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Tag: Pat Utomi

  • What exactly does Pat Utomi want?

    What exactly does Pat Utomi want?

    Patrick Okedinachi Utomi, popularly known as Pat Utomi, is a professed intellectual, who has been walking the corridors of power and business since his twenties. Born in 1956, he was drafted into politics early to serve in the Shehu Shagari administration (1979-1983). He would later serve in the Goodluck Jonathan administration. Along the line, he also served on the management or Boards of various companies, beginning with the defunct Volkswagen of Nigeria Limited, where he was Assistant General Manager of Corporate Affairs. He was not even 30 yet.

    Now at almost 70, he cannot imagine himself far from either corridor, especially the political corridor to which he has turned maximum attention in the last 20 years or so. No one doubts that Utomi wants the best for Nigeria. However, genuine intellectuals often cringe when they find him inserting himself in discussions about power and even seeking political power for himself. It makes observers think that the best he wants for Nigeria is to create room for himself or his associates in power.

    This is one of several reasons why the criticism of his newfound approach to speaking truth to power has been vociferous. Of course, the power he wants to criticize is the one held by President Bola Ahmed Tinubu of the All Progressives Congress, who defeated the candidate of Utomi’s party, the Labour Party, in the 2023 presidential election. Nothing, of course, is wrong with the Labour Party, and other opposition parties, criticizing the government in power.

    But there is something wrong with Utomi’s novel approach. Noticing that LP, his latest political party, was crumbling, he chose to go beyond it, instead of helping to rebuild it. Observers quickly read through him and concluded that such a use-and-dump approach is consistent with Utomi’s political trajectory—the tendency to run away from a political party that does not, or may not, favour him anymore.

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    Utomi’s political trajectory speaks volume in this regard. In 2007, he was the candidate of the African Democratic Party for President. He lost. In the following election in 2011, Utomi had moved to join another party, the Social Democratic Mega Party, and was adopted as its presidential candidate. He lost in the general election and the SDMP died with that election. Sensing that the presidency might not be his lot soon, he veered to the governorship. So, in 2019, he joined the APC and obtained the governorship ticket of a faction of the party in Delta state. Eventually, that faction was discredited.

    Back to the presidency again. In 2021, in preparation for the 2023 presidential election, Utomi joined with others in seeking to form yet another mega party. At the end of the day, however, he joined a fourth political party, the Labour Party, to contest for its presidential ticket. He claimed he stepped down for Peter Obi during the primary. He would later join him in the campaigns. Now that the Labour Party is in turmoil, Utomi sensed that it may no longer be an appropriate vehicle for him to criticize the President. He needs a clean slate!

    Now you might ask: What alternative golden ideas just occurred to Utomi on the eve of President Tinubu’s midterm mark, when the political tempo has been rising toward the 2027 presidential election? There’s nothing bad, of course, in criticizing an administration at anytime. What is rather strange about Utomi’s plan is the process. He began in April with what he termed “Freedom Converge”, a mobilised group of 7.2 million Nigerians to converge on Abuja to reclaim the country from “entrenched systems of state capture and self-serving leadership”. The protest, he emphasized, will last nearly one month. And here’s a real threat: “If they try to stop us, somebody may stop them. Let them be sure of that.”

    But before the planned protest, another idea. Within three weeks of announcing Freedom Converge, Utomi launched the “Big Tent Coalition Shadow Government” as a “national emergency response” to President Tinubu’s policy failures. The group, drawn from various opposition parties, would meet every week to deliberate on policy failures in every sector of national life and propose alternatives. All well and good. But why Shadow Government in a presidential system? Even in parliamentary democracies, where the concept of shadow cabinet belongs, members of such a cabinet hold elected political positions in their party, but their party is not in government. No matter your status in the opposition party, you cannot belong to the shadow cabinet unless you have been elected. Any shadow cabinet or shadow government beyond this established norm is viewed as subversive.

