Cerebral Catholic Priest, Monsignor Obiorah Ike, has said that Africa holds brighter prospects for the survival of the rest of the world.

He, however, regretted that its people have remained poor, and the continent continued to be treated as a second-rate economy by the rest of the world due to their inability to discover their inherent potential.

Ike, a Professor of Ethics and Intercultural Studies, stated this in Enugu during his 70th birthday celebration, noting that while Africa is blessed with abundant natural and human resources to make it a world leader, its people have cared less about their exploitation and exploration for the greater good.

“African people must wake up. Africa’s development is something that, all over the world, is recognised as real because we have been blessed with natural resources.

“The future is here. The future of the world is in Africa.  Every mineral resource you need anywhere in the world is found on this continent. But the owners of the mineral resources are sleeping,” he said.

Insisting that the Africans have not made use of the opportunity given to them by natural resources, he said: “Somebody has to come from Britain to discover that there’s coal in Enugu State.  Somebody came from Britain and discovered we have oil in Oloibiri at a time when we didn’t even touch the oil.

“Right now, the Chinese are in all African countries. They are there doing one thing or the other and growing their own economy. We have everything, but we are sleeping. We don’t even care,” he added.