Africa can’t win the AI race as 55 states

Professor Arthur Mutambara argues that AI is a revolution on the scale of fire, electricity, and the steam engine, and says Africa must respond as one bloc rather than 55 fragmented states.

He explains the five layers of the AI industry, the risks of superintelligence and autonomous weapons, and why Africa needs energy, data centers, talent, and continental-scale coordination to have any real leverage.

In this episode: Arthur Mutambara lays out why AI is not just another digital trend, but a civilization-level shift with implications for industry, geopolitics, and human development.

He says AI has five layers - energy, chips, infrastructure, models, and applications - and Africa must participate in all of them, not just consume the final products.

Prof Mutambara argues that without energy and digital infrastructure, there can be no meaningful AI development anywhere on the continent.

He warns that AI systems inherit the values and biases of the data and people who build them, which is why Africans must harvest, curate, store, and train on their own data.

He makes the case for African unity at scale, saying South Africa, Nigeria, and other individual states are too small to compete alone in an AI economy dominated by China and the US.

He links AI to industrialization by pointing to productivity gains, efficiency, innovation, and cost savings across agriculture, mining, education, healthcare, and manufacturing.

He says Africa needs data centers on the continent for data sovereignty and AI sovereignty, while acknowledging the land, energy, and water costs they bring.

He distinguishes between digital AI and physical AI, saying humanoids, drones, and driverless cars are the next frontier and that China is moving quickly there.

He warns that jobs will be modified more than destroyed, but only if African countries develop skills, urgency, and participation across the AI stack.

He says recursive self-improvement could arrive around 2028 and artificial superintelligence by 2036, making governance and global regulation increasingly difficult.

00:00 - AI as a revolution on the scale of fire and electricity

00:30 - Arthur Mutambara’s background and why his perspective matters

01:30 - Superintelligence, recursive self-improvement, and weaponized AI

02:34 - AI as a general-purpose technology for development

02:55 - Why AI depends on digital transformation and infrastructure

03:22 - The five layers of the AI industry

04:14 - Africa must build, not just consume, AI

05:18 - Energy, data centers, and critical minerals as Africa’s leverage

05:52 - What a GPU is and why hardware matters

06:55 - Bias in AI systems and the need for diverse creators

08:31 - Why Africa needs scale to compete in AI

09:17 - The talent, funding, and energy needed for AI factories

10:08 - Negotiating with China and the US as a continental bloc

11:07 - How AI supports industrialization and productivity

12:27 - AU awareness, urgency, and linking AI to human development

14:21 - Why Africa-first leadership and integration matter

16:25 - Partnering to manufacture chips using African minerals

17:49 - Geopolitical competition and the governance problem

19:45 - Why Africa should negotiate as one block on minerals

20:33 - Learning from China while protecting African interests

21:39 - AI, climate pressure, and the case for green AI

23:00 - Why Africa needs data centers on the continent

24:55 - Digital AI versus physical AI

26:04 - Job displacement, job modification, and new skills

27:43 - Recursive self-improvement and the 2028 timeline

28:57 - Artificial superintelligence and the 2036 projection

29:44 - What happens if Africa misses the AI revolution

He says:

*“We must be like China. We must be like India.”

*“AI is a game of numbers. It requires scale.”

*“We must be creators, not consumers.”

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

My Burkina Faso, Four Years After Traoré

This episode examines Burkina Faso four years into Captain Ibrahim Traoré’s rule, using a conversation with Dr. Lamourdia Thombiano, a soil scientist and writer from eastern Burkina Faso. It explores security, sovereignty, indigenous values, and the political mood in the country, with a strong focus on how many Burkinabe people see the changes firsthand.Dr. Thombiano argues that the country has more hope, cohesion, and national purpose than it did before Traoré took power, especially outside the cities. He also explains why many citizens view the current period less through the lens of elections and individual rights, and more through development, social unity, and cultural grounding.

