FORMER Presidential Candidate of the African Democratic Congress (ADC) and co-founder of the Pan-African University, Prof Pat Utomi, is sad over the rot in the education sector and the Federal Government’s handling of its agreement with the Academic Staff Union of Universities (ASUU), issues over which university teachers are currently on strike. In an interview, Utomi also expressed concern on the inability of the various governments to create wealth even as he backed calls for restructuring the polity to devolve more powers to the federating units. Excerpts:

On ASUU strike and falling standard of education

I am very angry with the Federal Executive Council (FEC) in Nigeria. The FEC has become a glorified tenders board. Any time they finish their meeting, they will announce to you that they have approved this contract and that contract. What kind of nonsense is that? FEC should be a high-powered group of people that can solve problems, not to award contracts. You can have a sub-committee to deal with contracts and bring them to the council. The way they sound when they finish these meetings it is like the only reason they go there is to award contracts.

When you look at the transformation agenda, and try to identify the things that will lead to this transformation like how is the government dealing with education? We were looking at some figures of a rating recently: no university in Nigeria made the top 30 in Africa. Even small countries’ universities are ranked higher than Nigerian universities. How people are able to attend a FEC meeting after seeing statistics like that and sleep in the night amazes me.

Pat Utomi

The education system was a disaster foretold, which has happened. I was watching the ASUU president saying they reached this agreement, nobody has implemented it. How can you reach an agreement and refuse to implement it? If you don’t believe you can do it then don’t reach an agreement. Meanwhile, members of that FEC spend more money traveling, for reasons I don’t know, than is required to revamp Nigeria’s education system. Our priorities are so wrong and that is really what the problem is.

I think that education needs a major review. There should be a state of national emergency. And it is a national emergency that is not resolved in Abuja, We need all stakeholders – teachers, ASUU, communities, educational and bureaucratic institutions, etc.

On autonomy of regional governments

In the 60s, the regional governments did not get allocations. They created wealth. They created environments that enabled investments and taxation to come in. As a young man in Lagos here, I used to see people running frantically from Western Nigeria, which got up to Mushin in those days. By the time they ran across to Lagos University Teaching Hospital (LUTH), they were free, they had entered the Federal Territory. They were running from tax collectors.

The point is, if you create the environment and investments are pouring in and jobs are being created, then you can chase people to pay tax and you can have enough money to carry out projects. But state governments today are all about collecting and sharing, they are not creating wealth.

Look at South_East, the area is dead. All those who have factories in the East are moving them to Lagos and places like that. It is tragic. And the governments are there waiting for allocations. When Chief Michael Okpara was Premier of Eastern Region, that same area that is now dead was at a point boasting to be the fastest growing economy in the world, if separated from the rest of Nigeria.

Why are the people who are leading there today not able to think like Okpara and therefore create the conditions that will lead to wealth being created and people being paid a living wage? There is leadership failure across the board in our country.

On restructuring of the country and devolution of powers

I am in support of devolution of powers. I am particularly in support of what I call zones of development. After you have created the regions, I support the South-East and South-South of Nigeria to constitute a zone of development; Western Nigeria becomes another zone of development; and the North-East, North-West and North-Central as zones of development.

On National Assembly’s latest effort to amend the constitution

I am not sure what their motives are. Many of them who want to become governors want to create states for themselves. Very few of them have a broad vision of how our children and grand_children should live in harmony and prosperity. What we should do is to put personal short time ambitions aside and think, 50 years from now how will my great grand children feel about the country?

http://www.vanguardngr.com/2011/12/govt-today-is-all-about-contracts-and-sharing-pat-utomi/

Well said PU

They wil soon make him a minister or a national award to shut his moutg

ulonnaya21:

I am very angry with the Federal Executive Council (FEC) in Nigeria. The FEC has become a glorified tenders board. Any time they finish their meeting, they will announce to you that they have approved this contract and that contract. What kind of nonsense is that? FEC should be a high-powered group of people that can solve problems, not to award contracts. You can have a sub-committee to deal with contracts and bring them to the council. The way they sound when they finish these meetings it is like the only reason they go there is to award contracts.

http://www.vanguardngr.com/2011/12/govt-today-is-all-about-contracts-and-sharing-pat-utomi/

What else do you expect from a GEJ Government?

'Share the money' is a way of life in Nigerian Government today, just as they've shared it and are enjoying themselves this xmas while the masses suffer. The problem of the country is compounding day by day, Maybe a Sovereign National Conference will take us out of this mess, What do u think?

I need some contracts though.

@ topic.

it is because our leaders are dead upstairs

Utomi hit the nail on the head. this particular government is full of people that are there to collect their share. Projects that are meant to provide basic infrastructure are stretched as long as possible so a contract can be awarded five or six times to different people standing in line for their ''share''.

