Africa: How the Twin Albatrosses of Religion and Democracy Keeps a Continent in Bondage

This article is an abridged version of some chapters from my book, “Africa: a Continent on Bended Knees” (https://www.amazon.com/Africa-Continent-Bended-Femi-Akomolafe-ebook/dp/B08FGZNJ5T) that promote the thesis that until we remove the twin albatroses of religion and Western-style democracy from our necks, meaningful progress shall continue to elude us in Africa.

I have lamented that the normalizing of abnormal things is why Africa is so shockingly depressing at times.

It infuriates greatly that many supposedly educated Africans appear contented to live a life of lies. Many refer to issues that demand elementary rationality or simple logic with surprised emotional outbursts. They often suspend their reasoning faculties and react like someone slapped their mother! It is like some were born with no organ for critical thinking.

Let us consider this simple thought experiment. Imagine a world where every country behaves like Nigeria—or much of Africa—where people spend every waking moment discussing politics and debating political scandals instead of solving problems. A world where entire societies kneel, grovel, wail, weep, gyrate, and cry to unseen spirits and goblins of the sky while expecting manna to fall from the sky. A world where industries, laboratories, and research centers remain empty, but churches and mosques overflow with bodies in desperate supplication to the unseen fathers in the heavens.

Now, ask yourself: Who would have invented the the bicycle or the airplane if everyone lived like we do in Africa? The Tiller? The combined harvester? The internet? The MRI machine? The smartphone? Who would have discovered antibiotics? Who would have decoded the human genome? Who would have built the bridges, the skyscrapers, the high-speed trains, the satellites, and the clean energy solutions that we crave to make our lives easier?

Of course, the answer to our rhetorical question is obvious: No one. Civilization would have collapsed. Humanity would still be in the Stone Age, running naked in the bushes, lighting fires with flint stones, and sacrificing to the gods for rain.

But luckily for humanity, not all societies have chosen this path of self-inflicted backwardness and waywardness. While Africa—despite its immense human and material resources—kneels in endless prayers and engages in empty political theatrics, the rest of the world has moved on. Some have gone to the moon, others plan to colonize Mars, the Chinese and Russians have built levitating trains, and others are designing quantum computers and artificial intelligence systems to shape the future.

Meanwhile, in Nigeria, despite the gargantuan problems the country faces, the national discourse is dominated by what? A Senate President allegedly molested a fellow senator in an elevator. Then, before anyone could process that bit of triviality, the conversation shifted to the next episode of the never-ending political soap opera - the president’s declaration of a state of emergency in Rivers State. That “worthy” news was soon eclipsed by the president jetting off to Paris for what his handlers called a “working” visit.

And, just like that, the country stopped thinking about education, science, or the economy. No one was interested in the collapsing naira, the high cost of living, the crumbling power sector, or the fact that universities are underfunded and producing half-baked graduates who can barely string together a coherent argument, let alone solve a real-world problem.

Instead, every Nigerian suddenly became a legal expert, a constitutional scholar, and a political cum geopolitical analyst, with everyone shouting over one another on radio and television, in newspaper columns, and on social media.

The situation is the same in Ghana or any other African country. We have succeeded in normalizing the abnormalities.

Albert Einstein famously said that insanity is doing thesame thing repeatedly while expecting different results.

And yet, that is what Africans have done for more than six decades since the colonialists departed.

Independence came, and we inherited colonial structures designed for our continuing exploitation rather than reformative governance. Instead of discarding these systems and reclaiming the African ingenuity that built great civilizations like Oyo, Benin, Mali, and Songhai, we clung to them. Like obedient children, we merely changed flags, national anthems, and the color of our rulers’ skin, but the colonial mentality remained intact. The well-groomed heirs of colonialism eased into presidential palaces easily and with no compunction. They carried on business as usual.

So, year after year, decade after decade, we keep electing and re-electing politicians who are repackaged versions of their predecessors. Each time, we tell ourselves that “this time will be different.” Each time, we end up disappointed. The political elite know what they are doing - they did not call it a political game for nothing.

We have watched Asia—led by China—rise from poverty to become the world’s factory. We have seen how nations like South Korea, Vietnam, and Malaysia pulled themselves up by investing in education, science, and industrialization.

