Opinion
By Abdulrazaq Hamzat
WHEN I traveled to Cuba, I saw faces that looked like mine, black people whose ancestors had been forcefully taken from Africa centuries ago.
They spoke a different language, bore different names, and lived in a foreign land, yet they were a mirror of the past, a past where ambition reshaped destinies.
As I sat in an airport waiting for my next flight, I reflected on the journey of those who had come before me, centuries ago in the most dehumanizing manner. It had taken me almost two days, moving from one modern transportation hub to another, flying at hundreds of miles per hour in an age of technology and innovation. Yet centuries ago, men without airplanes, without modern logistics, and without the consent of their victims crossed entire oceans, built industries, and altered the fate of civilizations.
What kind of ambition drives people to imagine such a venture, to act on it, and to succeed?
Then it hit me, the world is not ruled by morality, justice, or fairness. It is ruled by ambition.
The ambition of man will build his capacity, shape his influence, create him wealth and guarantee his freedom and security.
Ambition is the driving force of power, of freedom, and of superiority. Only those who possess it can excel.
The transatlantic slave trade was not merely an act of inhumanity; it was a demonstration of an extraordinary level of ambition.
The ability to imagine and build ships that could endure months at sea.
The ability to design logistical networks to transport human beings across continents.
The ability to create an economic system where human lives were turned into commodities.
The ability to establish political structures that legalized, justified, and sustained this exploitation.
This ambition was not limited to the transatlantic slave trade. It extended into colonization, empire-building, and global economic dominance.
Europe and America did not become powerful by accident; it was the product of relentless, strategic, and highly organized ambition.
If they had such ambition centuries ago and executed it with great precision, attaining mastery and competence, what do you think their ambition would be today?
Why Africa Cannot Compete Without Ambition
Many Africans speak of seeking freedom, but what can freedom do for us in a world ruled by ambition?
Before slavery, Africa was free. But that freedom did not prevent us from being overrun by people with superior ambition.
Our ancestors, who built the world’s first civilizations, understood the role of great ambition and their civilization is still under scrutiny centuries later. Even till this day, the world is still wondering what drove the construction of the world’s first civilization. However, the succeeding generations have been misguided into believing that the quest for freedom is sufficient. Freedom, in itself, is not an ambition, it is merely the absence of chains.
Someone who seeks only freedom cannot compete with someone whose ambition is to conquer. And even if freedom is attained, without ambition, the ambition of a conqueror will always swallow that freedom, sooner or later.
This is the condition of Africa today. We fought for freedom, won independence, yet still struggle to assert dominance in a world built on ambition.
What do we desire today? Freedom? Justice? Equality?
These are noble goals, but they are not enough.
Freedom is not power; it is merely the absence of chains.
Justice does not make nations great; dominance does.
Equality does not change history; superiority does.
There must be an ambition beyond survival.
Africa cannot compete in a world of ambition with a mindset of survival alone. If our highest aspiration is merely to be free from oppression, then we are only reacting to the ambitions of others rather than shaping our own destiny.
Our ambition must be greater than that of our former enslavers, former colonizers, and current global competitors. We must develop an ambition that seeks:
1. Technological Supremacy – To invent, design, and produce machines, infrastructure, and digital systems that power the world.
2. Economic Control – To own and dictate industries, set global prices, and determine trade policies.
3. Political Power – To create governance models that serve our people and influence global decision-making.
4. Cultural and Intellectual Influence – To become the reference point for thought leadership, research, and ideological movements.
This is not a new idea, it is the same ambition that drove great civilization, European colonial expansion, American global dominance, and China’s rise as an economic superpower.
The past centuries were shaped by ambition, the ambition of those who crossed oceans to dominate. If Africa is to shape the future, it must develop an ambition greater than those of its past and present competitors.
Freedom is not an ambition, it is a prerequisite. The real ambition must be to rule, to lead, and to shape history on our own terms.
If we do not develop such ambition, we will always be at the mercy of those who do.
*Abdulrazaq Hamzat is an Executive Director at Foundation for Peace Professionals (PeacePro) and can be reached at discus4now@gmail.com*
Abdulrazaq O Hamzat
Executive Director
Foundation for Peace Professionals (FPP)
08076976917, 07066479760
A.I
March 1, 2025
Tags: Abdulrazaq Hamzat
