I'm trying to tell you that there's a new wave on the continent. A new wave of openness and democratization in which, since 2000, more than two-thirds of African countries have had multi-party democratic elections. Not all of them have been perfect, or will be, but the trend is very clear.
Interpretation
The quote highlights the positive trend of democracy in Africa since 2000.
Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala emphasizes a significant shift towards openness and democratization in Africa over the past two decades. She acknowledges that while not every democratic election has been flawless, the overall trend is clearly moving towards a more democratic structure in many African nations, indicating a hopeful future for governance in the continent.
In practice
In a speech addressing youth leaders, you could use this quote to inspire hope in the future of African governance.
When I became finance minister, they called me Okonjo-Wahala - or 'Trouble Woman.' It means 'I give you hell.' But I don't care what names they call me. I'm a fighter; I'm very focused on what I'm doing, and relentless in what I want to achieve, almost to a fault. If you get in my way, you get kicked.
The best way to help Africans today is to help them to stand on their own feet. And the best way to do that is by helping create jobs.
When you save the life of anyone, a farmer, a teacher, a mother, they are contributing productively into the economy.
Investing in women is smart economics, and investing in girls, catching them upstream, is even smarter economics.
I felt Nigeria didn't have to succumb to the image of being a corrupt country; we didn't have to let the economy stagnate.
I know what it means to go to the stream to fetch water... what it means when people are poor and don't have enough to eat. It's not enough to say you know about poverty. You have to live it.
Anything in history or nature that can be described as changing steadily can be seen as heading toward catastrophe.
That is our generation’s task - to make these words, these rights, these values of life and liberty and the pursuit of happiness real for every American.
I believe that the rights of women and girls is the unfinished business of the 21st century.
You cannot buy the revolution. You cannot make the revolution. You can only be the revolution. It is in your spirit, or it is nowhere.
So watch me strike a match on all my wasted time. As far as I'm concerned you're just another picture to burn.
Some day we hope to liberate every man on earth from the tendency as old as human history to identify our strength and manhood with the ability to control the lives, limit the chances, and doom the dreams of women and girls.
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