, like much of the rest of the world, is caught in a toxic spiral of blame. Genuine dialogue is increasingly rare; too often, people speak at one another rather than with one another. Firm and unrelenting positions on personal beliefs, systems, policies and practices have become the norm. Institutions, meanwhile, are often mired in ways of working that urgently require renewal.
And yet, what emerged from a recently conducted X Space discussion convened by Africa School of Governance, featuring a dialogue with young Africans, was a refreshing series pf perspectives rooted in realism, responsibility and hope. Here are five lessons I took from listening to that room.
Accountability Over Blame
One of the clearest signals from the conversation was impatience with endless finger-pointing. The mood was not “Who failed us?” but “How do we move?” That is a very different energy, and a far more productive one. Emmanuel Siryoyi Awori, Partnerships and Development Lead, LéO Africa Institute, made a pertinent point, “Young people across the African continent are already prepared for this reset and simply require the proper enabling environment to achieve it.”
The appetite for change already exists. The task now is to replace blame with the conditions, institutions and opportunities that allow young people to turn readiness into results.
Agency Matters
That same sense of agency came through strongly in an intervention from Raymond Mujuni, journalist and Deputy Director at the African Institute for Investigative Journalism, “There is no time, now or in the future, that you will have a leadership that does 100% of what people want. The mindset we need is to empower people to believe in themselves to solve the unique problems they face.”
Indeed, Africa will not be transformed from the top alone. It will also be transformed by people who decide to act and contribute what they can, where they are, with what they have, while continuing to demand and demonstrate good leadership and strong institutions.
Systems, Not Slogans
Amanda Jeyiola, entrepreneur and Chief Executive Officer of Acheo Koncepts, Nigeria, captured the aspiration for African unity in practice; “We cannot say we need a unified Africa but still do things separately. We need to look at what is working in Nigeria, Rwanda and Senegal, and come together to replicate the working systems.”
Amid rising nationalism in parts of the continent, it is striking to see young Africans hold on to the value of ubuntu. More than this, it is clear that this is not a generation that will be moved by rhetoric alone. Young Africans want action. They seek to understand what works, what can scale; they seek what is tangible. The true measure of ideas is whether they translate into effective, repeatable or adpatable systems that improve people’s lives.
Stewardship as a Rule for All
Another strong sentiment that echoed across the session was that citizens, especially young Africans, are not passive recipients of policy. They see themselves as builders, innovators, organisers, and problem-solvers. They do not want to be invited in at the end; they want to shape the future from the start. What I heard clearly was a demand for effective leadership: less performance, less symbolism, more enabling, more delivery, more public value.
David Akwara, an award-winning filmmaker from Nigeria, offered a useful reminder of what that kind of leadership requires: “Leaders who do not understand development cannot deliver it. Infrastructure alone is not progress; roads, hospitals and flyovers only create public value when the systems, people and services needed to make them work are in place.”
That insight goes to the heart of stewardship. Leadership is not merely the ability to commission visible projects; it is the responsibility to understand how policy, people, institutions and implementation fit together. Citizens therefore have a duty not only to demand results, but also to elect and hold accountable leaders who genuinely understand the nature of development, and a responsibility to be good stewards themselves.
Alignment Over Sequencing
I came away from the session challenged and inspired, particularly because this dialogue sits alongside a larger conversation around Pan-Africanism, and what it means in the context of Africa today. I interpret Pan-Africanism as a push for political, social, economic and cultural unity of Africa, born out of the push for self determination and rooted in shared identity and the strategic importance of cooperation and collaboration across Africa.
However, if Pan-Africanism gave us the moral language of liberation, dignity, unity, and belonging, how do we answer the next question: now that we have achieved self-determination and know who we are, what are we building, together? Here the developing notion of Meta-Africanism comes into play, a focus on systems, mobility, standards, trade and institutions that work for Africa. Evolving us from intellectually interesting but publicly distant dialogue, and removing Africa from the confines of academic debate about what has gone wrong.
The young Africans I heard were both Pan-Africanists and Meta-Africanists – their conversations pushed back against the habit of narrating Africa mainly through failure. Instead, they focused to the need to identify working models, several of which they articulated, calling for urgent implementation at scale across borders.
The room was hopeful, yet pragmatic. This was accountable optimism, acknowledging that Africa can move, but only if we become more serious about how we plan, cooperate and implement.
If there is one lesson from the X Space, it is this: Africa’s next chapter will not be unlocked by leaders, citizens or institutions alone. It will come from alignment, from shared responsibility, and from people at every level deciding that movement matters more than performance, and progress matters more than blame.
And so, to answer the big question: who must reset first, leaders, institutions or citizens? An African proverb tells us, “One finger cannot pick up a grain.” Nobody goes first. Everybody goes together. This is ubuntu in action. May it be so for Africa.