Yet, in Africa, what do we do? Rather than learning from those success stories, we cling to the twin plagues of religion and politics.

When faced with a national crisis, a typical African leader does not call on scientists or engineers for solutions. Instead, he calls for prayers. If there’s a flood, let’s pray. If there’s a pandemic, let’s pray. If there’s an economic collapse, let’s pray. Our pastors constantly hold religious jamborees to stem the slide of our currencies.

But do we need to be told that prayers do not build nations? Or can anyone point to any instance where people have solved a problem by employing religious pyrotechnics?

Most galling is that citizens, even the most educated ones, are too timid to ask the leader why he did not require heavenly intervention when he splashed big money to renovate his already lavish presidential palace or upgrade his presidential fleet. While Nigeria lacks a national airline, the presidential fleet boasts ten planes, and no one raises an eyebrow.

Why do African misrulers call for god’s interventions only when it is time to provide basic facilities for downtrodden citizens?

When China regained its independence in 1949, it did not waste time debating useless political gossip, become consumed by religious fervor, or allow itself to be distracted by Western ideological games.

Instead, China looked in the mirror and asked: Who are we? Where did we go wrong? What made it possible for the Europeans to beat and humiliate us? Most importantly, How do we rise again?

China then went back to its roots. It revived its Confucian traditions. It invested massively in education, science, and industry. It spent decades learning from the world, sending its brightest minds abroad to study engineering, medicine, and advanced technology, with the explicit intention of returning to build China into a superpower.

And today, the results speak for themselves. China would be the largest economy in the world if we used PPP instead of GDP. The country has lifted over 800 million of its citizens out of poverty. It dominates global manufacturing. It is pioneering artificial intelligence, biotechnology, and quantum computing.

What did Africa do in the same period?
We built more churches and mosques than universities and research centers, imported more religious clerics than scientists, and spent more time in political rallies than in laboratories.

And we wonder why we are stuck in poverty.
Here is another paradox: Africans love technology. They want the latest iPhones, the best watches, the fastest internet, the best medical treatments, the most advanced cars, and the most luxurious planes.

But we show no interest in producing any of these things. It is as if we have no interest in anything that will exercise or exert the brain.

Ask many African youth if they are interested in pursuing a career in science or engineering, and they will look at you as if you just insulted their mother. Instead, they want to be pastors, prophets, motivational speakers, politicians, or social media influencers. Many of our universities, which were supposed to be arenas for critical thinking, have been turned into prayer camps.

How do they expect the world to progress if everybody joins them in speaking in tongues and waiting for miracles?

Who will build the next generation of technology? Who will design the next breakthrough in medicine? Who will engineer the infrastructure of the future?

Or do they think that the white man or the Chinese will always do it for them?

Aside from all these, the sheer hypocrisy of these pretenders is stunning. One would think that with all the prayers Africans make, they would be the most righteous, content, and selfless people on earth.

But look around, and you will find the opposite.

The countries that are the most religious also happen to be the most corrupt, the most crime-ridden, and the most morally bankrupt. Despite their holier-than-thou postures, the Nigerian elites have promoted corruption to the level of praxis.

African Pastors preach humility but live in obscene luxury. Imams talk about charity but hoard wealth. The same people who spend all day in church or the mosque will cheat, steal, and bribe without a second thought.

So, what is the point of all this religion if it does not produce better people? This is a question that we in Africa refuse to ask ourselves.

And why do we keep deceiving ourselves that a God somewhere will come down to fix our problems when we refuse to lift a finger to fix them ourselves?

The African continent has everything it needs to succeed. We have the land, the resources, the talent, and the history of greatness. But none of these things will matter if we do not break free from the mental shackles that keep us bound to unproductive habits.

It is time for a new era — an era where Africans stop outsourcing their future to politicians and religious charlatans.

It is time to return to what made us great before the colonialists arrived.

It is time to put aside empty prayers and endless political debates and start doing the real work of nation-building.

Enough of the insanity. Enough of the self-inflicted stagnation. Enough of the excuses.

The world will not wait for Africa to wake up. If we refuse to rise, we will remain on our knees while others march boldly into the future. We shall remain vassals for as long as we rate supplications to goblins of the sky over graduating students in STEM.

(Farmer, Writer, Published Author, Essayist, Polemicist, Satirist, and Social Commentator.)

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