Lagos — Kenyan Prime Minister, Raila Amolo Odinga, yesterday identified mediocrity, bad governance, lack of respect for the rule of law, injustice and inequality as some of the factors responsible for the underdevelopment of Nigeria and African countries alike.

Odinga, who spoke yesterday in Lagos while delivering The Guardian Silver Jubilee lecture at the Nigerian Institute of International Affairs (NIIA), criticised the African Union (AU) for not doing enough to put African on a path to greatness.

Odinga, who emerged Kenyan Prime Minister after a widely disputed election and post-election violence that claimed hundreds of lives, stated that Nigeria and the rest of Africa have no reasons to remain in the class of poor countries, given the abundant human and material resources on the continent.

He described Nigeria as the country that inspires Africa, noting that out of every black person walking on the earth, "one is a Nigerian."

"In soccer, when other African countries have been eliminated, only Nigeria is left carrying the African flag," he said, and joked: "But in Olympics, Kenya is the leader!"

He said increasingly, Afri-cans have shown that they want democracy, as evident in Kenya and Zimbabwe this year.

"Eighty per cent of Africans want democracy," he said. "In the last four years, about 50 democratic elections have been held on the continent."

He noted that at independence, most African countries inherited the Westminster system of government from the colonial masters "and this allowed for checks and balances and separations of power. However, our leaders soon neglected the interest of the people and went for personal enrichment, adopting one-party system under the pretext of building consensus the African way. Democratic principles were jettisoned. The prosperity of the people was overlooked. Today, 15 million Africans die yearly from diseases related to poverty."

He said Kenya was at par with Korea at Independence, but those countries have now left the country behind.

"We must ask: what did the Koreans do to develop that our leaders did not do? We should go ahead and do it and our continent will develop," he said.

Calling for a change of attitude in governance, Odinga said: "What we should do is to create conditions for things to work in Nigeria and the rest of Africa. Africa should put behind the past and stop blaming the colonial masters for her economic and political woes. Rather, Nigeria should pool her resources together and attract her best brain from the world over to engender development.

"It is Africans that will develop Africa. I believe she has the ability to kick-start people-oriented development. Nigeria and Kenya must find out why South Korea, Singapore and other Asian tigers are making socio-economic breakthrough. With 600 million people, Africa should be great," he said.

In what he called the dream of former Ghanaian President Kwame Nkrumah, Odinga made case for African peace and unity, the conditions he believed would assist the continent to create an atmosphere for development and foreign investment.

Speaking on the AU, however, the prime minister scored the pan-African institution low.

He said the institution was not doing enough to address the socio-economic and political problems of Africa.

He also spoke on the global financial crisis, questioning the expertise of International Monetary Fund (IMF) and the World Bank. Saying the strategies of the institutions have failed, Odinga urged Africa to develop her own strategies in order to mitigate the global financial crisis.

He said: "The financial crisis in the Western nations will affect Africa. We must avoid the situation where if US sneezes, Europe catches cold, Asia gets pneumonia and Africa's tuberculosis worsens. Africa needs to quickly develop its own strategies to mitigate the impact of this situation."

President Umaru Musa Yar'Adua who was the special guest of honour at the occasion was represented by the Minister of Information and Communication, Mr. John Odey.

Yar'Adua urged the entire people of Nigeria to support and promote the seven-point agenda of his administration if Vision 2020 will be achieved.

Emphasising that the implementation of the seven-point agenda "requires the collaboration of all Nigerians at home and in diaspora," the President linked the country's breakthrough in the age of globalisation to the extent to which Nigerians embrace peace and support the seven-point agenda.

Calling for demonstration of the spirit of positive thinking, the President added: "Nigerians should be committed to the successful implementation of the seven-point agenda of this administration so that by 2020 Nigeria will be among the most developed countries in the world.

"For Nigeria to be great, we must embrace peace, equity and justice. This administration places a high premium on peace and development, which can only be achieved with the collaboration of all Nigerians,"

Professor Chinua Achebe, who sent a keynote address to the occasion via video from his base in the United States, said Nigeria lost an opportunity to be a great nation through the prosecution of the 1967 civil war, saying that the country would have moved to a greater height if the regions were allowed to be autonomous.

He described Nigeria as a "multi religious and multi ethnic chaotic country" which is yet to achieve nationhood.

He said: "I find it difficult to forgive my country for the persecution unleashed on the people, Nigeria is a talented and endowed country but incredibly backward."

He however said that all "is not lost as our country still has the potentials to be great if well-governed and properly led by visionary leaders".

Former Head of State, General Yakubu Gowon, who presided at the occasion expressed regret that no African country is practising true democracy, rule of law and good governance. According to him, "Elections are rigged and manipulated at will and this calls for a quick solution".

Making reference to the leadership crises in Kenya and Zimbabwe, Gowon urged the leaders to work together and desist from the "winner-takes-all tradition in the interest of peace and development."