Renowned economist and
former presidential aspirant, Professor Pat Utomi is one resplendent figure
that stands out in the midst of erudite personalities.
In this with Saturday Sun, Professor Utomi, who is a staunch campaigner for the enthronement of good governance and value in Nigeria, didn’t mince words while stating his disenchantment with the way the country is being run. The scholar, who is the leader and founder of the Centre for Value and Leadership (CVL), revealed that many in leadership positions in Nigeria deserve a place in jail as he vowed to kickstart a campaign for such bad leaders to be tried in The Hague. “Most of the people who lead in Nigeria should be jailed. And I’m carrying an international campaign to make sure many of them end up in jail in The Hague”, he stated.
Reacting to the falling price of oil and its implication
on Nigeria’s economy, the astute economist chided the government of President
Jonathan and urged him to curb the much wastage in his ADMINISTRATION.
“We must stop waste in government. The wastage is just
too much… We just spent N19 billion organising anational conference.
What for? If I get N19 billion, I will ensure that every child that goes to
school in Nigeria has a free meal, and that would bring more kids to school…”, he
argues in this interview with VERA
WISDOM-BASSEY and HENRY
OKONKWO. He also spoke on the insurgency in the North, and the
forthcoming 2015 general elections. Excerpts…
You were born and bred in the
Northern part of the country. With your knowledge about the area and in view of
the wanton destruction of lives and property going on there, at what point
would you say things got this bad?
I was born and brought up, Nigeria wide. I was born in
Kaduna, baptised in Jos, lived in Maiduguri as an infant, started school in
Kano, I started school the same day with Dr. Jimoh Ibrahim at the St. Thomas’
Primary School in Kano. Most of my primary schooling was done in Gusau in what
is now Zamfara State, at our Lady of Fatima. I started secondary school in the
East, C.K.C in Onitsha. But most of my secondary school was done in Loyola College
in Ibadan and I went to the University of Nigeria Nsukka.
When we were growing up, it was hard to think of seeing
one as a Yoruba or Hausa man. The fact that you interacted so much meant that
those differences disappeared. When CVL honoured Chief Akintola Williams two
months ago, his biggest lamentation is that the youths of Nigeria don’t
interact anymore as much as was the case in those days. And that is why we have
all these stereotypes and people looking at each other as a monster.
How we got to where we are is the sad part of the greed
of a certain elite that was using differences to get their own ‘share’. But
through this they have polluted the country and all we see is differences. But
the thing that binds us is much more than those things that divide us. Our
shared humanity is our biggest strength.
You have always been known as
an advocate of good governance, looking at the President Goodluck Jonathan ADMINISTRATION,
would you say he has done well to deserve re-election for a second term?
I try to focus on issues and not on people, because
people deal with emotive things or judgements. And the good BOOKS command
that we judge not so that we won’t be judged. But from time to time, one gets
angry and make comments, because things are not as they should be. But
typically I don’t like to reduce it to persons. I like to look at the policies:
what are the policies that have not gone right, and how should our country be
run. Certainly, our country is not being run as it should be run. Nigeria
should be much farther away than where it is.
And the main part of it is that we have a political class
that has not bothered to develop itself and understand the meaning of
leadership. I keep reminding people that leadership is others centred
behaviour. It focuses more on others, not on self. But there is too much
obsession of self in public life. Public life is about sacrificial giving of
yourself for the good of others. Because there is an obsession with self and
power, people are not getting the benefits of the so-called civilian rule. I
think the Nigerian government is sub-optimal to the extreme at most levels. But
I think the people are not yet determined enough to save themselves. Sometimes
when you fight and fight, at a point you wonder whether the people you are
fighting for care to save themselves.
How do you explain that for N200 or N1000 people can
deliberately vote for somebody every normal thinking person knows would damage
their future? But that’s what is going on everyday in Nigeria. This makes one
wonder when we would go from electoral machines to political parties.
Political parties think of the way the world should be, seek out those they
believe can effect change to come and contest, but here contesting for any
electoral position is tied to millions of naira. So, any person who has not stolen
would not go into the process. Nigeria needs steward leaders, people who ACCOUNT for
the mandate they have. But they are not getting it because people who tend to
get power believe that they bought it. That is the biggest tragedy.
The 2015 general election is
around the corner, what are your expectations and your word to Nigerians?
If we continue to vote for people who don’t have
knowledge and care about the people, then Nigeria’s progress would continue to
be short changed. If the nation continues to be short-changed, it wont be long
before we become Somalia. If we want to move away from Somalia, we must start
asking ourselves who are the people offering themselves for public OFFICE?
How much sacrifice have we seen in the history of their lives for the good of
other people? How much knowledge do they have about how a modern state runs?
So, the tragedy of now is that Nigeria still continues
like an experiment in the hands of political jobbers, thugs and other people
that can bully others to corner power. If we want to stop this path, we can. Young
people constitute a majority of the population in this country; today
economists talk about the demographic DIVIDEND,
if Nigeria is going to tap that demographic dividend, those young people must
stop complaining on the side of the street, use the technology available to
them, network and create a new nation.
But are you satisfied with the
candidates that have so far indicated INTEREST in
leading the nation now?
Of course, I’m not satisfied with many faces but that’s
not what you get.
You once nursed an ambition to
become president…?
(Cuts in) I actually despise the use of that word
‘ambition’. I had a desire as a citizen to work with other citizens to create a
better society. But if some other citizens don’t like it, then I can take a bow
and face other things that I can do. If it is ambition, it becomes do or die.
My attitude is that, if we had political parties, you would not be offering
yourself, the leaders of the political party would identify credible persons
that they want to project for elective positions, bring them into their party
to vie for elective positions on their platforms. But here, any armed robber
that presents N10million, gets ticket to become a governor. Most of the people
who lead in Nigeria should be jailed. And I’m carrying an international
campaign to make sure many of them end up in jail in The Hague.
As an economist, what is your
take on the fall in oil price and the implication on our economy?
We must stop waste in government. The wastage is just too
much. Any thug who calls himself a Special Assistant has a motorcade. In some
countries in Africa, a president goes around with just one car and one security
car, South Africa is a good example. Here, every minister, deputy governor is
wasting public funds. We have to be more rigorous in making decisions. We’ve
just spent N19 billion organising a national conference. What for? If I get N19
billion, I will ensure that every child that goes to school in Nigeria has a
free meal, and that would bring more kids to school. I will make sure the
teachers are better prepared and well motivated; the kids would get excited
and stay in school. And once they go through school and learn well, they would
be able to choose their own FUTURE.
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