Anti-corruption crusader and renowned Pan-Africanist, Prof. P.L.O. Lumumba, has cautioned Africans against overly idealising the past at the expense of progress, stating that while history holds value, the continent’s future must remain the central focus.

Speaking at the University of Education, Winneba (UEW) Public Lecture Series on Friday, April 11, under the theme “Empowering Minds and Shaping the Continent for the 21st Century,” Prof. Lumumba called on Africans particularly the youth to embrace their heritage not as a relic of nostalgia, but as a foundation upon which to rebuild and reimagine a prosperous future.

“We must never make the mistake of romanticising the past and forgetting that we have now and the future to live for,” Prof. Lumumba said.

Drawing from history, Lumumba reminded the audience of a pivotal moment in African intellectual thought — the 1906 speech titled “The Regeneration of Africa” by Pixley ka Isaka Seme, a South African scholar and one of the founders of the African National Congress (ANC).

Delivered while Seme was still a student, the speech, according to Lumumba, was a powerful reminder that the vision of a reawakened Africa is not new.

“Students of history will tell you that as early as 1906, that great South African, Pixley ka Isaka Seme, then a student at university, gave an iconic speech – The Regeneration of Africa. It reminded us, and still reminds us, that we as Africans have a duty to regenerate ourselves. And you only regenerate that which had once been generated,” he said.

Prof. Lumumba used the moment to underline the fact that Africa’s renaissance is a continuing journey. He argued that today's generation must build upon the intellectual and cultural legacies of early African visionaries, while confronting the contemporary realities of a globalised world.

“To regenerate Africa is to recognise that we are heirs to a great legacy —but it is also to accept the responsibility of doing something about that inheritance,” he said.

Prof. Lumumba challenged African institutions and leaders to reject complacency and rise to the call of regeneration with clarity, courage, and conviction.

“Africa’s time is now,” he concluded.