Pat Utomi Urges Youths Against Emulating Present Crop Of Leaders

SAN FRANCISCO, October 22, (THEWILL) – The Chairman of the Centre for Value and Leadership, Prof. Pat Utomi has called on the younger generation not to emulate the mental laziness of the present crop of leaders who he said are not ready to rebuild the country.

Noting that many who are in the position of authority are not leaders, he regretted that the dearth of leadership values among political elites has become the bane of development in Nigeria.

Utomi stated this on Friday at the Emerging Leaders Conference organised by Guardian of The Nation International held at Civil Centre in Lagos, with the theme: Self-Reinvention; The Trigger for Economic Boom.

The event brought together thousands of youths drawn from across the country which feature seminar, interactive session, and breakout sessions.

In advising his audience not to emulate the “mentally lazy elite that are not ready to build their country”, he said, “You must not be like them. If we continue to act the way they acted, in my view that is irresponsibility.

“We are in dire need of leaders with a sense of service towards others and contribution to the Society. Nigeria is a paradox of progressive degeneration. Every government is worse that the one before it because we have not refused to learn.”

He observed that Nigeria’s leaders rule by the hunter mentality and being driven by entitlement and rewards, arguing that, “Nations are not built by hunters. The people who build are farmers'. You sow; you water. Our people need farmers, not hunters”.

While noting that every government appears to be worse that the one before it, the renouned political economist attributed the present economic recession to the “bad behaviour” of previous governments.

His words, “Nigeria inflicted recession on itself through the bad behaviour of previous governments. It was the result of an elite that is too lazy to restructure the economy. Our leaders are lazy and they always want the oil price to rise.”

Utomi went on to state that, “We are in dire need of leaders with a sense of service towards others and contribution to the Society. Nigeria is a paradox of progressive degeneration. Every government is worse that the one before it because we have not refused to learn.”

He stressed that leadership is living a life that has an impact, positing that “You are achieving immortality and doing what gives meaning to your existence. To live is to pursue immortality. And these can be done on two levels: Material immortality and spiritual immortality”.

Observing that Nigerians have all become Biafrans now, the professor said, “Everyone is feeling marginalised. It is the tragedy of 1966, they took Nigeria in 1966 and are still running Nigeria now”.