Africa must get fair share, equal opportunities — Ondo AG
By Boye Oyeyemi
The Ondo State Attorney-General and Commissioner for Justice, Dr. Kayode Ajulo, said Africa’s long-standing misrepresentation on world maps should lead to more than a correction of geographical records.
Ajulo argued that the inaccurate depiction of the continent, particularly through the widely used Mercator projection, had contributed to distorted perceptions of Africa’s size, relevance and potential over the years.
In a piece titled “Africa Was Never Small: When the United Nations Finally Corrects the Map,” he noted that Africa is about 14 times larger than Greenland, despite the latter appearing almost comparable in size on some conventional maps.
However, Ajulo said Africa’s true value had never depended on how it was portrayed, pointing to its ancient civilisations, intellectual heritage, cultural diversity, natural resources and human capital as evidence of the continent’s importance.
He urged Africans to move beyond narratives that focus mainly on poverty, conflict, disease and corruption and instead project the continent’s capacity to make significant contributions to global development.
According to him, greater efforts are needed to address inequalities in education, health care, employment, access to capital and technology, stressing that Africans should have opportunities determined by ability rather than circumstances of birth.
The Ondo attorney-general also urged the international community to regard Africa as an equal partner and give the continent a stronger voice in global decisions on finance, trade, technology, climate change and security.
Ajulo further challenged African governments to strengthen institutions, uphold the rule of law and ensure that natural resources benefit citizens, saying the true measure of progress should be improved living standards rather than skyscrapers or the wealth of a few.
