President Olusegun Obasanjo yesterday said given Nigeria's population which represents 20 percent of the African population, it should be given a permanent seat in the United Nations, UN.

Speaking when he was conferred with an honorary doctoral degree by the University of Peking, he said "people cannot talk of peace without justice and cannot talk of order and security without justice and element of equity."

Also yesterday Obasanjo, while meeting with African Ambassadors at the Nigerian Embassy in Japan, said although things were changing in Africa, stereotypes still persisted and many changes were not being recognized.

He charged African leaders to concern themselves with changing their respective countries for the better instead of always angling at how to win elections. He emphasized that African problems could only be solved permanently by applying solutions to them, adding that "within Africa and outside, many changes are not being recognized.

Speaking on representation and fairness at the UN, Obasanjo disclosed that he had "roughly divided nations of the world into four-the white, yellow, brown and black races. According to him, "America represents the white race, China the yellow, India the brown and Nigeria which has 20 percent of the black race must be one of those that represent the black world."

Although he stated that population should not be the sole criteria when giving out permanent seat at the UN, the Nigerian leader said "we should be more concerned about doing things that would make the world a better place for all of us. If this is achieved, having a seat in the security council would not really matter."

While emphasizing at the University of Peking that "If China is going anywhere, Nigeria must not be left behind," he added that relations between Nigeria and China needed to be strengthened. The President recalled that "China was side by side with us when we were victimized. When China was not given its due recognition in the comity of nations, Africa stood by China, spoke out until China was given the recognition it deserved."

Expressing appreciation for the publication of his book, This Animal Called Man in Chinese, Obasanjo observed that Nigeria has continued to keep peace around the world since it began that in 1960 when it contributed to peacekeeping in the Congo

During his interaction with African Ambassadors, the President said Africans "should do more successful things and where there are problems there should be genuine African solution otherwise, we would not be successful. Let us work to bring more of African solutions to our problems and use the best practice."

Giving further insight into how things have changed on the African continent, the President said "the fact that within the last 12 months six African countries have had successful elections and have transformed is an important change. More important, 23 countries in Africa have GDP growth of five percent within the last three years."