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We've seen a lot of sci-fi movies over the last decade, but none has put black culture in the limelight like the movie "Black Panther", I stand to be corrected though. Of all the science fiction movies made by Hollywood, none, to the best of my knowledge, has shown an African country as technologically advanced like the fictitious nation of Wakanda. I saw the movie thrice and each time I saw it, the feeling of hope enveloped me. The hope that in the near future, Africa would take her place in the world, not as a savage, chaotic or a backward continent like the international media has portrayed it to be, but a continent that the world would look up to for solutions to their problems. But mere hope doesn't cut it.
Well, some folks may say, "it's just a movie", but to me it's not. It's more than just a movie, like Tre Johnson puts it, "it's a cultural redefining phenomenon, it's more than a superhero’s journey. It’s about black culture’s journey".
In the race for economic, science and technological advancement Africa as a continent has fallen behind. A country with much potentials; untapped natural wealth and human resources with no true proof of the aforementioned endowment. The movie serves as a pointer to what Africa should be, maybe not exactly like the Wakandan nation, but something close.
For millions of Africans, life is often nasty, brutish and short. Science, technology and innovation can turn their destiny around.
This doesn't just happen by merely hoping, Kingsley Moghalu aptly stated when he said; "The secret that is responsible for the advancement in science and the prosperity of nations is simple but profound; ideas.
It seems simple, but that's the engine that drives scientific innovation and and technological advancements, it's what lies behind the riches of advanced and industrialized nation.
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Where would the ideas come from, when young people with the intellectual capability and technological know how migrate everyday in the hundreds from all over Africa in search for a better life or what some would call greener pastures. If everybody goes away in search of this so called green pastures, who would cultivate ours. The African pasture is obviously not green at the moment, what it needs is nurturing.
We need to wake up from our age-long slumber and hear the clarion call; now is the time to build our nation's, it is possible, it's hard and it's worth it. Let us rise up and show the world what we're capable of. We're Africans, we're not inferior to the rest of the world. We're intelligent, we're strong, and we'd achieve greatness.
Let the fictitious nation of Wakanda be a pointer to the possibilities of greatness, it's not far off, it's just around the corner. If you search hard for it, you'd definitely find it.
