I have had sleeplessness over you for several days and nights and years that seem unending anytime soon. It's as though thoughts of you have flooded my being to the point where my tears are turning into blood and my spirit, relentlessly restless.

I have pondered over your current predicament of under-development occasioned by the high deficit of good governance, and overdose of conflicts & wars. What kind of fate has fate brought you? What kind of new path can you create for yourself and your beautiful children who desire for peace and prosperity? What is your role in the comity of nations? It seems the more questions I ask, the more the answers elude me. Nonetheless, I shall not remain silent because that may be misconstrued as giving up or defeat.

The voices of your children shall also not remain silent nor faint, my Love. I will speak of the future of our dreams as a continent and highlight the pillars upon which such a desired future should be constructed methodically.

First, you need to know your value as a beautiful continent endowed with vast resources such as Rivers, Arable lands, Minerals, Ocean fronts, Timber, Oil & Gas resources, and most importantly, abundant human resources. Your contribution to World Trade is below 3% in value because of the price you have allowed others to impose on you.

That certainly can't be your true value! As Dr Kwame Nkrumah once opined, Africans must know that they are a people with a unique personality and valuable identity in this world. It is therefore of utmost importance to educate your children to place on themselves premium value and also help them to add value to their vast natural resources.

My Love, the truest value is that of the refined mind and conscientious heart. Indeed, the future of Africa lies in her capacity to innovative and to creatively unleash the potential of its entrepreneurs as well as her ability to develop visionary leaders to lead the process of transformation.  Teach your children these basic principles and you'll surely be better off in today's competitive world of globalization.

Second, you need to let peace and security prevail within your borders without which the pursuit of prosperity and sustainable development remain illusions without flesh. Tell your children to stop killing themselves over political, ethnic and religious differences. Please remind them that they all breathe the same air from mother Earth and bask in the same sunshine & moonlight as people of the Sun! If you teach them to love themselves as they do to others, prosperity shall surely find you my Love.

Teach your children to know that the things that unite them far more exceed that which divides them. After all, a continent divided against itself cannot stand!

Third, you need to return to the Basics. It's a shame that your children after all these years cannot clothe, feed or shelter themselves. They seem to have also thrown their culture away while embracing others and as a result seem to be going nowhere.

Give adequate attention to the most important and urgent things your children need. Stop building castles in the air or bridges where there are no rivers. The 1.1 billion children you have is a powerful force for good. Africa must feed, protect, clothe and shelter itself rooted in its cultural heritage-that's authentic development!

To conclude, the story has often has been told wrongly as if the rise of Africa must necessarily lead to the downfall of other nations. No! That’s a fallacy you must debunk. Africa is a land of great diversity with a common aspiration for development. Tell your children to love themselves and be proud of whom they are as Malcom X and Marcus Garvey many years ago preached.

The humanity of Africa must speak to her greatness as demonstrated by Nelson Mandela. Africa my Love, craft a destiny of your own making through thinking & strategic planning and by rejecting the notion that your fate is somehow written for you by the gods. After all, great people are those who dare to defy the gods!

 ***Selorm Kofi Dake is a true African patriot, a business development consultant and a British Chevening Scholar.***