Article by: Austin Brako-Powers
(Former Press and Information Secretary – NUGS)
A continent of gifts – yet lack
many gifts; a people of history – yet fails to look up to history for direction;
and a continent of many resources – yet thousands of millions of its citizens
are malnourished and dying of common curable diseases. This is a perfect eulogy
of the continent we inhabit.

We are the protégé of the noble
men that built the pyramid of Egypt. We are the sons and daughters of the
Nkrumah’s, Kenyatta’s, Lumumba’s, and the Mandela’s. The Timbuktu’s and the
other educational institutions in the continent have pulled many people around
the world to learn from our many scholars. However, checkered our history has
been and no matter how it has been dented by our past experiences in the hands
of the Europeans, Africa is still Africa. Our place in history cannot be traded
for any other “momentary” pleasure and wealth. This is the continent that
sparked the emancipation “fire” of the world.
Recently, the French Ambassador
to Ghana advised Africans during the one month long celebration of the Alliance
Franciase (the French School in Ghana) - to learn to market and also impose
their culture and traditions onto the world.

We have an enviable culture and
traditions incomparable to non in the world. Our festivals are the talk of the
world as a result of the pomp and pageantry effects that comes with it. Our
movie industry is a fiercest competitor in the world movie industries -
struggling for dominance position in the world. Today, Nigerian, South African
and Ghanaian movies are sold across the world and are being watched by both
Africans and Westerners alike.

However, I must cautioned that,
the achievement of this would mean that, our individual national Government
would have to put an end to the habit of foot-dragging that is pervasive in
this continent where the prosperity of one nation is envied even by its
neighbors. And also, the lazy attitude some of our past leaders attached to the
formation of a continental Government must not be countenanced at all.
The world has dreaded our unity
since the days of the formation of the Organization of African Unity – now
African Union. Our forefathers even had this vision before the Europeans dreamt
of joining their forces in the now European Union. Today, the European Union
fights on a common platform with the United States of America while Africa is
left behind. This was not the vision our founding fathers envisage for us. They
would shake in their graves in protest of what we have become – slaves in our
own homeland.
For Africa to walk into the next
millennium with confidence, we have to reconsider our actions and focus our
attention on developing our aspect of soft power through our culture,
traditions, and our languages. We can use the three pillars above to build our
movie industries; reform the language of our leaders on diplomatic platforms
and to endeavor to encourage the study and use of our language in the world.
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