Nigeria, Oct. 14 -- Impossibility is learnt, and so is the can-do spirit. As a seven-year-old kid who had just returned to my village in Adu Achi, Enugu State, following my parents' decision to go home and teach, I had considerable difficulty performing some of my domestic chores. I remember vividly one afternoon when my mum asked me to perform one of those 'village' tasks and I retorted: "I cannot do it. It's too hard." My dad was observing that interaction. He pulled me aside and said to me, "never ever say you can't. Always say, I will try." It's been almost two decades since my dad gave me this advice, but it has stayed with me and motivated me through the years.

The trajectory of our continent is one that hollows out hope. It has de...