Mental Decolonization: A Pathway to Sustainable Development in Africa

Abstract

With most African countries gaining independence by the1960s, there were widespread expectations that Africans were now matureenough to chat their course. However, the later play out of events sawthose dreams fade away like a mirage. Instead of moving ahead, mostAfrican countries are plagued by massive under development. Africanswere their problem. The constant dependence on the colonial masters andthe mentality of seeing everything foreign as superior hindered thenecessity of looking inward to device her own developmental strategy,hence the need for mental decolonisation. Decolonisation is the act ofundoing or freeing oneself from the bondage of colonialism. Mentaldecolonisation, therefore, is the changing of our orientation toward theimpact of colonialism. This paper seeks to examine how changing the waywe reason/think as Africans can open the gate for sustainable developmentin Africa. This work, therefore, argues that decolonisation in its entiretywill yield the expected result only when there is a deliberate decision todecolonise Africa mentally. It is firmly believed that doing this will pavethe way for sustainable development. In this work, we shall adopt the expository, analytic andevaluative methods.