Former presidential candidate, Professor Pat Utomi has advised Nigerian youths not to be dissuaded by bad governance but get educated to overcome false consciousness of ethnicity, religion and corruption that have held the country bound.
Utomi, who marks his 65th birthday anniversary this Saturday, said young people must not allow the system to get to them nor be discouraged because they are the majority and are more knowledgeable.
Activities for the celebration include, virtual CVL annual lecture on February 5th, while mass thanksgiving service is at the Church of the Assumption Falomo, Lagos on Saturday by 10am.
The Fellow of the Institute of Management Consultants of Nigeria and founder of Centre for Value in Leadership and the African Democratic Congress emphasised that what the youth must do is to educate themselves, be relieved and focus on the things that inspire social harmony, create opportunity for production, influence, and affluence.
He said, “If they allow the dying gasps of a corrupt and unwise hegemon chase them from the promise of the redemption of a race that has borne the brunt of injustice for 500 years, they may have to live with the guilt of the new 1, 000 years of slavery the black man may endure if Nigeria fails. I hear those who are emigrating usually tweet on arriving at the other side ‘Bye-bye Nigeria; the evil you have done is enough’. That evokes two passions in me: how those who have effectively captured Nigeria sleep well knowing this is how their watch is remembered, and how those who tweet bye-bye Nigeria fail to see the acceptance of defeat in that statement. Life is not a tea party.”
Speaking on the struggle for a better Nigeria, the professor of political economy and management expert said, Nigeria should be the light on the hill and a place blooming with prosperity, but the unfortunate admixture of selfishness of many in power, laced with ignorance, arrogance in ignorance and a tepid followership that foot drags about becoming citizens has crippled the promise of Nigeria. Conscience, he said has not let him keep quiet in the face of such travesty.
He said, “The truth is that struggle became my life. It did not come from a romanticisation of struggle, like some of my Aluta friends. I neither embraced Marx nor hung a Che Guevara poster in my room in the university. I was actually a tie-wearing 18-year old. Even as a young PhD my Marxist friends, including many who would enter public life and become the ultimate establishment people, called me a ‘Bourgeoisie apologist’ once upon a time.”
“For some reasons, it pleased God to give me a sensitive conscience. I cringed always in the face of injustice. And I am even more hurt when those who perpetuate injustice, to gain personal material and power advantage are so ignorant that they do not realise that they do even greater harm to themselves in the medium to long-term from the damage they inflict with impunity.
According to him, the gaping wound of conscience has caused much pain and put a life structured to be simple on the course of struggle that is now nearly 50 years running.
“But there are upsides when I think of my struggles. From undergraduate days it was about the inclusion of students in public policy formulation. Then it was the long struggle against impunity under military rule, which culminated in the June 12 annulment confrontations”, he added.