    Of what use is a name that raises eyebrows which may obscure whatever good intentions may be behind the formation of Utomi’s group? Developments like this one that make many a professor cringe at Utomi’s actions and pronouncements.

    Some fellow professors have argued that Utomi really has little or nothing to offer beyond drawing attention to himself. When I argued otherwise, they directed me to his old columns and TV programme, named Patito’s Gang. Before he made his point in his columns, he would take you to the latest country he visited, the latest political figure he met, his most recent conference at a topflight university, or the most recent book he read! A similar tactic pervaded Patito’s Gang, his defunct TV programme.

    While these media outings may brand him as a public intellectual, his political participations betray his intellectual disposition. An elder statesman once asked me, “How many true professors can you name who jumped from one political party to another three or four times in search of a presidential or governorship ticket? What’s the difference between Utomi and Atiku Abubakar in that respect?”

    These are questions that raise other questions: What exactly does Utomi want? He alone can answer that question.

    As I indicated last week, no political noise should be ignored as election time approaches. Some noises are full of sound and fury but they signify nothing. Other noises are symbolic in that they stand for something else. In politics, neither type of noise should be ignored. In particular, Pat Utomi’s political noise should not be ignored because it is more than noise.

  • Utomi’s shadow cabinet

    Utomi’s shadow cabinet

    There is no length some Nigerians will not go in their absurd interpretation of democracy, including by those who ought to know better. Pat Utomi, a professor of political economy and Labour Party (LP) chieftain, last week announced the formation of a shadow cabinet that mimics the British parliamentary system of government. According to Prof. Utomi, the shadow cabinet would be called ‘The Big Coalition Shadow Government’. Here is the professor’s rationalisation : “The recent spate of defections to the All Progressives Congress provides further evidence that all is not well with democracy in Nigeria. The imperative is that if a genuine opposition does not courageously identify the performance failures of incumbents, offer options, and influence culture in a counter direction, it will be complicit in subverting the will of the people.”

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    The Bola Tinubu administration has predictably responded to the anomalous shadow cabinet declaration. They denounced and dismissed it as sharply antithetical to the presidential system of government, insisting that “Our bicameral legislature amply features members of the opposition, and it should be the right place to contest meaningful ideas for nation-building.” It is doubtless necessary for the administration to ridicule the LP’s and Prof. Utomi’s attempt to transpose systems, but given the eminent professor’s track record, not to talk of the LP’s mediocre methods, the shadow cabinet idea will flounder as usual and ultimately expire without any effort. It is risible and unworkable.

  • Don Quixote Utomi

    Don Quixote Utomi

    No one can honestly say Prof. Pat Utomi has not given his views, as to how Nigerians could face down — and probably solve — the contemporary problems of Nigeria.

    His challenge has always been his plasticity.  This penchant is again all too glaring in his so-called “shadow cabinet”, to pronounce on the current federal order.

    Why does Pat Utomi always act and sound like Nigeria’s 21st century Don Quixote tilting at the windmills, when real issues evade him — or he evades real issues? — in his humongous passion for cloud chasing?

    When IBB and co annulled Basorun MKO Abiola’s June 12, 1993 presidential mandate, Pato — as not a few hailed him — trucked out in a peaceful protest with Concerned Professionals (CP).  But when NADECO was waging the real anti-military war, Pato and CP had fizzled out like dew before the first rays of the morning sun.

    Then, the era of Patito’s Gang on TV!  Patito — read Pat Utomi — and his intellectual “gang”, white shirts with ties, sleeves rolled-up like some wanna-be American politicians pontificated, without end, on business ethics, good governance, corporate governance, sound business and growth strategies, among other normative themes.

    Yet, at least two of these corporate dramatics hardly measured up to these high ideals in real life.  Utomi lugs unflattering business failures: when the Volkswagen of Nigeria (VOA) collapsed, he was deputy managing director (DMD) and acting CEO.  At Bank PHB he was board chairman.  Both ventures sank, though through no personal culpability from Utomi’s end.

