A former governor of Ekiti State, Dr. Kayode Fayemi, has warned that Africa risked deeper instability and democratic decline if leaders failed to strengthen institutions, tackle poverty and resist rising xenophobia across the continent.
Fayemi gave the warning while delivering the 16th Africa Day Lecture organised by the Thabo Mbeki Foundation in Cape Town, South Africa.
Speaking on the theme, “Advancing African Unity: Sovereignty, Solidarity and the Renewal of Institutions,” hesaid many African countries were battling weakening democratic governance, growing insecurity, economic dependency and loss of public trust in leadership.
According to him, military coups in parts of Africa, particularly within the Sahel region, reflected deeper failures of governance and institutions rather than mere political accidents.
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“Military intervention is often not the disease itself, but a symptom of deeper institutional crises. The real danger confronting many African democracies today is the erosion of public trust,” he stated.
The former Minister of Mines and Steel Development, argued that elections alone could not sustain democracy where governments continually failed to provide security, justice, inclusion and economic opportunities for citizens.
He lamented that democracy in many African countries had become associated with “elite circulation rather than social transformation,” warning that persistent poverty, corruption and exclusion were fuelling frustration among citizens.
The former minister also cautioned against the growing wave of Afrophobia and xenophobia in parts of Africa, particularly South Africa, saying hostility against fellow Africans undermined the ideals of Pan-Africanism and continental unity.
Referencing Africa’s collective role in the anti-apartheid struggle, Fayemi recalled that countries such as Nigeria made huge sacrifices in support of South Africa’s liberation.
“South Africa’s liberation was not won by South Africans alone,” he said, adding that violence against fellow Africans represented “a crisis of continental consciousness.”
While acknowledging economic hardship and unemployment as contributing factors, Fayemi insisted that such pressures could not justify exclusion or attacks on fellow Africans.
He, therefore, called for the promotion of “continental citizenship,” stressing that national identity should not conflict with African solidarity.
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“We must teach younger generations that being proudly Nigerian, South African, Kenyan, Ghanaian or Senegalese is entirely compatible with being proudly African,” he said.
In another development, Fayemi, has expressed deep sorrow over the passing of the Alawe of Ilawe-Ekiti, Oba Adebanji Ajibade Alabi, describing the monarch’s death as a monumental loss to Ekiti State and the nation.
In a condolence message made available on Saturday, Fayemi extended his sympathies to the government and people of Ekiti State, the Ilawe Royal Family, the immediate family of the late monarch, and the entire people of Ilawe-Ekiti.