Published 2025-05-04
Abstract
The paper examines the various aspects of African history to drive home how the development of Africa, the cradle of human civilization was abruptly stymied by the West. An attempt was also made to highlight how the West robbed Africa of her valuable human and material resources via slavery and colonialism that now banded Africa into the stereotypes of backwardness, poverty, conflict and charity case perception waiting for salvation from outside the continent. The paper concludes that rebranding cannot come from outside but Africa has to find its own voice, image and strongly promote to overpower the charity-led paternalistic branding imposed on the continent by outsiders for their own self-interest. The paper recommends that Africa can rebrand itself if it, eradicates corruption and establishes good governance by reviving Pan-Africanism, organising Africans in Diaspora, engaging in intra-African trade, valuing what is African, and each of the 53 African countries sells brand (perception that one holds about a product or an idea) instead of commodities. This will accelerate the realization of the United States of Africa. The paper uses the “available data method” (Ogunnika and Okafor, 1993) where historical facts, archival records and documentary interpretations were consulted.