…says nation on the throes of collapse

John Alechenu, Abuja

Foremost Nigerian Political Economist, Prof. Pat Utomi, has said Nigeria needs strong institutions now more than ever before because the nation is in the depths of a national crisis.

He also expressed sadness that our politics has instead of helping to build, has further weakened our institutions; thus setting the stage for what may lead to the nation’s eventual collapse if not properly managed.

Utomi said this during his intervention at a the premier conclave of the new tribe of Patriots for the Nigerian Restoration, in Abuja, on Wednesday.

He explained that the weakening of our institutions coupled with the collapse of our shared values, has dealt a huge blow on our quest to build a Nigeria of the dreams of our founding fathers.

This, he noted, cannot be divorced from the socio-economic turmoil Nigeria is currently grappling with at the sub-national and national levels.

He argued that values shape human progress just as strong institutions remain critical to the growth of any society.

Utomi said, “Politics has further weakened our institutions, no one takes INEC as an institution seriously anymore. Institutions are critical to the growth of any soceity, values shape human progress.

“No normal Nigerian is in doubt that we are in the depths of a national crisis. Some may come to an interpretation of the crisis from prisms shaped by partisanship or where the divergence stoked by the dichotomy of Emotion and Reason has created chasms of gaps between ‘us and them’.

“ It is not my purpose to probe into those now but rather to recognize the universal frustration among Nigerians and the friends of Nigeria with the state of the country.

“Whether it be in the state of insecurity that spares no part of the country, or in the poverty that ravages the land of a people whose factor endowments aggressively wave signals of potential prosperity it is a time of pain for all.

“If I look from the angle of the toxic politics of the times, weak and failing institutions, and collapse of culture that benchmark the generation, an even great anguish of distress is proclaimed by both the strong and the weak, the poor and the rich, and even the committed and despondent waiting to Japa.

“How did we get here, many ask? The answer is legion. From the demise of merit while trying to compete in a modern era shape by an aristocracy of talent; the erosion of the principles of subsidiarity as corruption which drove centralization when resource income from oil affected decision making; and the rise of money politics.

“To do nothing in the face of this national horror show is not an option. Faced with far less ominous forebodings 30 years ago when the elections were annulled I had called out professionals to chant we must say ‘never again’ and work for a new order to begin with the end of military rule.

“Today, I am moved to call out the remnants and charge them with building a new tribe of Nehemiahs, patriots who walk their talk, live their professed values and Labour in deferred gratification that the next generation may have a better life than the one before.

“I desire this to be a sounding of the Dubar horseman’s trumpet, the bata percussions and the Ekwe through the citizens ears to his heart that the African way is Ubuntu- I am because we are- but that the resource curse has driven greed that has set us on paths which are unsustainable and will require of a new tribe of rescue the purposeful building of institutions and shared values by which a Nigerian can be honorifically recognizable from a long way off.

“My journey to this meeting began nearly 25 years ago when a senior diplomat in Lagos said to me ‘I respect what you stand for but you have to admit that global perception of Nigeria’s national character is that of scammers. It may not be fair to people like you. But it creates a duty for people like you to change that.’

“That painful conversation led to my setting up the Centre for Values in Leadership in 2004. But the remarkable work done there and at Centres like Lux Terra, The Kukah Centre and SPPG do not seem to be effecting change fast enough for pace of collapse of culture, corruption and the Criminal Hijack of politics.

“We must, in addition to trying to articulate our shared values, sensitize and educate the people that character matters and that room not be allowed in public life for people whose character cannot be vouched for and whose antecedents do not include service to community and neighbours from very early age.

“We must seek it to be norm that unless you have lived transparently in the true glass house you should not be model to young people by enjoying the halo of the Stu’s conferral function of the media.

“That also requires a watch of the media. Both tasks belong to civil society, not so much that of the NBC which is increasingly anti-freedom of expression and an instrument of Fascist advance in Nigeria.”
In her remarks at the event, former Minister of Education, Dr. Oby Ezekwesili, noted that it was time for those who still believe in Nigeria to rally around and do a dispassionate evaluation of where we are and how we got here.
She explained that a lot has changed over the years because the younger generation “…have watched people in our generation fail them over and over again.”

The former minister, however, noted that young people can now look at people who symbolize the ideal and would want not only to identify but stand with such people.

While stressing the importance of building strong institutions, she said institutions represent the way people do things adding, “The truth be told, some of the people who have taken the biggest bashing are those who stand for (true) values.”

According to her, integrity is the core of values and until we are able to reach a consensus on our values which threshold cannot be defined by the amount of money one is exposed to, endemic corruption will continue to frustrate development efforts.

Ezekwesili further said, “Character, competence and capacity must form the basis for our leadership recruitment process,” for us to make meaningful progress.

Speaking in a similar vein, a former Minister of Finance, Mrs. Nanedi Usman, argued that while it made sense to talk about bad leadership, it was equally important to talk about the followers.

She said until the followers are made to realise that those who occupy public offices are there to provide services towards greater good as against stealing public funds and distributing same to the public under various guises, there will remain a huge task ahead.

Usman also called for value reorientation at all levels noting that gone are the days when people ask the right questions when individuals with literally no visible means of livelihood flaunt ill gotten wealth.”