Introduction:

Africa is defined by diverse languages and cultures; a feature which the colonialists exploited to the maximum even as they partitioned the continent without due acknowledgement of the natural affinities of the multiplicity of the societies making up the continent. Moving towards political independence, African nationalists successfully bridged the artificial differences introduced by colonialism, mobilizing diverse cultural groups around a common project of political freedom. Nationalist mobilization rested on the rallying slogan of ‘unity in diversity’. To maintain balance and a sense of inclusion, downward concessions in the form of sub-national autonomy were granted to local elites. The balance thereby achieved was however, short-lived as a culture of central domination, or, more precisely, cultural domination of some groups by others pervaded the polity after independence. (...)

The above development accounts largely for some of the crises of governance witnessed across the continent. As leaders become unaccountable and lost touch with the grassroots, the resulting sense of alienation, marginalization and regional inequalities has led to several agitations and disintegrative tendencies among disenchanted groups and communities. (...)

However, recent data shows that Africa is making substantial progress. Development in the fields of agricultural production and businesses, trade, ICT, tourism and other small and medium sized enterprises are significantly shaped or based on the strength of African diversity. (...) Africa’s future governance and leadership must be able to mobilize this inherent advantage of diversity and deploy the same for the purposes of sustainable development. Any reform, partnership and intervention in Africa must not only be cognizant of the continent’s diversity but should also be rooted in the communal spirit that is inherent in African indigenous communities for such efforts to become sustainable. This is particularly important with regard to cultures with translocal or transcultural values of leadership and governance such as Ubuntu and Omoluabi.