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 realised.

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 practised 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.”

‎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. (NAN)

•Photo shows Speaker Dogara.