‘Wrong persons have taken over Nigeria’s political space’

A political economist and management expert, Prof Pat Utomi has blamed the failure of governance at the three tier of government on the erroneous choice of leaders by Nigerians.

Utomi asserted that about 99 per cent of the Nigerian population made a major mistake in electing those representing them in government as well as leaders presiding over affairs of the country.

He made the claim at the launch of The Art Of Refinement a book on etiquette, written by founder of Poise Nigeria, Mrs Mavis Isibo, in Lagos.

In particular, he said the culture of allocation and sharing would only result in an impoverished country bedevilled by violence and crime

His words: “Nigerians should be blamed for the country present condition and my message to the people is that: “politicians won’t save you, economist won’t save you, you will save yourself and the only way to save yourself is by learning to produce; Nigeria must produce or die. Unless we change our attitude, we would be a very poor country ravaged by violent for a long time.

“My massage to the President is ‘an effective leadership involves inclusion and inclusion means not only listening to the people around you because those around you will always tell you what you want to hear, you must talk to people who don’t come to you.”

According to him, while some people hope for the ideal with optimal outcomes, the reality on ground was negative because most people in politics today were not prepared for public life.

“We have all kind of explanation but the truth of the matter is that 99 per cent of the Nigerian population made a major error in terms of people who enter into the political space; they were not the people who should be allowed to go into public life. Now, they’ve shaped this season in our lives either for good or for ill; whether we like it or not they have set the tone and the only thing they understand is the hustle of what you can get for yourself.

“Politics has become hunter game, where you hunt down game and share, a singer will say ‘share the gala share the blues’ whereas it should be sacrificial giving that allows you to make tomorrow greater than yesterday. What has happened to us in Nigeria is that we have consumed our own, that of our children and trying hard to consume that of our grand children; and it is more obvious the way we have treated our mineral resources especially the petroleum, and this continue to affect our politics.

“I have a bigger theory which I call the class of 66, a group of young officers who took Nigeria in 1966 and we’ve been in state of capture for 50 years.”

Poise Nigeria is a company established to provide training services that foster the ideals of proper social and business etiquette, good communication skills and improved personality projection for Business Executives.

Utomi who is a co-founder of the Lagos Business School and chairman of Poise Nigeria said that the country has lost ‘social graces’ because things were not done the right way due insufficient knowledge.

“I am here because I have been associated with Poise initiative from the very beginning. Mrs Osibo as a banker then, came to meet me at the Lagos Business School about the idea and since then, I have been serving on the board; as a chairman of the board, I think it’s a very important work to get people mentally, aesthetically, and valued disposition inclined to doing things properly,” he stated.