With the weight of history and the urgency of now, Prof. Edmund Ugwu Agbo has reignited the global movement for reparations, justice, and Africa’s cultural reclamation — declaring that Africa will no longer wait for permission to lead its own future.
At a high-powered World Press Briefing held in Abuja as part of Africa Week 2025, Prof. Agbo — legal scholar, international consultant, and founder of the International Bio-Research Institute — delivered a stirring call to action: the time for polite diplomacy is over.
“We are not appealing anymore,” he said. “We are demanding justice — loudly, unapologetically — because the cost of silence has been centuries of plunder, erasure, and inequality.”
Under the theme “Justice for Africa and People of African Descent through Reparation,” this year’s Africa Week marks a turning point — no longer a symbolic commemoration, but a platform for realignment, resistance, and renewal.
Diplomats, activists, and cultural leaders from Europe, Asia, North America, and the African continent have converged — many uninvited — drawn by the rising pulse of African-led change.
Prof. Agbo described the spontaneous participation of international actors as a sign that the world is listening — and watching — as Africa takes the stage not in protest, but in power.
Participants confronted hard truths about ongoing global injustice. African ambassadors in Europe, some reported, routinely complete their diplomatic terms without ever meeting national leaders — an indignity unheard of for Western diplomats posted to African states.
“That’s not international relations,” a speaker said. “That’s global apartheid — and it must end.”
Discussions also exposed Africa’s dangerous dependence on imported systems — in governance, education, and economics — that keep the continent locked in cycles of underdevelopment.
True independence, speakers insisted, means designing systems rooted in African values, realities, and aspirations.
Logistical challenges, such as visa delays that barred many African delegates from attending the Rome leg of the event, only reinforced the urgency of localizing ownership.
In response, Prof. Agbo expanded the African program, turning constraints into momentum.
Africa Week 2025 now features a hybrid format of live and virtual engagements, showcasing traditional dance, cultural exhibitions, and deep discussions on reparative justice and global equity.
The first session holds tomorrow at the Federal Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Abuja, while the second takes place on September 10, 2025, at Sala Giovanni XXIII, Vicariato di Roma, Italy.
But beyond events, Prof. Agbo’s vision is clear: Africa Week must become a permanent continental institution — rotating across capitals but grounded in Nigeria, with shared funding and African leadership at its core.
“We can no longer afford to knock on doors,” he said. “We must build our own gates, open our own houses, and define our own future.”
As calls for reparations gain traction and cultural identity becomes a battleground, Africa Week 2025 signals a new chapter — one in which Africa is not just a participant, but a protagonist in global affairs.
