Obliterate extremely lacking African prince (3)
I believe the answer is:
ras
'african prince' is the definition.
'obliterate extremely lacking' is the wordplay.
'obliterate' becomes 'erase' (I've seen this before).
'extremely lacking' indicates the central letters (letters on the extremes are removed).
The centre of 'erase' is 'RAS'.
(Other definitions for ras that I've seen before include "Abyssinian prince" , "Ethiopian prince" , "Cape" , "Ethiopian king's title" , "headland" .)