25/05/2026
African Day Message
By Prof. PLO Lumumba
"Fellow Africans, sons and daughters of this great continent,
Today we celebrate African Day. It is not merely a date on the calendar, but a reminder of who we are, where we come from, and the destiny we must claim.
On this day in 1963, our forebears gathered in Addis Ababa and declared that Africa must speak with one voice. They understood that colonialism had divided us, but our blood, our history, and our struggle were one. Kwame Nkrumah said it plainly: โWe must unite now or perish.โ That call has not grown old. It burns brighter today.
We are a continent blessed beyond measure. Beneath our soil lie minerals that power the world. Above our soil grows food that can feed millions. Within our people resides a creativity, resilience, and spirit that no empire could break. Yet for too long we have exported raw materials and imported finished goods, exported our youth and imported foreign solutions. That must end.
The Africa we want is an Africa that thinks for itself, trades with itself, and defends itself. An Africa where the DRCโs cobalt builds batteries in Nairobi, where Nigeriaโs gas powers factories in Accra, where Ethiopian ideas shape policy in Dakar. Unity is not a slogan. It is economics, it is security, it is dignity.
To the youth of Africa: you are not the leaders of tomorrow. You are the leaders of today. Refuse to be defined by the poverty of our politics. Demand accountability. Build, invent, agitate, and lead. The Africa of our dreams will not be delivered by outsiders. It will be built by your hands and your minds.
Let us honor our ancestors not with speeches alone, but with action. Let us be Pan-Africanists in deed, not just in word. Let us make African Day a day of recommitment to self-reliance, integration, and justice.
Africa must rise. Africa will rise. And it will rise through us.
Happy African Day.
"Aluta continua, victoria acerta."