{"id":14467,"date":"2017-05-21T19:43:15","date_gmt":"2017-05-21T19:43:15","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/newsroom247.com.ng\/?p=14467"},"modified":"2017-05-21T19:55:44","modified_gmt":"2017-05-21T19:55:44","slug":"nigeria-leaders-are-failing-because-they-are-not-thinking-of-development-growth-but-politics","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/newsroom247.com.ng\/?p=14467","title":{"rendered":"NIGERIA LEADERS ARE FAILING BECAUSE THEY ARE NOT THINKING OF DEVELOPMENT, GROWTH BUT POLITICS by Pat Utomi"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>Pat Utomi, a chieftain of the ruling All Progressives Congress (APC), says the founding fathers of the party would reform it to correct some of its lapses.<\/p>\n<p>Mr. Utomi, a professor, told the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) in New York that the party had to be reformed to refocus it to its founding ideals.<\/p>\n<p>The founder and former presidential candidate of the African Democratic Congress (ADC) party said some of the founding fathers were more committed to building APC as an enduring political party.<\/p>\n<p>According to him, however, some people are more interested in taking titles in the party, rather than building it.<\/p>\n<p><code><script async src=\"\/\/pagead2.googlesyndication.com\/pagead\/js\/adsbygoogle.js\"><\/script><br \/>\n<!-- www.deltanewsroom.com --><br \/>\n<ins class=\"adsbygoogle\" style=\"display: block;\" data-ad-client=\"ca-pub-2163942495525027\" data-ad-slot=\"1411897411\" data-ad-format=\"auto\"><\/ins><br \/>\n<script>\n(adsbygoogle = window.adsbygoogle || []).push({});\n<\/script><\/code><\/p>\n<p>\u201cI\u2019m a member of the APC; I\u2019m one of the real founding members of the APC.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cForget that because some of us committed more to building real stuff and others rushed to take titles; but we founded the APC.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cIt\u2019s not been what we thought it would be; let\u2019s be very honest, the party has under-performed, the party\u2019s structure has been poor.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThe party leadership has been poor; government and the party have not worked well together.<\/p>\n<div class=\"code-block code-block-3\">\n<div id=\"beacon_3706e5fecf\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"http:\/\/bh.contextweb.com\/bh\/rtset?pid=560602&amp;ev=1&amp;rurl=http%3a%2f%2fdis.criteo.com%2frex%2fmatch.aspx%3fc%3d30%26uid%3d%25%25VGUID%25%25\" width=\"0\" height=\"0\" \/><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"http:\/\/cat.nl.eu.criteo.com\/delivery\/lg.php?cppv=1&amp;cpp=HZDpy3xzdzlRa21keW5RL3E0UmlCejhQU3l1WUltbXlmU1ZOVWVuNEJaT250ZmQ2Z1FQMXZEL2hzRGdUbTJqdTc3MGNGaHBNZlo1MHo4NkFHQVZBMVhlTjB2QVZ4dmhRSWMvNjhldnRRZDNRNTFxZWZtY2pmbFUrcFJtNVBkZGNaZnlvdS9HUExPalRPWEVkSExjT0FYZmFYTDI2QlZINUNQZlBwSHhWYy80d21nbXNYNnJycFlDQi8zNVo1VzJRSzNJZzNiQlZUTjNkTGtkMXcyZjB2cjNUZk1YbFRlNWZLMjVUVkNSbVNTV2hhaVZUckQzSlJDRmdMNXd3M1V0WjlxZXdBfA%3D%3D\" width=\"0\" height=\"0\" \/>\u201cBut we shall reform it from within by God\u2019s grace and make it work better.<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<p>\u201cWe have to wish on God\u2019s grace and hope that things work differently. Anything that works, that will make a difference, I will do,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n<p>Mr. Utomi, a professor of political economy and former special assistant in the Second Republic government of former president Shehu Shagari, said he was not ambitious for political power.<\/p>\n<p><iframe loading=\"lazy\" src=\"https:\/\/www.alternativeadvert.com\/show.php?z=30&amp;pl=13216&amp;ad_type=59&amp;rl=180\" width=\"300\" height=\"250\" frameborder=\"0\" marginwidth=\"0\" marginheight=\"0\" scrolling=\"no\"><\/iframe><\/p>\n<p>According to him, however, he is more interested in whatever will bring relief to the Nigerians from the hardship they have faced under successive administrations.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cAll my career, all my life, I\u2019ve always been willing to do anything no matter how sacrificial it is to advance the common good of our people.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThe thing that I have never cared for is pursuit of power for the sake of power. I\u2019m not looking for anything, I\u2019m quite happy with the fortunes that my circumstance has brought to me.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cBut if there is a serious group of people who really are motivated by one thing and one thing alone \u2013 service to the people.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cMaking it a kind of life we live better, more harmony among the people of Nigeria, I will be very pleased to do anything \u2013 Councillor, President, just name anything.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cSo I have no problem about engaging for serving if it will lead to real progress, not to a title, I don\u2019t believe in titles.