A renowned political economist and former presidential candidate, Prof. Pat Utomi, has said that Nigeria needs leaders with knowledge and global outlook in 2019, if it must pull itself out of the current social, political and economic problems.
Utomi said that the country’s leaders after next year’s polls should be individuals with vision, foresight, who could think out of the box and diversify the economy away from its current almost total dependence on oil.
He said that such calibre of leaders would possess all that would be required to drive the progress and development of the country.
He, therefore, warned that if the country failed to elect such leaders into the various political offices in the 2019 general elections, it would descend into deeper and more serious problems.
Utomi, who is also the Director of the Centre for Leadership and Training, stated this in an interview with our correspondent against the backdrop of the agitation by Nigerians for good governance in the country.
He expressed disappointment in the country’s current leadership, saying there was lack of trust in the current political office holders.
Utomi noted that for good governance and trust to be entrenched, the Nigerian electorate must vote for credible leaders in 2019.
He added that the hope and aspirations Nigerians had at independence for a robust economy due to the country’s abundant natural resources, had vanished, following leadership crises and failed institutions.
Utomi noted that the country would not make any meaningful progress if the same set of leaders were recycled everytime, adding that proper evaluation and accountability should be considered by Nigerians before handing over their mandate to any leader.
He said, “What we need as we prepare for 2019 is a leader that is uncompromising concerning service, committed to transparency and one that has a broad global outlook; what I will call cosmopolitan orientation, that can easily see the dimensions of issues on the domestic fortune.
“If we don’t have such a leader in place, then there will still be serious problems. If we have leaders who don’t have the clue as to utilising other resources other than the oil, then we are in a big problem. Beyond the passion to lead, we need people with knowledge. It is not just about passion to lead my local government or constituency, if that key is missing in terms of knowledge, then you remain an imbecile.
“If we don’t have a leader that has foresight, that has vision, that could see tomorrow from today and be able to convince others to look beyond today, then we will all be groping in the dark. That is what gave credence to the popular statement that when there is no vision, the people perish. So, in our environment, we need leaders that can drive the wheel of progress of Nigeria.
Utomi added, “Due to my work at the centre in leadership training, I have identified a major challenge we have in Nigeria. This is a question of leadership. The strong hope at independence, based on the population of the country and natural endowment, was that Nigeria would become a very big robust economy, but the leadership that evolved immediately after that independence, was not able to midwife this aspiration.
“So we had failed in leadership. And the crisis was compounded through the intervention of the military, which did not allow strong political structures of the institutions. Till today, we are yet to point at a strong structured party to drive our democracy. Without such institutions, we will just be groping in the dark.”
While noting two key factors, voice and accountability, as catalysts for fostering good governance as identified by the United Nations and the World Bank, Utomi said, “Voice belongs to the people and accountability rests on followers and the leadership.
“Nigeria as a nation, is found wanting in these two areas. Every four years, we all go back to the poll to elect the same set of people. We elect them; fold our arms and go to sleep. Four years after, we come back again to vote the same people, who have not been accountable for what they did in the last four years.
“As followership, we need to sit back and really examine ourselves. Have we done that which is needful? We have voice and we have our vote. We need to properly evaluate the leaders who come back after four years to seek our votes again. Have we been able to use our voice and vote to make the desired change we want? The answers that we have had since 1960, is zero.
“Accountability, I have seen Nigeria as an absentee investor. You set up an enterprise and you go to sleep. Of course, what will wake you up from that slumber is liquidation. Since 1960, when we had our independence, many of our leaders, including the followers, have invested and left the investments to go to sleep.”