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    The other went from a high-flying newspaper columnist, got bivouacked with a failed presidency as a spokesman, raced into politics as running mate to a controversial figure — the type the Patito show would shun with white rage. Indeed, talk is cheap!

    Then now, Utomi’s “shadow cabinet” set to huff and puff over governance — to be sure, no crime in a democracy.  But the clear irony: Utomi and his so-called shadow cabinet are latter-day Labour Party (LP) emergency “ideologues” — not because they believe in social democracy, but because they tried to gift Peter Obi’s 2023 deceit and opportunism a philosophical coat it hardly merited.

    Now, LP is in chaos, but the Utomi-led philosophers are “porting” to new busybody rackets!  Shouldn’t this so-called shadow cabinet first attempt to sort out the LP demons; and theorize on Obi who couldn’t even manage a crisis in a party, yet proclaims himself the best-ever born crisis manager for Nigeria? 

    Now, LP is suspending its sole governor and its elected legislators — and vice-versa — and Utomi’s shadow cabinet is focusing attention on a tutorial for the federal order!  Seriously?  Why not fix darling LP first?

    It’s the Don Quixote in everyone of them!  Let Utomi and co keep tilting at the wheels.  People who really matter shape real events without Utomi and gang’s  comical dramatics!  Shadow cabinet my foot!

  • Nigeria’s democracy not working, says Pat Utomi

    Nigeria’s democracy not working, says Pat Utomi

    Political economy expert, Pat Utomi has claimed that the lack of “real” political parties in Nigeria prevents the country from functioning as a democracy.

    He said the concentration on elections as a means of seizing power is unique to Nigeria.

    He said this during an interview on Arise TV, on Tuesday.

    He said: “Nigeria is not a working democracy, and part of our efforts is to make our democracy work before people think about the next election. Countries don’t grow by waiting for the next electoral process; countries grow through the founding of political parties.

    “I can say without any feeling of wrongness that we don’t have a political party in Nigeria today. What we have been able to couple together since 199 has been a platform for machine politics, where the game is to grab power rightly or wrongly and share spoils.”

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    He said that he has discussed a merger to improve the nation with the front-runners in the general elections in 2023.

    Utomi said: “My view is clear on this matter, let’s build a great party that can make Nigeria better. When we then build it, the people from different social movements, in addition to the political parties that come into this one party, subscribe to certain values and ideologies of how you make a nation happen, can then present those who seem interested can go forward.

    “This is what Nigeria needs, and must have but shouldn’t be about some individuals advertising that they are the ones who should go forward, Nigerians will determine that.”

  • Pat Utomi’s fascination with revolution

    Pat Utomi’s fascination with revolution

    Pat Utomi, a political economist and Convener of the Big Tent, has been fascinated with revolutions for a very long time. Every time he is frustrated, he advocates revolution. In this election cycle, he berthed at the Labour Party (LP) port, working with and currying votes for the LP presidential candidate, Peter Obi. With Mr Obi’s resounding losses both at the Presidential Election Petition Court (PEPC) in September and the Supreme Court last Thursday, Prof Utomi is expected to become more strident in his quest for revolution. As recent as late last month, he still called for a revolution, insisting that social upheaval was knocking at the door. He spoke exultantly and blithely about revolution almost as if he could constrain it in a test tube, once it began, virtually certain that it would respect his imagined boundaries.

    But for every revolution that seemed to have delivered a favorable outcome, there have been two or more that miscarried, with attendant loss of lives on a scale that is unimaginable. Those advocating revolution must take care to ensure that such a fraught solution to social and political crisis can deliver on its promises and sustain the idealism of their fancies. The French and Russian revolutions, probably the most ballyhooed of revolutions, certainly never assumed the utopia they were cracked up to be. Prof. Utomi uses the revolution concept interchangeably with national transformation, as he in fact did in 2019 when he commented on social activist Omoyele Sowore’s quest for revolution. The two concepts were virtually the same, the eminent professor chimed, citing the case of South Korea that had to engage at a point in a reset of its national template. If any country needed a revolution, the professor suggested four years ago, it was Nigeria.

