President Bola Tinubu has charged African leaders to stop clinging to their old habit of depending on foreign plans, saying the continent was in dire need of leaders who wield policy as a surgical blade instead of a slogan.

He lamented what he described as “the tragedy of our time” whereby African leaders do not only confine themselves to foreign blueprints but have also refused to emancipate themselves from client-state mentalities and governance by hashtag activism.

The President gave the charge yesterday during the Dr. Kayode Fayemi Commemorative Symposium and launch of the Amandla Institute for Policy and Leadership Advancement, with the theme:

‘Renewing the Pan-African Ideal for the Changing Times: The Policy and Leadership Challenges and Opportunities’. Represented at the event by his deputy, Vice President Kashim Shettima, the President said:

“Whatever our differences across the continent, one fact that can’t be eroded by our infighting is that we are in the age of machines, and we can’t fight our development dilemma with spears and arrows while the rest of the world is fighting the same battle with missiles and tanks. The world is not waiting for Africa to catch up. “While we parse political rivalries, others parse datasets.

While we litigate history, others engineer futures. The train of progress accelerates, yet too many of our leaders cling to old carriages. These are our clientstate mentalities, our dependency on foreign blueprints, and our governance by hashtag activism.

This is the tragedy of our time.” Tinubu pointed out that it would be wishful thinking to hope that the renaissance of Africa would happen as a gift, maintaining that it must be built.

He regretted that for too long, leaders in Africa have outsourced their thinking, relying on institutions and ideologies that treat countries on the continent “as consumers, not creators,” just as he insisted that the youth must be empowered to innovate in tech hubs across the continent.