In a highly provocative piece culled from his book, Capitalist Nigger: The Road to Success,  Chika Onyeani laments  that the African educated elite is a failure, an individual who is not useful within and without Africa. He is intellectually, bankrupt and decrepit; has very short attention span; and energy which easily extinguishes in the face of impediment.  

The African elite has been a total failure; they cannot raise their heads in the community of scholars or the intelligentsia.  They want to continue to sit at the head of the totem pole, being spoon-fed, rather than at the head of the battle line leading the masses of Black people throughout the world.  That they have not been able to understand that the total Black race is under economic slavery is a testament to their half-education and illiteracy. They are a consumer group rather than a productive group. They cannot devote enough time to research to duplicate the same research already conducted and articulate it in a language Africans can understand. 

How could Africa have millions of educated men and women, yet have to import experts in all fields to manage areas of economic development, engineering and others for which Africans had gone to the same school?  

Is it any wonder then, that we go to school and still come out illiterates? Despite our years of schooling, if we need our roads built, we have to contract them out to European engineering firms to build for us; if we need electricity, we get Caucasians or the Japanese to build them for us; if we need drinking water, we have to import European or American experts to do them for us.  We are \"highly educated,\" yet we cannot even assemble a bicycle - we have to import it; we cannot assemble a radio - we have to import it; we cannot assemble a fan - we have to import it; we cannot assemble a television - we have to import it. After getting our degrees to the highest level; we get a teaching position or job at a company.  That is the end of it.

What is wrong? Is it our education system? Is it our people? What do you think?

Considering the importance of education and culture, heads of African states in their African Union summit congregated under the theme  “Education and Culture.” In this issue, we examine education, culture and leadership. It is amazing that without an organized government and academic system in Somalia, business, exchange programs and learning are going on under private initiatives. Could this be the way forward for Africa?