Burkina Faso: Captain Ibrahim Traoré, “Believe in yourselves, because we can do anything ourselves”
In a speech of particular intensity, the President of Burkina Faso, Captain Ibrahim Traoré, once again galvanized the nation’s youth and scientific community at the opening of the fifteenth edition of the National Forum on Scientific Research and Technological Innovations (FRSIT). With frank and impactful words, he issued a vibrant call for self-confidence, audacity, and a break with intellectual dependency.
“For more than a hundred years, others have created engines, they have learned to detect, extract, and refine petroleum to produce gasoline and diesel. What are we doing in Burkina? Are they more intelligent than us?” the Head of State challenged the captivated audience.
With this rhetorical question, Captain Ibrahim Traoré sought to shake up minds, urging Burkinabe people to believe in their own abilities and to dare to create, invent, and produce locally.
For the President, the true battle for Burkina Faso is no longer only military, but also scientific, technological, and mental. “If you do not believe in yourselves, you need to question yourself, clear your mind, and start believing in yourselves again, because we can do it,” he hammered home, inviting researchers, engineers, and inventors to free themselves from the inferiority complex inherited from colonization.
Under his leadership, the country is embarking on a revolution in thought and national productivity, where science, ingenuity, and faith in oneself become essential levers for building a prosperous and sovereign Burkina.
Captain Ibrahim Traoré now embodies this generation of African leaders determined to break with intellectual and technological dependence on the West, in order to restore Africa’s dignity and creative power.