Key topics

• Dr. Thombiano says Burkina Faso feels more vibrant and politically engaged than it did four or five years ago.
• He links today’s patriotism to the legacy of Thomas Sankara, saying Traoré’s appeal partly comes from continuing Sankara’s unfinished project.
• Security remains a major challenge, but he frames it as part of a broader package that includes peace, social cohesion, development, and public confidence.
• He says the army’s morale has improved because soldiers are better equipped and supported by civilians who share information, food, and water.
• He argues that many Burkinabe people would prefer development spending on health, agriculture, and education over the costs of elections.
• He describes a shift toward indigenous governance, including traditional leaders handling disputes that are then recognized by the Ministry of Justice.
• He says Burkina Faso is moving toward a model where democracy is not only about elections, but about good governance and communal responsibility.
• He highlights concrete agricultural changes, including subsidized fertilizer, government ploughing support, and new crops such as coffee, cacao, plantain, banana plantain, and wheat.
• He says youth are being trained through “immersion patriotique,” with 65,000 young people reportedly trained this year in values like solidarity, hospitality, fairness, and service.
• On freedoms and repression, he argues that in Burkinabe culture the collective takes priority over the individual, so public speech is judged by whether it helps or harms the community.

Chapters

00:00 — Dr. Thombiano introduces himself and Burkina Faso’s new political reference points

00:56 — Traoré’s rise, his sovereignty message, and the promise to restore security

01:26 — Why many Burkinabe people feel renewed enthusiasm and national momentum

03:50 — Sankara’s influence and Traoré’s revolutionary legacy

04:20 — Security as part of a wider package of peace, cohesion, and development

05:19 — Why Sahel insecurity is viewed as a regional and global problem

06:20 — Improved army morale and stronger public support

07:18 — Dissolving political parties and delaying elections

07:47 — Indigenous values and traditional dispute resolution

09:16 — Democracy through a Burkinabe lens

10:41 — Why many people reportedly prefer development spending over election costs

11:09 — Mobile hospitals, rural healthcare, and agricultural support

12:07 — How Burkina Faso’s agricultural possibilities are changing

13:34 — Innovation, agricultural dynamism, and optimism

14:04 — Why optimism is stronger in rural areas

16:06 — Traoré’s hero status among young people

18:04 — French influence, Russian cooperation, and international alliances

19:59 — Burkina Faso as a country of hope and sovereignty

20:30 — “Immersion patriotique” and training a new generation

21:56 — Personal freedoms, collective responsibility, and cultural perspectives

Notable quotes

“It’s a country of hope.”

“The individual is at the service of the community, not the other way round.”

“People realize the amount of money which is being used to organize election, they can use it for health, for agriculture, for education.”

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Africa has 18% of the world's population and only 2% of its air traffic. RwandAir CEO Yvonne Makolo says the continent did that to itself.

I speak to Yvonne about her nine years running Rwanda's national carrier — an airline that still isn't profitable, in a country of 15 million people with almost no outbound travel market, at a time when most African flag carriers have collapsed.

She explains why Rwanda decided to build an airline anyway, how Kigali became a transit hub where more than half of passengers are just passing through, and that the long-delayed Qatar deal is still going through. She's blunt about what's holding African aviation back: taxes, fees, closed skies, restrictive visas, and a mindset that treats flying as a luxury for the rich.

On being one of very few women running an airline, she has a sharp answer to the question she says she's always asked.

And after nine years in the job, I ask her whether she'll still be doing it in ten.

Yvonne says the question she's always asked — "what will you do to bring more women into aviation?" — is aimed at the wrong person. What did you make of her answer?

Yvonne explains how Rwanda has used aviation as a strategic pillar for growth, why Kigali has become a growing transit hub, and how the airline’s ambitions tie into the country’s broader economy. She also reflects on the challenges facing African aviation, from high fees and restrictive visas to infrastructure gaps and geopolitical tensions.

Tags

RwandAir, Yvonne Makolo, African aviation, Kigali, Bugesera airport, Qatar Airways, Qatar Investment Authority, Ethiopian Airlines, open skies, Yamoussoukro Decision, IATA, AfCFTA, Rwanda, women in aviation, airline CEO, Africa Here and Now, Martine Dennis

This is part of Africa Here & Now's special series on aviation including conversations with: Mesfin Tasew of Ethiopian Airlines, Kamil Al Alawadhi of IATA, Allen Onyema of Air Peace, Henok Teferra Shawl of Boeing Africa, Adefunke Adeyemi of AFCAC, and Nigeria's aviation minister Festus Keyamo.

