Is Politics Really A Dirty Game To Be Avoided? by Apostle Femi Lazarus: MP3 Download & Sermon Notes

Africa's Political Class Problem

Africa's problem is not a political party problem. It is a political class problem. Politicians can wake up one morning in one party and by the next morning be in another — and they carry the same mindset. The problem is not the parties. It is the culture.

What we have is a situation where democracy no longer belongs to the people. Politicians have held on to democracy in their own definition of it — as something that belongs to them. And so they now own Africa's democracy. The people have been utterly disengaged and poorly represented.

Think of it in economic terms. A monopolist is a price giver — not a price taker. A monopolist does not care about quality because whatever they give, the consumer takes it. They do not worry about competition because their position is entrenched. That is what we have in Africa's political landscape. And the question must be asked: why should a person who gains from bad behavior and faces no consequence for it ever stop?

Something must stop them. And that something is a culture of accountability — which requires a people who understand what democracy demands of them and who are willing to engage with it. We have not practiced democracy properly. We have practiced a simulation of it.

Those Who Think Politics Is Beneath Them

I entered government as a technocrat. I hated politics. I wanted nothing to do with politicians. But after years of watching what politics did to the reforms we had built — public procurement reform, extractive industry transparency, solid minerals reform, education reform — I came to a realization.

Plato said it centuries ago: those who think that politics is beneath them will be ruled by their inferiors. That quote hit me like a revelation. It was people like me he was speaking to. So we built the School of Politics, Policy and Governance — SPG — with one conviction: you build a new political class not by persuading the existing one to change, but by training a different kind of leader entirely.

Character. Competence. Capacity. These are the three criteria that must define the new African leader.

Can democracy actually work on this continent?

We have not practiced democracy — so we cannot conclude that democracy does not work. Democracy properly practiced is anchored on the rule of law, not on the whims of men. It is anchored on constitutionalism — where no man and no woman is above the law. When you practice it that way, it leads to political freedom, which leads to economic freedom, which leads to development and flourishing.

Look at healthy families. In a home where a father is accountable, where good behavior is rewarded and bad behavior has consequences, where there is a mission — that family functions. That is democracy at its core. We have not applied it. We have erred in the practice and then concluded the system is broken.

Singapore got independence around the same time Nigeria did. Britain's income per capita today is at roughly $42,000. Singapore's is above $85,000. Lee Kuan Yew said: how did the British think they were superior enough to colonize us? We are going to prove otherwise. And they did. They took responsibility for what they must do — which gave them the moral authority and the strength to confront every external factor holding them back. We must do the same.

The Foundational Learning Crisis

Nine out of every ten African children go to school but do not learn. Schooling is not learning. The global average for children failing to achieve foundational skills — literacy, numeracy, social-emotional intelligence, critical thinking — is six out of ten. Africa's is nine out of ten. India's was eight out of ten. The Prime Minister was offended by that data and went to work. In four to five years they improved learning outcomes by 20 percent. Because a leader said: not under my watch.

By the age of ten, a child must have those foundational skills. Everything else — secondary school, university, vocation — depends on that foundation. The research is clear: the earning gap of those without a strong foundation follows them through life. And in an AI world where the most complex technical tasks will be handled by machines, the competitive edge for human beings will be their value skill set — their ability to think critically, collaborate, and create. An Africa with nine out of ten children who cannot read or reason analytically is not prepared for that world.

When I was Minister of Education, I benchmarked Nigeria's education system against Singapore. The number of reforms needed was 436. Not 107 like in Solid Minerals — 436. Three levels of education, governance structures at multiple layers, teacher quality, instructional materials, assessment systems. We began the work. Then politics came and hollowed it out. That is the tragedy.

What the Young Generation Must Do

For young Africans watching this — what is the most important thing they can do?

Fight for good governance as though your life depends on it. Because it does. Without good governance, you cannot have economic growth. Without economic growth, you cannot reduce poverty. Without economic growth, you cannot get to development.

But you have to be angry effectively — not just generally angry. You have to be analytically angry. Connect your anger to data. Understand specifically who is accountable for what. Do not go after the soft targets — the market trader who has been there for years — while leaving the local government chairman who is stealing public funds completely alone. That is cowardice dressed as activism.

The scarcity mindset must also go. Our generation always operated from scarcity — this person or that person, one star or another, fighting over who gets to shine. Why should there not be ten thousand stars? An abundance mindset says: he can succeed, she can succeed, all of us can succeed. What does it take for all of us to succeed? That is the question worth designing an answer to.

Knowledge is at its cheapest today than at any other time in history. Technology has leveled the playing field in ways my generation could not have imagined. Every one of you has a global footprint. You have friends you have never met, in real time, instantly. Use it. But use it not just for personal advancement — use it to hold power accountable and to build new systems.

The only thing that should keep you up at night is the fact that your children and grandchildren deserve a better inheritance than the one we are leaving. A good man leaves an inheritance. Do not let the current generation hand over a failed continent to the next. That is not an option.