I have never ever read an honest African voice that strikes on the right note on African issues like the voice of Mo Ibrahim. Africa has had very spirited articulators, enthusiatic leaders, warm philantrophist, but Mo Ibrahim is a great and practical African patriot with profound moral insight. He doesn't just possess the capacity to perceive the true nature of Africa' problems, he has an incredible pool of practical solutions to those problems. He has the potential to be the architect of a modern Africa and i hope he has a strong voice in the AU summits.

I Totally agree with Mr.Ibrahim,though my feeling is that we need as Africans to facilitate social integration so as to get rid of the biases that have brought about suspicion amongst us,only then can we begin to achieve effective Economic Integration. There is also need for us to strengthen the existing regional blocks in Africa afterwhich we can talk about an all Africa integration process.

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Africa has no "economic future" until it has "consumer demand" for its products.

In my view, the Mo Ibrahim's Index is missing a critical data, the "EDUCATION LEVEL" of the Heads of State. It is not a surprise that, overall, the Presidents of the best-governed are more educated than their counterparts of the worst-governed nations. Most people seem to accept the notion that better governance is associated with a higher or lower degree of formal education achieved by the Head of State of each country.

Prezedu, you have a point when you say better educated leaders govern better. We shouldn't forget, though, that people with a higher level of education often look down on the rest. That applies to the whole world, not just Africa. Look at how the Americo-Liberians treated the "savage natives". This is an old African example, of course, but still representative.

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This post was deleted because it contravenes AllAfrica's commenting guidelines.

President Masire's points are well-thought and, therefore accurate. Rather than reiterate the perfection, I would add that those leaders who share his governance values consider speeding the process. Every soul, every life that can be salvaged by adhering to and speeding up the process of good government is worth it.

Recent events regarding the Nigerian government's handling of the Banking Crisis and Delta problem are encouraging. Perhaps within another election period, Nigeria can continue to climb towards the decency of South African, and the Seychelles in terms of quality of all aspects of life in Africa. Their climb and consequencially, their future leadership is desparately needed, particularly in West Africa

It is unfortunate that Nigeria emerged 35th position out of 53 countries in Africa in terms of Governance by the Mo Ibrahim foundation in its 2009 Ibrahim Index of African Governance.What does that tell one about the sleeping giant Nigeria?What this means however, is that Nigeria has been since Independence be Headed by people who had acquired little or no strong Educational background such as late Tafawa Belewa.Among other Heads of who did not have basic or regular strong academic background but military Schools are thus Ironsi,Gowon,Mohammed,Obasanjo,Buhari,Babangida,Sanni Abacha,Abudullahi to mention but few,however, one may be wrong on this. These Heads of State were not trained on how to improve the lifes of their people but how to force their ways into people and ruin them.Besides,nobody is sure if Shehu Shagari really had a strong education which would have given him a boost as to know the word- rule of law,Human Rights, Freedom of speech and Economic Rights for Nigerians.For Nigeria to improve in future Governace assesment by Mo Ibrahim,Nigerians we should be thinking, this time about Electing an Administration that is not half baked but with solid Academic background that will always be verifiable any where Globally.This writer is not saying that those with military background can not lead but you can blend it with best idea to serving your people and not looting their treasury which tragically continues today to characterise any given Nigerian Administration military or Democratic.Nigeria needs STRONG LEADERS and not politicians.We have plenty of politicians more than we need.Nigeria never had HEROS but ZEROS and looters with blood on their hands.It is up to we the people to change the dynamic[s] of our country.Lets stop the parasites.

What does the Mo Ibrahim' survey have in common with "The Educational Attainment of World's Heads of State"? The current report of best vs. worst-governed nations in Africa is based on multiples aspects not directly related to the intellectual skills of a governing Heads of State. In order to better understand governance, not just in Africa,but all around the world, we should not exclude the assessment of each Head of State's formal education. Neverless, while more Presidents of the inbest-governed states mentioned have higher than those of worst-governed,the majority of African Presidents still lack education as compared to the others in rest of the world.

For an insightful look at one of Africa's longest running wars, see First Kill Your Family: Child Soldiers of Uganda and the Lord's Resistance Army.

This report is a treasure to the assesment of Africa. But,It also lacks the in-depth analysis of the leaders that preside over our nations. One such missing ingredient is, the lack of focus on the level of education achieved by those who govern us. The more they are educated, the better their governance. A