Meanwhile there is still the 79% recurrent expenditure , while the remaining 21% is pillaged mercilessly. It has gotten so bad that even amidst all the bombs going off and people dying, these pigs are waiting patiently to divide the 927 billion defence budget.

i spit on them

Utomi speaks sense but unfortunately he is not good at the game called politics.

Nigeria needs the Pat Utomis of this world to be much better at organising at the street level.

Come and watch Retardeen supporters pour invectives on him like they did for Okogie who spoke the truth

Well sa1d Utom1

It's only when the boss is serious that his subjects will take him seriously.

It's only when the boss is serious that his subjects will take him seriously.

Thought I was d only one that has noticed that d FEC has become a glorified tenders board.Its nauseating when they make those announcements after dere meetings.U get an impression that they are simply playing to d gallery& av reduced those meetings to a club party

the only good thing is that this govt has opened everybody's eyes FINALLY. PDP must not win presidency again, even if bill clinton and nelson mandela run under the ''umblella'' in 2015

What's the point of great speeches like these if the only purpose they serve is to make us nod our heads in agreement and remind us of what we already know? Surely, these talks don't actually contribute a penny to the change we need in this country. . .

slap1:

What's the point of great speeches like these if the only purpose they serve is to make us nod our heads in agreement and remind us of what we already know? Surely, these talks don't actually contribute a penny to the change we need in this country. . .

SUPPORTED, WE NEED SOLUTION AND ACTION PLEASE.

True talk!

WE need change.[img]http://2.s07.flagcounter.com/count/DymW/bg=E6E6E5/txt=E6E6E5/border=E6E6E5/columns=1/maxflags=1/viewers=3/labels=0/[/img]
[img]http://s07.flagcounter.com/count/DymW/bg=E6E6E5/txt=E6E6E5/border=E6E6E5/columns=1/maxflags=1/viewers=3/labels=0/[/img]

Good. That was the reason Mr snail aka GEJ was made a head of state in the first place. Looting spree, ghost contracts award, sharing wealth, given national honors to caucus members etc. Still yet poor people here clamor for him because of tribal sentiment.

Prof Utomi spoke well. However, those points are obvious even to the man on the street. Nigeria has become and has been run as a company; no longer a country by a few jackass.

Even a comrade who goes into politics, what comes to his friend's minds is: as soon as he is voted in, he is sure to give me contracts. Few thinks beyond that. Embarrasingly, that's just the mind set of some of us. Few dare to ask and mean it: Will he make impact in the life of the people?

The situation leaves much to be desired. We are in dire need of change. This change cannot be brought about by our 'sidon look' attitude, we need to be holistically organised. We need to rise about our differences - tribe, culture, religion, background and personality. We need this change now.

pat u will do d same if u r there. stop making noise.
birds of d same feathers. dats how dey talk but as soon
as dey get there dey carry out d process of metamorphosis.

That is Nigeria Democracy

Same old story.

What other "change" are you clamouring for? Is Goodluck Azikwe Ebele Jonathan not a "change ".
FRESH AIR INDEED

Do you think Pat utomi would have made a difference if he was President me, I don't believe its possible, the proponent of the big bang theory paper Profs., sorry to say, critically speaking is their any synonym between paper(books) and human beings, but truthfully speaking, Naa contract for this and that dem dey always sharing, at their FEC meeting no proper discussion on the kid of policy direction which is attainable and implementable by the government no comprehensive study of submission by each minister on the direction in which they want to move their ministries in the short and medium term questions are not being asked on the effect of these policies, how they would be implemented, prioritization of government plans contigency planning but Naa lie our clueless uncle Joe is doing something else.

jenny b:

pat u will do d same if u r there. stop making noise.
birds of d same feathers. dats how dey talk but as soon
as dey get there dey carry out d process of metamorphosis.

Our external reserve has been grossly depleted by these ravaging wolves in human skin.By the time GEJ complests his tenure of no return, there will be no money in our external reserve and the nation will experience a total bankrupt.Poverty, hardship,insecurity,unemployment etc will the order of the day.Let Jonathan resign now.

Governance by deceit . They are just going thru the motions knowing very well that they are pretending . The driving force is greed and they are empty. The south was suppose to be educated and civilized . There is no evidence of that in the 8 years of OBJ and we are witnessing the most directionless situation ever with clueless Doctor of Philosophy from the south. Why him? Why not Pat Utomi? At least the shame wouldn't have been this gross and so lamentable and the depth of decay and helplessness so abysmal.

So old news
Question is,wetin we go do?
As in action film to act out over empty yarns

The statement should not be far from the truth. Do you remember I dey kampe baba Iyabo despite that the baba no slack? The attempt to impeach him was like three times, if an attempt to impeach GEJ does not happen in a short while definitely contracts dey berekete, yanfuyanfu for ground. Continue to mortgage the future of the coming generations, those who are deprived now will become nuisance to your well groomed children. Boko Haramites in various divisions.