The Speaker, House of Representatives,
Yakubu Dogara, on Tuesday, said poor leadership was one of the causes of
underdevelopment in Africa.
He made this known
when he received the Ambassador of Sudan, Mr Ibrahim Busha in Abuja.
He added that the
reliance on aids from the western world had left Africans more impoverished
than before.
Dogara said that
unless African leaders begun to practice governance which put Africans first,
the development the continent needed would take a little longer to be realized.
He added that “I
sincerely believe that for us to make progress, leadership in Africa must be
for the people. If we do that, there is no limit to the potential of an
African.
“Unfortunately, we
have been locked in a situation whereby leadership and governance as it is practiced has only tied us to aids from the western world.
“Instead of looking
inwards, we always look outwards to aids that come to Africa and most of these
aids have some strings attached.
“The aids tend to
imprison and impoverish our people more than liberating them and putting them
on the ladder of economic prosperity.”
The speaker said
Africa needed to provide quality leadership to the people to eradicate poverty
and for economic growth and prosperity.
“That is something we
can do when we further our cooperation and deepen our relationship with
countries that occupy leading positions in Africa,” he noted.
Dogara said this was one of the ways through which the continent
could achieve its goals of development, stressing that, “going forward, there are many things we can do to provide
quality leadership that Africa needs for its progress.”
He assured the
ambassador that the House of Representatives would work on agreements and
treaties between the two countries that would benefit Nigerians.
“I am aware of the
diverse agreements that we have signed. From your own side of the divide, you have
even gone further to establish a special implementation committee with regards
to agreements signed with Nigeria.
“Unfortunately, it
has not been done here but we are doing everything possible to ensure that we
get it off the ground so that we can work hard toward implementing those
agreements.”
Responding, Busha
assured the Federal Government of the Sudanese government’s support.