    In February and March 2011, Prof. Utomi was even more bellicose, indicating that his characteristic impatience with Nigeria’s political slothfulness predated his largely unprincipled and probably ethnic-induced excursion into Mr Obi’s LP. Let us crash this democracy, he had bellowed. As he put it: “We have a fundamental problem. We have to bring this system down completely and rebuild.” Astounded, his interviewer had asked him if he could elucidate on his pithy comment. “Destroy it,” he said fiercely. Unsure whether he heard the professor right, the gobsmacked interviewer probed further whether the professor was talking about destroying the democratic system. Prof. Utomi doubled down. “Crash the whole thing. It is not working for Nigeria; it will not work for Nigeria,” he said, lips quivering with anger. The current political situation, not to say the failure of his lionised presidential candidate, Mr Obi, and the severity of the humiliating losses in the courts must have sent the eminent political economist into a rage.

    His most recent call last month for revolution was spiced with allusions and illustrations from diverse parts of the world. His excursionary mention of Brazil, Somalia and notable social scientists and development economists all culminated in the intemperate assertion that the Nigerian system had become so crooked as to be unworthy of being patched up or saved. As he said, “My problem is not whether the Nigerian revolution is imminent; it is knocking on the door. The burden on my soul is that it could be the dawning of Robert Kaplan’s Coming Anarchy that may be a chauffeur-driven passage on the road to Somalia.” Earlier, in the same piece, he had concluded dismally: “…But today…I watch a legitimacy drought-stricken Abuja rush to do what it perceives as the desire of Paris and Washington DC against the interest of the people of Nigeria and Niger.” Here, he was of course referencing current political realities and frustrations which he thought ought to have produced only one outcome, to wit: “…In most countries, the angry poor would have poured into the streets, but this is Nigeria.”

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    It has probably not occurred to him that his history of political diatribe lends itself to only one possible conclusion: that once he fails to get what he wants, he prefers to throw away the baby with the bathwater. It is curious that he does not seem bothered that his extreme and repeated responses to Nigeria’s existential crises pigeonholes him, a notable intellectual supposedly gifted with a wider vista than the ordinary commentator, into the same cocoon as the hysterical Oby Ezekwesili, Chimamanda Adichie, Charles Oputa, aka Charly Boy, and a host of others. His intellectual vista is much wider, and he has cultivated the friendship of far more enlightened and liberal social scientists enough to lead him to better and deeper understanding of how societies work or unravel. But in his association with Mr Obi inside the stifling LP vehicle they borrowed to prosecute their political agenda, the professor has been dismissive, unyielding, acerbic and obviously annihilative. Yet, Mr Obi was for much of his campaign before the elections pedantic, unideological, incoherent, divisive, and in a disturbing sense even theocratic. Had the LP candidate won the presidential race last February, it is unclear Prof. Utomi would be so apocalyptic. There is ultimately something self-serving, if not quite naïve, and something rather regional and insular about the professor who pretends to be cosmopolitan and academic.

    Whether national transformation or revolution, Prof. Utomi’s advocacy does not appear as altruistic and nationalistic as he seems to suggest. Much worse, he and others like him calling for a revolution and inciting the public on all sides simply don’t know what they are wishing. The Roman Empire could not sustain its power for more than a 1,000 years, that is discounting Byzantium; nor did Greece, Medo-Persia, the Chaldeans and the Babylonians last for eternity. Even Marxism, whether of the Russian, Chinese or Yugoslavian variety, has all but petered out. Cuba’s socialism has lost steam. Yet these were well founded ideological systems that had a purpose and drive. Prof. Utomi’s call for revolution is not based on any ideological foundations, nor has he suggested any structured and systematic template to guide an understanding of the kind of society he visualises. What is clear is that he wants some general improvement in how institutions and structures are run in Nigeria. What is not clear is why anyone who has studied European history up to the modern era, including their revolutions of 1848, would believe that a civic culture could only be birthed by a revolution, not to talk of one promoted so discordantly by Prof Utomi?      

