The African Giant

Description

Africans are like the elephant at the zoo. The elephant in the zoo has the power to knock down the walled fence and be free from its bondage. But from childhood, its trainer uses progressively smaller metal chains around its neck or legs to condition it to be helpless. Long after these are removed, the big, powerful elephant still believes it is chained. Its METAL chains are now replaced by its MENTAL chains.

Such, too, is the condition of the African mindset. Somehow we have come to believe that we’re incapable of doing anything for ourselves. Past failures and present inadequacies convince us that we’re incapable. This kind of elephant-in-the-zoo thinking leads us to doubt our God-given potential, waste opportunities and resources, and fail to see setbacks as stepping-stones. It is these mental chains that need to be broken.

Among the African elephants, Nigeria is a giant. In fact, it is the African giant. But like most African nations, this African elephant is in danger, and therefore, very dangerous. As argued in Author’s Preface to the book,

“Africa is in trouble because Nigeria is in trouble. But if Nigeria gets it right, then Africa will be on track to its rightful place.”

This small volume, The African Giant, is directed at the larger issues of Pan Africanism and the African Renaissance and the role of African youths and young professionals in the continent’s transformation. The book will challenge all Africans and friends of Africa to work towards the liberation of the mental chains that have replaced the metal chains of the African Elephant.