For centuries and decades, Africa as a continent has provided the human and material resources that ensured the rapid development of Europe, America and other continents of the world, but its history and story of resilience have always been distorted to favour the capitalists, slave merchants and colonialist oppressors
By Edu Abade
Worried by the distortion of facts, false narratives, half truths and outright lies often peddled by Western powers about African history, socio-economic, cultural, academic and other accomplishments for decades and centuries, a group of Nigerian professionals has insisted that the time is now right to rewrite African history and put things in their proper perspective.
In this regard, the professionals under the auspices of the Groundtruth Africa Network (GtAN) convened its bimonthly virtual meeting on Wednesday, March 4, 2026 with the theme: The Untold Stories of Africa by the West, bringing together intellectuals, journalists, policy advocates and civil society voices to confront what the organizers describe as “centuries of narrative asymmetry that have defined the continent through a foreign lens.”
The session, which was facilitated by Dr. Maimoni Ubrei-Joe, featured keynote speaker, former Secretary General of the Organization of African Trade Union Unity (OATUU), Comrade Owei Lakemfa, who delivered a sweeping critique of how Africa had been systematically misrepresented and how that misrepresentation continues to shape the continent’s development challenges.
Insisting that African history and contributions to global peace, economic advancement and prosperity had been largely distorted, Lakemfa charged individuals, groups and governments of the continent to forge unique path beyond colonial templates.
“Africa has been treated as a means of raw material, not just for Western industries, but for Western narratives. The minds of African peoples were rewired. The consciousness to think, to imagine, to define progress was strategically influenced and often distorted by the West,” he said.
The Groundtruth Africa Network, in its convening statement, highlighted what has been deliberately or conveniently omitted from mainstream accounts of pioneering efforts in civilization and academic records of the continent, particularly in ancient Egypt: Africa before colonialism, its complex governance systems, its intellectual traditions, its history of innovation and its long legacy of resistance and challenging Western norms.
“Too often, Africa is filtered through stereotypes, crisis-driven journalism and intellectual erasure. We are not a footnote to European, American or Western history. We are a civilization with our own unique story, which often ignored or blatantly distorted,” the Network noted.
Lakemfa drew sharp contrasts between the development trajectories of major global powers and the models often prescribed for Africa, pointing to the United States of America, Russia and China as nations that pursued development based on their own histories, beliefs and cultural contexts, not by adopting foreign templates.
“The United States developed on its own terms. Russia developed on its own terms. China developed on its own terms,” Lakemfa said, adding, “There is no single path to development. Africa must take a unique path, one rooted in our history, our story, and our beliefs.”
The remarks resonated deeply with participants, who engaged in robust discussion on how to reclaim African narratives in the African continent’s education, media and policy formulations. The meeting underscored the urgency of moving beyond aid-dependent models and externally imposed structural reforms toward homegrown solutions grounded in African realities.
While stressing the need for robust engagements going forward, the Groundtruth Africa Network reaffirmed its commitment to amplifying voices and perspectives that challenge dominant paradigms and elevate Africa’s agency in telling its own peculiar story.
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