  • Don’t ignore warning on possible recession, Utomi tells Nigerians

    A professor of political economy, Pat Utomi, has said the alarm the Chairman of Nigeria Governors’ Forum (NGF) and Zamfara State Governor Abdulaziz Yari raised about a likely round of recession by mid-2020 should not be taken lightly.

    The renowned economist called for decisive steps to ensure that the country becomes a producing nation.

    He warned that if proactive steps are not taken to ensure that Nigeria joins the league of producing nations, it may become a failed nation.

    Utomi spoke at the seventh edition of a capacity development summit, titled: Excelling in Emerging Economies, convened by the Resident Pastor of House On the Rock, Harvest House, Ibadan, Pastor Idowu Ogedengbe.

    The event held at Ibadan Business School.

    He said: “It’s all about production and output. We are still relying too much on crude oil prices to determine the direction of our economy. That is not good. There is very little we can do to control the direction of pricing of crude oil. The general trend points to a southward trend, even if it holds momentarily, because there is anxiety over Iran or other developments, politically.

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    “The bottom-line is that oil prices are going to tack. There are so many alternatives: America is pumping so much shale that they are going to become leading reserves for fossil fuels in the world; their interest is to keep the prices low and make money in their economy cheap.

    “So, you can’t but expect the prices to go south, and south is the key basis for supporting consumption economies that do not produce and in which public officials will spend a fortune.

    “I think it is difficult to anticipate a recession. If the output quarter-on-quarter will keep suffering at this stage, I won’t be surprised if there is one (recession). But a recession is a technical thing; it is an indicator. But what is important is how much are we emphasise production.”

    Utomi noted that 40 years ago, Nigeria was ahead of China in manufacturing, adding that the reverse had become the case.

  • ‘Lack of Committed, Idea-driven Leadership, bane of Delta’s development’

    Renowned Economist, Professor Pat Utomi, has identified lack of idea-driven and committed leadership as the bane of development in his home state of Delta.

    Professor Utomi, a front runner in the race to the Delta state governorship on the platform of the All Progressives Congress (APC), disclosed this while speaking with journalists at the end of a consultative interaction with the leadership of the Ijaw elements within the party in Warri.

    The academic, who also noted that the crisis rocking the party in the state would not impede its chances of claiming the state from the ruling Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), said it would only take two years to make development sustainable, noting the first step to be its public ownership.

    “The development process is such that if you get it right, you get ownership of it and people owned the process. Two years is enough to make it irreversible. If it belongs to the people, nobody will be able to take it and that is what is important.  That we create a sustainable process which can take place within two years. There are a number of cities that are famous in the world for unbelievable development.

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    “When I first passed through Dubai several years ago, it was desert village, but today the progress happened so fast that it is not reversible. Singapore was just a fishing village that no where near Burutu and today is the highest per capital income in the world. It takes a committed leader that people realized that self-sacrificing to do this

    “My political life is about ideas, commitment towards serving the people with passion because anything we can dream, we can make up. It’s the absence of a clear dream and passionate commitment that has kept us back. People who are not as smart as us have made so much progress. So, what we need is smart political leaders and this kind of engagement provide us such opportunity for that”, he said.

    Speaking on his reason for consorting with the Ijaw elements in the party, Utomi said he is very much a part of the Ijaw movement, recalling his contributions to the Ijaw struggle over the years.

    “I have been at the center of the Ijaw struggle for about twenty years.  I don’t come to you as an outsider but as one of you. One of the things that brought me into the governorship race is the pain of the Ijaw. If we were a serious people Burutu would have been what Lagos is today, its location encourages global economy “, he said.

