Wssalamualaikum Rahmatullahi Wa Barakatuh.It is customary in our culture that when you visit someone’s house, before you speak to anyone you must first acknowledge and greet the host, as they say in wollof, “wakhtan dafa nekh borom kerr”.
As custom dictates, I would first like to recognize and greet H.E Cheikh Niang, Permanent Representative of Senegal to the UN, H.E Mr. Barro, Deputy Permanent Representative, and his entire staff. I would also like to recognize H.E Lot Dzonzi, Deputy Permanent Representative of Malawi to the UN, other dignitaries present, my fellow colleagues and comrades, and every single person who is here with us today.
When you ask yourself who is an African writer, who comes to mind? Is it someone of African origin? Someone who lives in Africa? Or simply someone who writes about Africa? Africa is a diverse continent of rich cultures, traditions, heritages and customs, producing great writers from different backgrounds.
Some of the writers’ books have played a significant role in Africa’s education for ages. Senegalese authors for many years have contributed immensely towards the renaissance of our continent. Writers such as Mariam Ba of Senegal, in her book So long a Letter has paved the way for Afro-Feminism, and Chiekh Anta Diop has paved the way for modern day Afro-centrism.
“The history of Africa will remain suspended in air and cannot be written correctly until African historians connect it with the history of Egypt.” Chiekh Anta Diop, Negro Nations and Culture
“In a word, a man’s success depends on feminine support.” ― Mariama Bâ, So Long a Letter
Chinua Achebe in his essay The Novelist as a Teacher (1965) addresses crucial issues relating to the role of an African.
Achebe asserts that “the writer cannot be excused from the task of re-education and re-generation that must be done.” This means that it is a moral responsibility and even a duty for the African writer to be accountable for his/her society. Whether we like to face up to it or not Africa has been the most humiliated and insulted continent in the world. Our very claim to humanity has been questioned at various times through history, our humanity abused, and our dignity insulted. These things have happened in the past and have gone on happening today. As a common courtesy for our ancestors who came before us and many generations to come after us, we owe it to our society to write and not only to write but to educate and agitate minds to express our cultural identity, to preserve our battered and adulterated humanity, and restore our dignity as Africans. The African writer should be one and the same with his or her society and the African writer must live and communicate the society’s ethos.
The African writer has three primary functions in relation to his society as outlined by Achebe: 1. as a historian rescuing its past, 2. as a critic analyzing its present, 3. as a mentor helping to guide it towards its future.
Considering our current circumstances, it seems like there is an assault on education in Africa, for lack of a better term. Looking at the statistics, the duties of the African author towards our continent is more prudent and prominent today than ever.
-Per the Africa-America Institute report in 2015, 149 million children enroll in primary school every year. Across Africa, secondary schools can accommodate only 36 percent of qualifying secondary students. About half of all out-of-school African children will never step foot in a school in their lifetime. Globally, 58 million children of primary school age were out of school in 2012. Of that number, 38 million children were in Africa.
– 49 million children are enrolled in secondary school. Meaning if 49 million children completed secondary school at any given year, only 18 million will be able to enroll in high school, leaving a deficit of 31 million children.
-Today, only 6 percent of young people in sub-Saharan Africa are enrolled in higher education institutions compared to the global average of 26 percent.
-Africa is facing a severe shortage of highly-skilled African talent. Young people in Africa make up nearly 40 percent of the working-age population, yet 60 percent are unemployed. On average, it will take a university graduate five years to obtain a job in Africa.
-60-70 percent of 18-24 year olds are enrolled in college globally. In Africa only about 10 percent are in university or college. Roughly 27 million people graduate high school every year, universities can only accommodate about 5 million, leaving a deficit of 22 million people.
-Nigeria graduates 1.7 million high school graduates but can only enroll 300,000 in college. Kenya graduates 300,000 students but can only enroll 50,000 in university.
These numbers are an indictment towards our continent and we all have a collective pluralism to make a difference.
More often than not, I get asked why I choose to become a writer. The simple answer is that I am not a writer, I am an Engineer who happened to have a story to tell and I wrote a book. But if by default that makes me a writer, then so be it. I am only answering to the call of great sons and daughters of our continent who paved the way for our generation.
Ladies and gentlemen I would like to time travel with you all back to 1961 to the Congo. And I would like to paraphrase the last letter written by a great African son that many are familiar with, Patrice Lumumba before he was murdered. The letter was believed to have been written to his wife Pauline Lumumba. And you Francophone speaking countries that are here excuse me if I misspoke, the letter was originally written in French and I do not speak French, I will only be paraphrasing.
Dear Pauline, he said. I am writing you this letter without knowing if you will receive it, or if I will be alive or dead when you receive it.
Now that I know without any doubt that I am going to die, no amount of cruelty, torture, and insults is going to make me beg for mercy. I will die with my head high with faith and profound believe in the destiny of our country.
I will rather die than to live in humility and renounce the principles I considered to be sacred to me.
Tell my children whom I may never see again that the future of this country is bright and I expect them and every Congolese to fulfill the sacred task of restoring the independence of this country.
Don’t cry when I die, because a day will come when the history of Africa will be written by Africans. And it will not be the history taught at the United Nation, Washington, Paris, and Brussels. But it will be the history of glory and dignity.
Shortly After he was shot and killed and his body dumped in an acid.
In the spirit of Patrice Lumumba, I will echo similar sentiments that many African authors before me have said, the African writer’s task is to rescue the African past from the colonial misrepresentation and biased stereotyping to which it has been subjected to. The African writers in contemporary African societies must perform the dual functionality of educating their audience and helping them reclaim their past heritage, pride, and dignity.
Thank you to the Senegalese mission once again, God bless our people and God bless Africa.
