If Africa is to eventually overcome its long-standing peace, security, and development challenges, it is important for its citizens to intentionally and consistently engage in safe, non-partisan, brutal, and transformational conversations around the following heavyweight questions:

1. Who are we as a people, what is it that defines us as Africans?
2. What is the nature and extent of damage that colonialism inflicted on Africa?
3. How can Africa recover from this damage?
4. How can Africa address the long-standing colonial injustices?
5. What are the instruments that are used by imperialists to dominate and control other nations?
6. How can Africa effectively respond to the new scramble for Africa by established and emerging powers?
7. How can Africa (re)design its social, political, economic, and governance systems to insulate itself against imperialism and foreign interference, reduce political polarisation, and promote unity, independence, and the pursuit of collective aspirations?
8. How can Africa effectively compete with other civilisations in the world?
9. How can Africa ensure that its resources are used for the benefit of its citizens?
10. How can Africa address corruption, exclusion, and inequality?
11. What do we want as individual countries and as a continent, where do we aspire to go?
12.  Do we have any collective aspirations that we are converging on at national and regional levels?
13. What values and aspirations should we converge on despite our ethnic, religious, political and other differences and how can we identify and pursue them?
14. Are we on the right path as individual countries and as a continent?
15. Are Africans doing what is in the best interests of Africa?
16. What are the stumbling blocks that stand in our way and how can we overcome them?