    Speaking on behalf of his group, the leader of Ijaw in APC, Delta state, Pastor Aginighan commended Utomi for the visit , saying the Ijaw nation would want him to meet with them again in the riverine village so he would be very acquainted with the challenges of their area.

  • 2019: ‘Without PVCs, you are wasting time’

    A Political Economist, Prof. Pat Utomi, has urged Nigerian youth to take advantage of their voting rights to actualise their desired change.

    Utomi, who made the call in an interview with our reporter on Tuesday in Lagos, encouraged them to get their Permanent Voter Cards (PVCs) ahead of the 2019 general elections.

    He noted that voting was the only powerful tool to effect change in government.

    The political economist said that beyond agitation, youths must rise to the challenges of nation-building and governance.

    According to him, the time has come for the younger generation to take vantage positions in leading political parties in the country.

    ”If the youths are serious about changing their position, all they need to do is to organise themselves with the technology available to them to say that the future belongs to them.

    ”They can also go and be part of the ongoing voter registration to get their Permanent Voter Cards to vote for the candidates of their choice. It is legal and it is your civic responsibility.

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     ”Without the cards, you are wasting your time. If you are complaining about bad governance, I will ask you, did you get your PVC? Did you vote? Or did you stand up to protect your vote?”

    Utomi advised the youths to positively engage the government, to support efforts to make Nigeria a better place to live in.

    ”I was already engaging the government as early as 19 years and it is well over 40 years now that I have been doing that.

    ”As a 21-year-old corps member working in a newspaper magazine, I caused a cabinet reshuffling through my investigative report, and at 27, I became a member of presidential advisory committee.

    ”I have been on the stage since then and I see no reason youths cannot follow my footsteps. The youths can have a paradigm shift from the old order if they are resolute,” he said.

    Utomi said the power to change the government is now flexible with social media.

    He charged the youth to get their PVCs, saying without it and their active participation, they would just be wasting their time.

     

    NAN

  • Wole Soyinka, Pat Utomi, others honour Prof. Ademola Abass at 50

    The 2nd edition of an International Law book titled Complete International Law, Text, Cases and Material has been unveiled in commemoration of the 50th birthday of Professor Ademola Abass, at Sky Lounge Bar of Eko Hotel, Lagos, at the weekend.

    An exquisite gathering, there was no boring moment at the book presentation, as guests were treated to the best, not losing sight of the celebrant’s golden age. With Comedian Senator, a master of ceremony that cracked guests up; musical interlude with Nigerian soulful singer, Jodie and so much to eat and drink, the event soared.

    The launch of the book was helmed by the Nobel Laureate, Professor Wole Soyinka who congratulated the celebrant, endorsing the book as the most essential for all International Law students.

    Soyinka who was Special Guest at the event urged the Federal Government to place serious emphasis on education and security in the country.

    For the celebrant, it was more than just celebrating 50, “It’s about impacting Nigerian students,” he said.

    “Today is focused on what I’m trying to use my birthday to celebrate, which is to make one of my books available to Nigerian students. I had my International Law book published in the UK which unfortunately, Nigerian students had no access to but I was ready to take it back to Nigeria and publish here, so I’m here today to present the book.

    “Actually my birthday was 24th of April, but I was away from the country. I just thought I could bring a few friends together and have some fun,” he said.

    Prof. Abass further pressed on how to make the book affordable and acceptable to all students, saying that books published in the UK are a bit expensive: “My worry is that what will be the value I am adding to Nigerian students, especially of International Law. So, I thought the book should be published by a Nigerian publisher. It’s an essential book for all international law students to have.”

    He finally persuaded Law students not to only focus in the practicing of law in court, but they should also write, teach and research Law.