Key moments

00:00 — Why Yvonne hopes the next generation takes over

00:28 — Aviation and Africa’s unrealized potential

Martine introduces the special aviation series and frames the broader question of why African aviation still underperforms.

00:51 — From technology to aviation

Yvonne shares her unusual career path from geography and environmental science into IT, telecoms, and aviation.

02:33 — Entering a male-dominated industry

She describes the shock of walking into a room full of “grey suits” at her first IATA AGM.

04:01 — The question women are always asked

Yvonne explains why conversations about bringing more women into aviation should involve men too.

05:53 — Why Rwanda invested in a national airline

She outlines the government’s deliberate decision to use aviation as a foundation for national development.

06:22 — How the airline supports Rwanda’s economy

Tourism, exports, conferences, and sports tourism all benefit from the airline’s growth.

08:20 — Measuring the value of a loss-making airline

Yvonne discusses how the airline’s wider contribution to the economy matters as much as profitability.

10:09 — Kigali as a hub

More than half of passengers are transit travelers, showing how Kigali is becoming a regional connection point.

11:07 — Growth plans and new destinations

RwandAir is already competing internationally and plans to expand to more long-haul destinations.

12:28 — Qatar Airways partnership

13:23 — The new airport and future hub ambitions

16:19 — Building aviation capacity in-house

18:37 — Investing in aviation skills

19:35 — Why African aviation is still underperforming

22:23 — Why progress is too slow

Rwanda’s example shows what’s possible when the right policies are in place, but regional reform remains slow.

23:16 — Fuel costs and geopolitical pressure

24:36 — Navigating geopolitics

25:34 — Looking ahead

Yvonne reflects on her future in the role and says it may be time for the younger generation to take over.

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Days after Zambia went to the polls on 13 August, opposition leader Brian Mundubile sits down with me to describe a night he says he barely survived — soldiers at his gate, gunfire inside his home, and members of his camp shot or missing. What follows is a hard conversation about whether this election can be trusted at all, and what he'll do if the result doesn't go his way. And indeed, if it does.

Mundubile's central charge is simple: the vote can't be called credible until someone explains, independently, what happened to the Gen 20 forms and the rest of the election material — and who had their hands on it. He describes what he says is a country on edge, an electoral commission he no longer trusts, a campaign he says was throttled, and a claim of victory he insists he never made.

He describes the mood in Zambia as close to breaking point — soldiers on the streets, soldiers at the polling stations, soldiers at the tallying centres. Not a reassuring presence, in his telling, but an intimidating one.

Then the attack. He says 70 to 80 army officers came to his home and opened fire inside the house. A former transport minister was hit, he says; so was his bodyguard. Others simply vanished — among them Bishop Trevor Mwamba. The government denied any of it had happened, he says, right up until observers and cameras turned up and documented the scene.

His problem with the count comes down to custody. He says the Electoral Commission suspended announcing results and started calling in Gen 20 forms in a way that broke from normal procedure — and that military and intelligence officers should never have been anywhere near election material in the first place.

So he won't accept a presidential result just because it's been read out. If the core questions aren't answered, he says, an announcement means nothing. He's firm that he never declared himself the winner — he was pointing to his own side's parallel count, not crowning himself — but he's equally clear he believes that count puts him ahead.

He's scathing about the conditions his campaign ran under: police blocking meetings, days lost off the trail, violence flaring in several provinces, a final stronghold he never got to visit. There are also claims here of foreign mercenaries and attackers coming across the border, and an account of his own detention and release, with the police and intelligence services in the frame.

On his own past, he doesn't dodge it. He accepts the Patriotic Front fell short in government, but insists his formation has changed .And if he wins? He says he'd protect the office of the outgoing president, follow due process on any corruption allegations rather than settle scores, and build a government that reaches across regions and reconciles rather than punishes.

Chapters

00:00 — Zambia after the vote: a country holding its breath

00:49 — Soldiers everywhere, and the first doubts about the count

01:32 — The night they came: gunfire at the house

04:32 — Why he says this election can't be trusted

05:28 — The Gen 20 forms, and what happened to them

06:40 — Chain of custody: why who holds the paper matters

08:02 — What he'll accept — and what he won't

08:56 — His case against the Electoral Commission's independence

09:46 — A campaign run on the back foot

10:37 — Violence in the provinces, and the stronghold he never reached

11:30 — Soldiers guarding ballots: how did we get here?

