The Minister of the Federal Capital Territory (FCT), Nyesom Wike, has called on African nations to reject transactional leadership and embrace a new era of visionary, service-driven governance.
Speaking on Thursday at the 2025 Innovate Africa Conference in Abuja, Wike lamented that many African leaders remain unprepared for the responsibilities of leadership, leaving the continent “groping in the dark” on critical aspects of development such as infrastructure, healthcare, governance, and institution-building.
Delivering a keynote address titled “Reimagining Africa’s Leadership and Investment,” Wike said:
“The time has come to move beyond transactional leadership — the kind driven by personal gain, patronage, and short-term calculations — to embrace transformational leadership rooted in vision, courage, service, and accountability.
Leadership must not exploit, but empower; it must not rule, but serve; it must not merely transact, but transform.”
He argued that Africa’s biggest obstacle remains the “plague of poor and mediocre leadership,” noting that too many leaders rise to power through self-serving arrangements detached from national interests.
“Across the continent, both in military and civilian dispensations, leaders have often emerged through self-serving conspiracies that bear little or no relation to national interest or development priorities. The result is a tragic pattern of groping in the dark, with nations endlessly experimenting with the fundamentals of development,” he said.
Wike urged a shift toward leadership that is prepared, principled, and passionate, capable of making bold and visionary decisions.
“The 21st century calls for a new kind of African leaders — leaders who embody vision, moral character, and resilience; who believe in Africa’s boundless possibilities and act decisively to unlock them. They must be proactive enough to anticipate the future and committed enough to build systems that prioritize excellence over mediocrity and performance over politics,” he concluded.