    The event was graced by other distinguished personalities like Prof. Pat Utomi and Vice-Chancellor of the Lagos State University, Prof. Olanrewaju Fagbohun and others.

    Professor Ademola Abass was educated at the University of Lagos, Nottingham and Cambridge, where he obtained a PhD in International Law.

    Currently serving as the Special Adviser to the Governor of Lagos State on Overseas Affairs and Investment, Prof Abass previously taught law in various British universities, and was Professor of International Law and Organization.

    His recent works include Protecting Human Security in Africa (Oxford University Press, 2010); Complete International Law, Text, Cases and Materials (Oxford University Press, 2012, 2014); Regional Protection of Asylum Seekers: An International Legal Perspective (with Francesca Ippolito) (Ashgate, 2013).

  • Only ‘popular movement’ can rescue Nigeria, says Obasanjo

    Only ‘popular movement’ can rescue Nigeria, says Obasanjo

    Former President Olusegun Obasanjo has said there is need for a popular movement to enthrone progressive leadership required to make Nigeria a great country in Africa. He said Nigeria has disappointed Africa in providing needed leadership in post-military era.

    Although, the ex-president did not specifically mention any regime; he said the nation deserved a better leadership to enable it play front role in Africa’s socio-economic development. He said the only way out of the development quagmire in which the nation plunged is for the masses to form non-partisan “popular movement” that would serve as credible alternative to the current national leadership.

    The former president spoke yesterday at the 15th Lecture and International Leadership Symposium with the theme: Leadership and Performance in Africa: The Challenge of the Continent’s Economic Competitiveness, organised by Centre for Value Leadership (CVL) in Muson Center, Onikan, Lagos. CVL is a leadership think-tank founded by Prof. Pat Utomi.

    Obasanjo said: “The first generation of leaders in this country, whatever you say about them, gave us independence. They helped in the transition from colonial power to indigenous leadership. Within their knowledge, their experience and exposure, these first generation leaders did their best. But then, they made mistake, which led to the transition to the military era. Later, there was another transition to democracy.

    “The nation has also witnessed transition from one civilian regime to another within a political party and from one political party to another. But, there is another important transition which the country requires right now; this is the transition to popular movement to give people credible alternatives. Until we are able to achieve this, we are not going anywhere.”

    Read Also: ‘Obasanjo’s coalition full of corrupt politicians’

    Obasanjo, who made a dramatic walk to the podium by removing his agbada (flowing gown), noted that Nigeria must appreciate and acknowledge its diversity if there must be socio-economic development. He said the much-talked-about development must be predicated on provision of key infrastructure to power the economy.

    The ex-president also said security matter should not be politicised or treated as emotional issue, noting that insecurity does not recognise anyone’s emotion or cultural beliefs. Obasanjo said he disagreed with a statement credited to former United States (U.S.) President Barack Obama, who said Africa needed to build strong institutions and not strong men.

    “I believe we need both strong institutions and strong leaders. If there are no strong leaders, we will not be able to build strong institutions. If strong institutions are established and our leaders are weak, those strong institutions will collapse,” Obasanjo said.

    He warned the nation on the consequence of disparity in education across geopolitical zones, saying what could be worse than Boko Haram could arise if education gap is not bridged.

    Obasanjo said Africa must get leadership, governance and development right before the continent could achieve real growth. He said Africa still lagged behind in economic growth because some leaders don’t understand basic principle of economics of demand and supply.

    He said countries on the continent must share common prosperity to achieve accelerated development.

    He said: “It is the height of stupidity if you think of yourself alone and you do think not other. In Africa, if Nigeria thinks of itself alone and does not think of the rest of Africa, it would be foolish.”

    In his keynote speech, former Director of United Nations Industrial Development Organisation (UNIDO) and a presidential candidate in Sierra Leone, Mr Kandeh Yumkella, said African leaders must manage demographic transition and invest in energy and infrastructure. He said education, skill acquisition and women empowerment must play key role in the continent’s development policies.