12:58 — "I never declared myself winner" — setting the record straight

13:41 — Why he believes his own count leads

14:18 — Mercenaries and attackers across the border

15:24 — Detained and released: the role of police and intelligence

17:09 — Owning the PF's failures, and drawing a line under violence

19:21 — What he'd do with a defeated president

20:10 — Rule of law, not payback

21:38 — Reconciliation and a government for every region

Note: The claims and allegations in this interview are Brian Mundubile's own account. Africa Here & Now puts them on the record and reports them as his testimony.

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

A new documentary asks those INVOLVED for ANSWERS to Nigeria's June 12th 1993 Election Question that Won't Go Away.

In 1993, Nigeria held what many still call the freest election in its history. MOSHOOD KASHIMAWO OLAWALE ABIOLA — MKO — won it. Everyone accepted the result. Then the military annulled it, locked him up, and five years later he died in detention, collapsing during a meeting with a US delegation on the very day his release was expected. The cause of his death has never been settled.

Filmmaker OSE OYAMENDAN spent years and more than a hundred hours of footage tracking down nearly everyone still alive who was in the room or near it — including GENERAL IBRAHIM BABANGIDA, who annulled the election, and GENERAL ABDULSALAMI ABUBAKAR, who was head of state when ABIOLA died. His documentary MKO had its world premiere at Sheffield DocFest 2026. He sits down with me to trace how a national election became a global mystery — and why, thirty years on, it still shapes Nigeria.

In this conversation: what the record actually establishes about June 12 and the annulment; the family's final visit to a man who looked grey and unwell; BABANGIDA'S own account of why he cancelled the result; the rivalry between ABIOLA and OBASANJO; the testimony of ABIOLA's guard, THEODORE ZADOK, pulled away for forty minutes before the collapse; the tea, the cup, and why OSE is careful not to call it poison; the death of SANI ABACHA a month earlier and the connection some see between them; and what the annulment did to Nigerian democracy — including why OSE's own mother stopped voting.

OSE is clear throughout that he draws no verdict on how Abiola died; the film lays out the accounts and leaves the conclusion to the viewer. Africa Here and Now follows the same line — the contested claims here belong to the film and its participants.

MKO (2026) — a film by Ose Oyamendan. World Premiere, International Competition, Sheffield DocFest 2026.

00:00 "we'll say it's in the tea"

00:18 Getting Pickering to talk: lawyers, access, and the making of MKO

01:35 Who killed Abiola? Why Ose leaves the verdict to the viewer

01:57 June 12, 1993: the win everyone accepted, then detention

02:22 The last days — the family's final visit, and a man gone grey

03:31 The morning of the meeting: awake, singing, "excited"

04:00 Building the chronology: reporting a story with various claims

05:15 Babangida: the charm, the corner he boxed himself into

06:34 Why he annulled it — "I don't want to die"

07:03 The Abacha problem Babangida never dealt with

08:41 Was Abiola too trusting? Naïve, or facing something new?

10:46 The Renaissance man: the richest man who declared himself president

11:13 Ose's first encounter with Abiola

13:00 Obasanjo, rivalry, and "Abiola is not the Messiah"

16:34 Abubakar takes over — why release everyone but him?

18:22 Theodore Zadok: the guard pulled away for 40 minutes

19:00 Inside the 28-minute tape: the cup, the discomfort, the collapse

20:41 Was it the tea? Why the poisoning theory doesn't hold

21:34 In defence of Susan Rice

21:55 Abacha's death a month earlier — the apple, the connection

22:55 Who benefits? Oil, the army, and the political class

23:52 The mandate he would not renounce — and the Kofi Annan letter

25:07 The stolen democracy: why Ose's mother stopped voting

26:23 June 12 as symbol: the one man who won every part of Nigeria

27:18 Has Nigeria recovered? Weak centre, strong regions, a military system

29:19 Mandela's warning: no strong Nigeria, no strong continent

Key figures

MKO Abiola — businessman and publisher, winner of the annulled 1993 election, died in detention 1998.

Ibrahim Babangida — military president who annulled the result.

Sani Abacha — seized power in late 1993, died June 1998.

