Africa conference 2025: Call for continental alliance to build ‘African’ democracy

Folalumi Alaran in Abuja

The Africa Conference 2025 commenced in Abuja on October 2, 2025, gathering political leaders, policy experts, and civic activists from across the continent to address what founders termed the “wicked problem” of Africa’s leadership crisis and its resultant developmental inertia. The conference’s central theme was centred on the urgent need to expand the School of Politics, Policy, and Governance (SPPG) model across Africa and forge a unique, homegrown form of democracy rooted in continental values.

The press briefing featured a display of Pan-African solidarity, with delegates from nations including Ghana, The Gambia, Senegal, Cameroon, Burkina Faso, and Kenya, underscoring the continent-wide relevance of the conference’s mission.

Vision: From Nigerian Dream to African Movement
Dr Obiageli “Oby” Ezekwesili, Founder of #FixPolitics and the SPPG, opened the briefing by outlining the foundational vision. She stated that the conference is driven by a mission to translate the vision for an Africa with “democratic principles that lead to good governance and the prosperity, stability, and resilience of our societies on the critical pillar of inclusion and equity.”

Dr Ezekwesili explained that the SPPG is the principal expression of the #FixPolitics research, and the conference serves to bring together people across African democracies who “already reflect the ideals of the mission that we drive.”

Mr Frank Nweke II, Chair of #FixPolitics, reinforced this, emphasising that the initiative is unique because it’s the only one that has put in place a structure that systematically addresses the leadership challenge, by “training leaders, advocating for reforms in the right institutions, and remaining committed, and more importantly, scaling across the continent.”

Strategy: Connecting Disruptive Forces
Kah Walla, CEO of Strategies and a Cameroonian politician, spoke about the strategy to execute the vision. She noted that the initial #FixPolitics dream was always “bigger than Nigeria,” and the Africa Conference serves as the engine to connect diverse change agents.

“The strategy is how do we bring together all those disruptive movements, all those who are thinking democracy for Africa, but also acting in democracy to share their experience, get to know one another, but maybe most importantly, have a little bit of time to tackle these complex, difficult problems that we are all facing,” Ms Walla explained.

She framed the collective effort as a movement that is rapidly building up, noting that the vision is to see the SPPG model expand to 20 nations, a step she likened to activating a “sleeper cell of good government atmosphere.”

A Call for Collective Action and Courage
Delegates from participating nations shared their expectations, uniting in a firm call for mutual support and courage.

Honourable Fatoumatta Njai, a Member of Parliament in The Gambia, emphasised that the crisis demands continental unity. “I don’t only see myself as a Gambian. I see myself as an African, because I think it’s only as Africans that we can fix our continent. If we stand alone, we stand weak. But I think if we stand together, we can,” she said.

A delegate from Burkina Faso, representing the #FixPolitics movement in his country, bravely shared the immediate urgency of the political crisis, noting that democracy has been banned and that he was present “to raise the voice of my friend, my comrade, Ousmane Lankwande, who has been abducted for seven months.”

Bunmi Lawson, Co-coordinating Chair of WSG 3 #FixPolitics, tied the mission back to cultural adaptation: “If there’s something about Africa, our values, our culture that we need to craft so that democracy really works for all of us.”

The conference advanced high-level discussions, focusing on developing concrete action plans to ensure that the spirit of democratic principles is upheld and implemented across the continent.