We are or have become a people who don›t celebrate or reckon with our true heroes. Otherwise, the superlative performance of our Super Eagles in the African nations football tournament which ends today with a very befitting final between our country and the host country, Côte D’Ivoire, would have met us lavishly celebrating the person and achievements of an icon Professor Pat Utomi at 68. He turned 68 on Tuesday y. He deserves national celebration.
We shout from the mountaintop that this is Utomi’s season. Yes, his season. Amid the sad news a few months back that he was hit by ill health, this gentleman is one that many of us wish should be around until he is at least 120 years old and still ed very strong to celebrate his 68th birthday in the most exemplary and rewarding manner. He didn’t go the hedonistic way that many of his kind would choose. Rather, it was marked in a manner peculiar to Prof Utomi himself, austere, clearly defined and targeted at building up a new leadership class and the development pillars of what is a very backward society. No insults intended just trying to outline the truth the way it is. The times call for no sophistry in public debate. Calling a spade by its real name if we must properly situate our challenges which are beginning to look intractable and to find suitable answers to them. We guess from Utomi’s antecedent he must have had the above in mind hence his choice of celebrating his birthday. What did he do?
In place of inanities, this uncommon citizen of the world chose the uncommon way to mark the occasion, in place of hiring a prominent musician, straddling the space with women of easy virtue dancing before very hedonistic publicly exposed persons, also called «very idle rich men» in many quarters, Pat chose to organize what should pass for an international leadership summit on Nigeria. He gave his very eminent guests, internationally acclaimed development authorities the task to reexamine our developmental trajectory and say again to the hard-to-hear political class where we keep missing it and what should be done to right the many wrongs.
In choosing this path at a time the Prof should be tired of the struggles to change the fate of the black world using Nigeria as a pedestal, Utomi once displayed the highest level of patriotism and sacrifice; by choosing to run on this unpopular path or narrow way Utomi was living up to the principles made very popular by Dr Myles Munroe which says no man on earth is a nonentity. We all were imbued with creativity which we must positively put to the benefit of whatever society we find ourselves. The task of making our society better is a lifelong one, no one retires from it. It is till death do we part. No matter the obstacles we fight on. Utomi is not as strong as he was say 10 years ago but the craving to change our country hasn’t waned. He chose to “fight” on. True change agents are made of greater stuff. Life is not about self. It is more about unbundling the self in a more positive dimension for the greater good of the majority. It is the emphasis our Utomi has chosen to make.
During the period Prof Utomi celebrated in the main, by this, we mean days preceding the actual birthday date, February 6 and days after, some other issues were front burner matters. The issue of insecurity was beginning to record a more dangerous resurgence. Kidnapping and killings were assuming an entirely terrible dimension. Our President Bola Tinubu is from South West region, but the area by last week was virtually on fire. Kidnappers hijacked a bus full of school children in Ekiti State. In another incident hoodlums, hoping that is who they are, attacked traditional rulers killing two. If this is no direct affront to the President someone should then tell us what is.
From the South East, two commercial buses, one each belonging to God is Good Motors and ABC Transport companies fully loaded and ferrying fellow citizens to the federal capital, Abuja were waylaid and the travellers were taken captive somewhere in Kogi State. By the time of penning this, it wasn’t clear if security agents had made any headway on the incident. In Abia State a Professor and Vice Chancellor was taken away on a road. He returned Wednesday.
It wasn›t all. Suddenly too, within the same period, we began to see citizens including the under-aged pour into the streets in some parts of the country to «protest» the high cost of living in the country. These were very newsworthy matters to interrogate not for their uniqueness though, nor for the simple reason they have become like recurring decimals in our national life but for the fact that dastardly developments are taking place at a time most citizens are becoming very concerned about the place of democratic practice in our country. So much disillusionment pervades the land. These should be of concern. It is. But dwelling on challenges as we do and forgetting to pay greater attention to solutions and implementation is where the greatest mistakes can be found.
We have created a pattern where far more majority align to the wrong order just because it has lasted very long and therefore has turned out to be like an accepted norm. The majority accepted evil ways and perversion of all that is good. Collectively we had the bright and brilliant. We don’t like those who subscribe to rules and good conduct. So, much sulphur everywhere relegating real men and hastening their destruction. All we do when we are charitable enough to offer them a thought is to sing from the lips how good they were even though we never offered them support to exhibit their talents and thoughts on our behalf and to excel while alive.
From such disposition, we must refrain if we desire genuine progress for our generation and successive ones. Marcus Aurelius is a strong motivator in this regard. He says the task or object of life is not to seek to be on the side of the majority as people love to do. Rather, the guiding philosophy for all at all times, especially the leadership cadre, should be for each one to escape being found in the ranks of the “insane”. It takes insanity for one to keep doing what hurts him and his interest.
The highlighting of the Utomi persona is taking the front roll today in this space for the points already stated earlier and for other reasons that may not be very clear to far majority of our people. Importance of the human capacity in development. It is about the centrality of the human element in driving change and bringing far-reaching transformation to any society, particularly to a backward setting such as ours. Nothing moves on earth until it is moved by someone. As many have had cause to say, “Everything revolves around leadership, it begins and ends with leadership”. Creative leadership is about the human personality.