Abdulsalami Abubakar — head of state at the time of Abiola's death. Thomas Pickering — US Under Secretary of State, led the delegation at the final meeting.

Susan Rice — then Assistant Secretary of State for Africa.

Theodore Zadok — Abiola's security guard

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Ten African teams. The most ever at a World Cup. So why aren't the people who actually know the game convinced?

Former Premier League striker and Nigerian Super Eagle, EFAN EKOKU and ex-DRC international ,GABRIEL ZAKUAN join me to break down Africa's prospects at the 2026 World Cup — from DRC's first appearance in 52 years, to why Nigeria keeps missing out, to the tiny island nation that recruited their squad on LinkedIn.

This is an Africa Here & Now Special. We examine the prospects of South Africa, Algeria, Tunisia, Egypt, Morocco, DRC, Ghana, Ivory Coast, Cape Verde and Senegal in the tournament. And we nod in the direction of the diaspora: Haiti, Brazil and Curacao.

🎧 Subscribe for more: https://youtube.com/@AfricaHereAndNOWPodcast

CHAPTERS

00:00 Africa's best-ever chance?

03:36 Who goes far? — Efan & Gabriel's picks

04:34 Cape Verde, recruited on LinkedIn

05:06 The hurdles: visas, Ebola, and DRC's quarantine

08:26 DRC's historic return after 52 years

10:35 What's wrong with Nigeria's Super Eagles?

12:20 1974 and the ghost of Zaire

14:58 Group-by-group breakdown

33:27 Is the French team really African?

53:46 Ones to watch

56:25 Final predictions

Find out about the 1993 Tragedy in which ZAMBIA'S ENTIRE National Football Squad died. They were considered the country's best ever team; many say Zambian football has never recovered.

https://youtu.be/1N70VyekfTo?si=p1O6H2zGHfTF-O8l

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Sculptor SOKARI DOUGLAS CAMP focuses on the 1786 TIGNON LAW in Spanish-colonial Louisiana, that effectively tried to OUTLAW BLACK WOMEN'S HAIR. THE TIGNON LAW ordered women of colour — including the roughly one thousand free black women of New Orleans — to cover their heads. It was designed to DEMEAN and to STRIP these increasingly powerful women of their STATUS. It BACKFIRED spectacularly. The women turned the MANDATED HEADWRAP into something dazzling: towering, brocade-like turbans that would have made onlookers do a double take even in the twenty-first century. So GLAMOROUS were they that they swept the ATLANTIC WORLD as the most fashionable item of the age — with even WHITE WOMEN imitating them.

I go to London's October Gallery to see SOKARI DOUGLAS CAMP's new collection inspired by this history. The acclaimed British-Nigerian sculptor — who describes herself as a welder first and foremost — works in steel, rendering the creases and folds of calico, the lace of a headwrap and the tartan of a shawl in metal, studded with coins to speak to the transatlantic trade and how black bodies were "claimed" by money. Drawing on an Italian print that first captivated her, Sokari reflects on her KALABARI roots, four decades of life in England, and the layered strands of blackness — African, Caribbean, English — that now run through her work. With more than forty solo shows behind her, she explains why insisting on visibility, and educating "our colonizers," still matters. I get a quick reaction from veteran MP, DIANE ABBOTT, about the show.

Exhibition: Sokari Douglas Camp's new collection FASHION and FORTUNE at the October Gallery, London

🎧 Available on all major audio platforms

🌍 Website: www.africahereandnow.com

𝕏 Host: @MartineDennis

👉 Please like, subscribe and share, and let us know what you think.

Original music by Enrick Adam. Camera and edit by Ali Rafi.

00:00 Cold open: taming the black woman backfired

00:37 1786 — the law that tried to police black hair

01:15 Why force women of colour to cover their hair?

02:44 The Tignon Law and the power of free black women

03:51 How the women aggrandized the headscarf

04:11 Coins, feathers and the language of the work

04:58 The print that started it all

05:41 Flipping the script: white women imitating them

06:03 Rendering fabric in steel

07:21 Kalabari roots in the studio

08:40 A landmark show at the October Gallery: DIANE ABBOTT, MP

08:40 Forty solo shows and what this collection signifies

09:41 Facing the diaspora: the strands of blackness

09:57 "Our colonizers need education"

10:46 Welder first and foremost

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.