Fashola spoke on Tuesday at the opening ceremony of 2010 Kuramo Conference on Law and Development in Lagos.
The development came just as a Nobel Laureate, Prof. Wole Soyinka, and former United States envoy, Rev. Jesse Jackson, decried corruption in Nigeria, saying that transparency and accountability remained the key factors to tackling the menace.
The event drew experts from home and aroad while participants from different walks of life attended the conference that would end on Thursday.
The Chairman of the Independent Corrupt Practices and Other Related Offences Commission, Justice Yinka Ayoola, had chaired the event.
Prominent Nigerians including a former Vice President of Nigeria, Dr Alex Ekwueme, former Attorney General of the Federation and Minister of Justice, Prince Bola Ajibola (SAN), former Minister of Works, Chief Femi Okunnu (SAN), also graced the ocassion.
The Lagos State Attorney –General and Commissioner for Justice, Mr. Supo Shasore (SAN) had informed the audience about the importance of the conference and the need to sustain it for positive development.
In his welcome address, Fashola said that Kuramo 2010 would provide the platform for the best minds to examine the existing legal order for trade, finance, exploitation of natural resources, protection of the environment, global peace and the dignity of the human race.
He added that the development was to see whether the existing body of rules that comprise the current legal order, some of which were 60 to 100 years old, and which were made when territorial borders were more clearly defined but far flung, were still able to respond to the age of globalisation and fast disappearing territorial and far flung borders.
Fashola said, “I feel that a moment as great as the early 1900s has come upon us today in the early 2000s.
“The idea behind Kuramo is a response to my belief that at the turn of a new century and with globalisation, a new legal order is imperative in order to make our world more inclusive and to secure it for the next generation.
“When you reflect on the fact that after 80 years the FIFA World Cup which was supposed to involve participants from the entire planet just came to Africa for the first time and will go to Brazil in South Africa in 2014 for the second time, keeping it in the ‘Third World’ consecutively; you may appreciate the role that Kuramo 2010 stands to play.
“This is because until Africa hosted it, it had been a World Cup only in name and not in its global and economic impact.
Soyinka had in his short remark, revealed that he is presently putting together a play that would expose the new paradigm of corruption in the country.
He urged Nigerians to wake up and put their leaders on their toes, noting that endemic greed and vampire tendencies of African leaders could ruin the continent.
Jackson, who spoke on the topic titled, ‘A call to reconstruction and growth,’ said Nigeria was too rich for any of its citizenry to be poor. He called on Nigerians to rise up immediately to fight the scourge of corruption ravaging the country.
He said, “We can do it.
We can stop it, because corruption is a crime against humanity. Nigeria is so rich yet her people are so poor .We must fight in a big way . We must fight corruption and poverty. Fighting corruption is crucial to fighting poverty,” he said.
Jackson later told journalists after his speech that Nigerians had to demand accountability from their leaders.
He said, “Nigeria needs allies and help. Look at the impact of its oil-trading partners, who have benefited so handsomely from a relationship that is not mutually beneficial.”
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