Where a society has men, who are well-trained and equipped in different aspects and where the collection of the leadership class is such that reflects the best of human resources available, some positive factors would naturally throw up themselves and among those would be sound organization. Where sound organization is a culture, progress is inevitable. The thought of Utomi comes into place because of what we all know about our country and especially what we have made out of what ordinarily should have been a very excellent enterprise.
Our organizational organogram since we got independence doesn›t reflect the ideal nor come near it at all in all ramifications. Otherwise, some persons we all know, including the celebrant on whose behalf we pen this ought not to be outside the inner recesses circle of power managers in our country. But they are outside the circle and this is because we have succeeded in creating a system where the intelligent and energetic must be cowed and kept in silence so the very unintelligent, the nincompoops in our midst could be heard.
While doing all that we fail to understand one vital point, which is that any «society that separates its scholars from its warriors will have its thinking done for it by cowards and its fights by fools.» Just imagine a fool leading fighting soldiers at the war front? Aren›t the consequences very predictable from the onset? Utomi is fit to be friends with power leaders, yes from what we know they accept him and curry his understanding and help but he appears not very qualified to sit at a prominent position on the table with them. The question is why? This is one Nigerian dilemma the personality of Utomi and his many struggles to better our society throws at our faces. It is an irony his person throws out for the world to see. The world does indeed see and wonder what kind of people we are.
The life of Prof Utomi offers many of us useful lessons about life and living. He embraced the path of scholarship, and has by personal examples shown us that to be a true human we will need not just require training of mind, we will as well need theories and postulations certified by scholars to develop and conquer the portion of the universe available to us. He has made successes of personal enterprises, very meaningful ones at that without compromising progressive systems or superior principles. Worthy lesson indeed. Vices build up contradictions that must inevitably turn round to haunt a society and the people in it. This is one strong point against our efforts at development. Utomi has spent a greater part of his existence trying to make the above point clear to all, especially those who have the power to midwife positive change yet in our system.
It is as a social activist that the world seems to know Prof Utomi the more. His perception of the place of the black race in world affairs ordinarily should attract to him attention and it has done so. His crusade for a New Nigeria is another and that is where some concerns have been expressed about his world view and philosophy for change. Many accuse him of being a collaborator with the pillaging group just because he shares close affinity with them and perhaps have had collaborative political engineering with some of them ; the argument has been if he was fundamentally different he ought not have anything to do with them. This is essentially about approach now.
Truth about this, is that every true change begins from indepth knowledge of the people and society. Cuba’s Fidel Castro’s father wasn’t of poor class. Fidel the change agent picked his knowledge by interacting with the oppressive class. Moses in the Christian theology was fit for the liberator role because he knew the palace and the existing culture very well. Moses grew up in the palace. Every true change must understand the system, that is the point we are trying to convoy. Some say Utomi served President Shehu Shagari and then wrote the All Progressives Congress (APC) manifesto and even participated in their electoral process.
Beyond absence of manifest ideological standing which is vital in political struggles, which Utomi hasn’t displayed, nothing is compromising about those forays on the part of Utomi. They were moves done in the quest for a better Nigeria. As already stated, knowledge of the system and the players is vital to meaningful changes. Perhaps, the misgivings could be in lack of understanding of the make up the Nigerian ruling class. The character of our ruling class defies definition. It passes all understanding. It is zero sum attitude, lacking in morality or principles. It is tilted towards Machiavelian principles, the end justifying the means. Utomi never understood the inability of current ruling class to welcome progressive ideas or to bend to rays of positive change. Utomi underestimated them and to a reasonable extent proved a very costly error. The majority of the people in our ruling class love the system the way it is, they will go to any extent to defend it, it doesn’t matter to them the level of rot and degradation and the degree of dislocations and even fatalities it causes daily. They can’t even see it. One has to understand and appreciate that to know. Seared consciences all around. Even then Utomi got better educated about the extent of challenges.
In all, Utomi deserves far greater commendation for one thing: when you mention Utomi nearly everyone can say where he is on the spectrum. He hasn’t remained passive, he has defied threats, to spend his money and energy to pursue his dream of the country. He never stayed in a safe corner to pontificate and point out errors. He entered the arena and taking the front seat. He is either talking, planning or leading the march. No amount in monetary terms canpay for all the risk he undertakes that it may be well with us. Banging on decadent system carries high risk. He pays prices. His birthday celebration didn’t attract the shakers and movers of our society the way it would have been if Utomi wasn’t a shaker of the table, only few of the super class found time to attend yet what Utomi place on the table as to be taken away is so huge and very beneficial to all. Nobody is so hated as a man of truth. Utomi is a truth teller and a pathfinder. This should be a big consolation.
Some of us didn›t attend but our souls were there. We heard useful admonition like «Nigeria needs technocrats and technicians to develop». When our leaders hear this, how many can break it down? We from our distance also heard, «everyone is talking about fall of Naira our national currency and solutions, no solution will be found, the challenge is straightforward, we are not a productive country and so long we remain so, so will the naira keep falling». Look at our successive administrations and tell if such postulation do not infact make such sense. Shouldn’t we be troubled that among others value of national currency has remained an issue since we got independence and the big question is why? Why has no solution been found?
Until we begin to recognize our scholars and give them their due place so long we will remain in the place Prof Wole Sonyika described as “cycle of national stupidity”. Utomi is a national asset; we must cherish, nurture and protect him. We owe an obligation to hold him up in our prayers. He will live long and in great strength. It is our prayer for him and God has granted it already. Happy birthday Prof and many more happy returns.