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cWe must begin to look at leaders who don\u2019t seek titles and who can make a difference without a title,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n<p>Mr. Utomi who is the Director of Lagos Business School, decried what he described as \u201cthe triumph of politics\u201d and the \u201cpoliticisation of everything\u201d in the country.<\/p>\n<div class=\"code-block code-block-2\">\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<div id=\"beacon_968dab5de1\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"http:\/\/ib.adnxs.com\/getuid?http%3a%2f%2fdis.criteo.com%2frex%2fmatch.aspx%3fc%3d11%26uid%3d%24UID\" width=\"0\" height=\"0\" \/><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"http:\/\/cat.nl.eu.criteo.com\/delivery\/lg.php?cppv=1&amp;cpp=5IbtgXxzdzlRa21keW5RL3E0UmlCejhQU3ltcWZid0dpRHBmTzY2YmN4Zit0K202Y0l6VTd2WVQ4bVBkaEJGd3hEbzJ5bzhhek41SjI2dm9RUGgvZml2ZUROR2lJZTBZNUxRSEljYmxXUWlPNWpCSDM5eGs3SjFGcEVQOXgvcEErT2xUMVQ0SHpWU01hbHJObnl0d1ptNWp0Zi9DWXRRSDNscmJ4c1c1ZDZqakhpVEhoaENvd1pVSU8wS0tSUFRKNHR0bWRMeWlxMUpPYkI4Vmt0NDNndHRBMFJNWkFBN0JSMmM2RHVmZVB3SFRDVmFFVExSOXorZVdxb3ZWSVV4dkVJcFJwfA%3D%3D\" width=\"0\" height=\"0\" \/><a href=\"http:\/\/newsroom247.com.ng\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/05\/NIGERIA-LEADERS.jpg\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"alignnone size-full wp-image-14468\" src=\"http:\/\/newsroom247.com.ng\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/05\/NIGERIA-LEADERS.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"272\" height=\"185\" \/><\/a><\/div>\n<div>According to him, \u201cWe are not thinking development, not thinking growth of our country, not thinking our children and their future, we\u2019re thinking politics.<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<p>\u201cMany of the people in positions of authority are so consumed by politics; they don\u2019t think about the Nigerian people.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cI think this obsession with who is winning the next election, can take Nigeria completely away from the path of development.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cIf you say \u2018good morning\u2019, they say \u2018is he against Buhari, is he for Tinubu, is he a Jonathan person\u2019; we don\u2019t have public conversation of quality that can help us change our country for good.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cTake a very simple issue; the government is very concerned about corruption, nothing can more interest me than corruption because it\u2019s done fundamental damage to Nigeria.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cBut because of the triumph of politics, if you talk about corruption, you get the spin immediately because of the way we have managed the whole corruption issue, as a flood of issues.\u201d<br \/>\n(NAN)<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Pat Utomi, a chieftain of the ruling All Progressives Congress (APC), says the founding fathers of the party would reform it to correct some of its lapses. Mr. Utomi, a professor, told the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) in New York that the party had to be reformed to refocus it to its founding ideals. [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":6,"featured_media":14468,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_exactmetrics_skip_tracking":false,"ngg_post_thumbnail":0,"spay_email":"","footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_is_tweetstorm":false},"categories":[7],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-14467","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-opinion"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"http:\/\/newsroom247.com.ng\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/05\/NIGERIA-LEADERS.jpg","jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p4oswh-3Ll","_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/newsroom247.com.ng\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/14467","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/newsroom247.com.ng\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/newsroom247.com.ng\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/newsroom247.com.ng\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/6"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/newsroom247.com.ng\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=14467"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"http:\/\/newsroom247.com.ng\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/14467\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":14470,"href":"http:\/\/newsroom247.com.ng\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/14467\/revisions\/14470"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/newsroom247.com.ng\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/14468"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/newsroom247.com.ng\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=14467"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/newsroom247.com.ng\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=14467"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/newsroom247.com.ng\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=14467"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}