The book explores how Africa's poverty and underdevelopment stem from a history of poor leadership, emphasizing the ruling classes' indifference to scientific and technological advancements. It analyzes the impact of this neglect on the continent's progress and development, providing a critical perspective on the role of leadership in shaping Africa's socio-economic landscape.
The book identifies three key moments in Nigeria’s experience with federalism and makes the argument that a complex and socially-diverse country like Nigeria can only be successfully governed by a truly federal arrangement, and not the present unitary contraption that has only delivered poverty, social unrest and the powerful centrifugal forces that are now threatening the very existence of the country itself. The time has come, write Ike Okonta, to convene a conference with sovereign powers to design a federal constitution for the country. The current process of amending the 1999 Constitution by the National Assembly will not suffice. The document is so hopelessly flawed that only its discarding and a fresh effort at constitution-making will suffice.