{"id":35255,"date":"2026-05-24T08:19:45","date_gmt":"2026-05-24T06:19:45","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.channelafrica.co.za\/channelafrica\/?post_type=news&#038;p=35255"},"modified":"2026-05-24T08:19:45","modified_gmt":"2026-05-24T06:19:45","slug":"nigerian-academic-calls-for-new-definition-of-african-sovereignty","status":"publish","type":"news","link":"https:\/\/www.channelafrica.co.za\/channelafrica\/news\/nigerian-academic-calls-for-new-definition-of-african-sovereignty\/","title":{"rendered":"Nigerian academic calls for new definition of African sovereignty"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>Nigerian academic and former Governor Kayode Fayemi has called for a rethinking of African sovereignty, arguing that it should be defined by a country&#8217;s capacity to govern effectively rather than by political independence alone.<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>Speaking at the annual Thabo Mbeki Annual Lecture in Cape Town, South Africa on Saturday, Fayemi said true sovereignty in the 21st century is reflected in a state&#8217;s ability to make independent economic and governance decisions without external pressure.<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>He argued that sovereignty should be measured by a country&#8217;s ability to feed its population, secure its borders, manage natural resources responsibly, educate its citizens and pursue strategic industrialisation.<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>Fayemi warned that without strong institutions, effective leadership and greater African solidarity, countries on the continent risk becoming increasingly dependent on external actors and losing influence in global affairs.<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>He said African nations must strengthen state capacity and policy independence if they are to achieve sustainable development and play a more influential role on the international stage.<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>&#8211;ChannelAfrica&#8211;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"featured_media":34585,"template":"","meta":{"_acf_changed":false},"news-type":[26],"class_list":["post-35255","news","type-news","status-publish","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","news-type-general_news","entry"],"acf":{"short_description":"Nigerian academic and former Governor Kayode Fayemi has called for a rethinking of African sovereignty","published_date":"2026-05-24 08:18:13","news_description":"Nigerian academic and former Governor Kayode Fayemi has called for a rethinking of African sovereignty","form_embed":"","author":"","image_caption":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.channelafrica.co.za\/channelafrica\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/news\/35255","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.channelafrica.co.za\/channelafrica\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/news"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.channelafrica.co.za\/channelafrica\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/news"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.channelafrica.co.za\/channelafrica\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/news\/35255\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":35256,"href":"https:\/\/www.channelafrica.co.za\/channelafrica\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/news\/35255\/revisions\/35256"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.channelafrica.co.za\/channelafrica\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/34585"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.channelafrica.co.za\/channelafrica\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=35255"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"news-type","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.channelafrica.co.za\/channelafrica\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/news-type?post=35255"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}