I believe it's quite obvious why African countries are underdeveloped, colonial rule had a heavy hand in that, but I think the right question should have been why African countries have *remained* underdeveloped; that's where the real issue is.

We can whine about how the Americans and Europeans exploited our natural resources for decades and enslaved our people but no African country has been under European or American rule for quite some time now but yet Africa has still remained underdeveloped.

To understand this, you have to understand the mentality of your average African man Vs the mentality of a European/American man. Because of the nature of our continent and the hardship that we face, the concept of patriotism is almost non-existent so we don't think about how to move the country forward, we only think about how to move ourselves forward, even at the expense of our country.

Religion has also played a significant role in our development or should I say lack of development. Your average African man isn't interested in investing in technology or anything that can push the country forward, what's more important to him is sewing a seed in his pastors church so that God will bless him abundantly.

The truth is that we've remained underdeveloped because we have a selfish mindset, and it's something that just about all Africans share, whether you're old or young. Granted this mindset was born out of the kind of hardship that we face, it's the defining factor that keeps us underdeveloped. It's this selfish mindset that gave birth to corruption which is what just about every African believes is the reason why we're the way we are