It’s time to reject transactional leaders – Wike

The Minister of the Federal Capital Territory, Nyesom Wike, on Thursday declared that it’s time for Africa to move beyond transactional leadership.

Wike said most African leaders are not prepared for leadership, hence the continent is “groping in the dark, with nations endlessly experimenting with the fundamentals of development: basic infrastructure, primary healthcare, functional economies, efficient democratic and judicial systems, and credible institutions”.

He spoke in a keynote address at the 2025 Innovate Africa Conference in Abuja.

Speaking on the theme, ‘Reimagining Africa’s leadership and Investment’, Wike said for Africa to secure its future, “we must first reimagine leadership itself”.

According to Wike: “The time has come to move beyond transactional leadership, the kind driven by personal gain, patronage, and short-term calculations, to embrace transformational leadership rooted in vision, courage, service, and accountability.

“Leadership must not exploit, but empower; it must not rule, but serve; it must not merely transact, but transform.

“Many commentators agree that the greatest impediment to Africa’s progress and the chronic ailment that has stifled her development for decades is the plague of poor and mediocre leadership.

“Across the continent, both in military and civilian dispensations, leaders have often emerged through self-serving conspiracies that bear little or no relation to national interest or development priorities.

“Consequently, many African nations have been saddled with leaders unprepared for the enormity of leadership. The result is a tragic pattern of groping in the dark, with nations endlessly experimenting with the fundamentals of development: basic infrastructure, primary healthcare, functional economies, efficient democratic and judicial systems, and credible institutions.

“The 21st century calls for a new kind of African leaders who are prepared, principled, and passionate. Leaders who embody vision, moral character, and resilience. Leaders who believe in Africa’s boundless possibilities and act decisively to unlock them.

“They must be bold enough to make difficult but necessary decisions; proactive enough to anticipate the future; and committed enough to build systems that prioritize excellence over mediocrity and performance over politics.”