Recently, former students of the University College London (UCL) wrote an open letter to the leading institute to criticise the “Eurocentric” teaching and content in the Africa studies programme. According to the UCL, the institution’s work has always been in collaboration with and influenced by leading African scholars. If this is true, then Africa needs a lot of soul searching to do.

How can the continent’s leading scholars stand the marginalization of Africa in an Africa Studies programme? It is not a hidden secret that most researches done in African universities are beholden to external donor interests and Africa universities develop cold feet when asked to fund studies that relate to the uplifting respective countries and continent.

If Africans don’t tell their own stories, nobody will do it for them. Much of Africa's rich history was maliciously destroyed and artifacts looted during the colonial era. This robbed scholars of valuable historical information. Many commentators consequently argue that African societies had nothing  that can inspire today's development.

The call by former UCL students should raise the pressure to “decolonise” African curriculums and make them address the challenges facing Africa.