new, powerful, and ancestral perspective on the African Future
A new book, “Afrilition: 21st Century African Manifesto” by Adewale Ajadi, a systems thinker, leadership educator, and playwright, is set for an online Press and public launch on September 30, 2026.
Afrilition is a different perspective on Africa and Africans. A shift from his last book, Omoluwabi 2.0, A code of Transformation in Nigeria rooted in the country’s complexity. In Afrilition, Africa moves beyond the continent and extends across its Diaspora, manifesting as a world. Afrilition goes beyond the widely used global constructs of Afro-pessimism but does not settle into the Africa Rising reaction; it offers an intentional focus on the future as a determined process of creation.
Afrilition builds steps towards a desirable and probable future of the African world as a critical alternative for humanity. In doing this, it avoids settling into competition or zero-sum reaction to the West, proposing African authenticity as abundance in a multipolar world. So Afrilition is more than a new book to launch but also a new perspective of the African future. In the Chapter of Afrilition titled Bearing Witness, the Author writes in exhortation to his posterity,
“Yes, I ignore the pessimists too, lest they infect my sight with the pain of their disease, weariness. Be brave enough to dream tomorrow and be resilient enough to pursue even the frisson of its potential. Africa deserves that and much more”
The author stressed that Africa should grow on its own terms, dictated by Africans within the continent and in the diaspora.
Afrilition offers hope but also emphasizes the discipline, activities, and actions required for the desired African development destination.
In his review, Martin Kalungu Banda, a celebrated Leadership Educator and highly sought-after teacher and facilitator he writes in a Premium Times Article of the 5th September 2026 titled What kind of ancestor will you become? He addresses the form the book takes: “Ajadi writes as a grandfather addressing his grandchildren, though he is plainly writing to anyone still searching.” He goes further: “The letter form is not decoration. A letter to a child cannot hide behind jargon, cannot posture for peer review, and cannot afford cynicism, because you do not hand cynicism to a child as an inheritance. The genre disciplines the content. It forces the book to be both tender and useful”.
The entire review on https://www.premiumtimesng.com/opinion/907626-what-kind-of-ancestor-will-you-become-by-martin-kalungu-banda.html gives a succinct outline of the book’s key focus.
In the foreword by Professor Funmi Olonisakin, Deputy President, King’s College London, and founder of the African Leadership Centre, she writes, “ This book not only makes the case for the Africa of the twenty-first century as a world capturing unique and authentic excellence of a healthy world but also implies that African excellence is critical to a more balanced world that moves away from toxicity of exploitation and hegemony towards confidence in the unique and indispensable contribution of the diverse humanity of the world.”
In his Afterword, Ifeoluwatari Ajadi PhD writes, “Afrilition reflects a deep belief that African Futures are not something we wait for. But something we actively shape through our choices, relationships. And responsibilities. At its heart, this book is an invitation to live deliberately and strive toward a profound legacy: to treat identity as praxis rather than tradition, and understand excellence as something cultivated through how we show up for one another and for generations that follow.”
Afrilition tells the next generations of Africans at home and in the diaspora to buckle up for the work that needs to be done to achieve this Africa of abundance, possibilities, and excellence
About the book online launch
The online launch of Afrilition: 21st Century African Manifesto” will be held through a shared link at 3 pm on September 30. It will be attended by pan-African media, readers, and journalists from across the African world.
At the online Launch, Adewale Ajadi will speak on his perspective on Afrilition and what it can mean for the emerging African world. A panel of erudite reviewers will also discuss their review of the book Afrilition. There will also be an opportunity for those who attend to ask questions and engage in dialogue.
Time: 3:00 pm – 4:30 pm (WAT)
5:00 pm – 6:30 pm (EAT)
10:00 am – 11:30 am (New York / Toronto)
To attend the online book launch, register here: http://adewaleajadi.com/register; to read more about the book, visit https://www.netgalley.com/catalog/book/897151
Adewale Ajadi is a writer, leadership educator, and systems thinker with 40 years of practice across Africa, Europe, and parts of the USA. He has multiple achievements as a development executive and facilitator, from a start as a Lawyer and Economist. He is also a playwright whose work includes Abyssinia, a traveling play performed by Tiata Fahodzi across England in 2001. He is also the author of Omoluwabi 2.0: A Code of Transformation in Nigeria. His favourite titles are Husband, Father, and Grandfather. For more about him, visit adewaleajadi.com or read his weekly contribution to Premium Times online.