Ebere Ndukwu, Gifted Markson
In what can solely be described as a masterclass on management, misplaced alternatives, and the untapped potential of the Niger Delta, famend professor and political economist, Pat Utomi, on the weekend delivered a riveting lecture on the First Information 4th Anniversary Public Lecture in Port Harcourt.
Themed “Constructing the Niger Delta of Our Dream: With or With out Oil,” Utomi’s speech painted a grim image of the area’s historic management failures but in addition supplied a glimmer of hope by outlining a path to restoration by way of visionary management and personal sector collaboration.
The occasion, which was hosted in Port Harcourt, a metropolis with deep historic and private ties to the speaker, offered Utomi with the platform to replicate on the missed alternatives which have left the Niger Delta stagnating regardless of its huge pure assets. His connection to the town was evident from the beginning as he shared a nostalgic but pointed story.
“My journey to Port Harcourt predates my start as a result of my grandfather constructed a home at Bendel Avenue in 1929,” he revealed, underscoring the deep-rooted bond between his household and the town.
But it surely wasn’t only a journey into private historical past. Utomi’s lecture was a robust name to motion, urging the area’s leaders and residents alike to get up from the stupor of complacency and take cost of their future.
Reflecting on previous initiatives aimed toward creating the area, Utomi shared the inspiring beginnings of the South-South {Economic} Summit, which was established to drive {economic} progress within the Niger Delta.
“The governors of the South-South met right here in Port Harcourt and determined that every of them ought to convey three or 4 main personal sector individuals from their state for a gathering,” Utomi defined.
On the summit, convened within the early 2000s, the then governors, together with Cross River’s Liyel Imoke and Delta’s Emmanuel Uduaghan, sought to institutionalize the method of regional {economic} cooperation by creating what would turn out to be the BRACED Fee, an {economic} growth initiative involving Bayelsa, Rivers, Akwa Ibom, Cross River, Edo, and Delta states. The fee was envisioned as a automobile for turning the Niger Delta into an {economic} powerhouse, akin to the European Union’s regional cooperation mannequin.
“We thought we have been making a European Fee-type base for {economic} growth that may be unmatched anyplace in Nigeria,” Utomi recalled.
Nonetheless, as Utomi lamented, regardless of the early promise, the initiative finally failed to satisfy its lofty objectives, partially because of the incapacity of the area’s leaders to cooperate. He identified that whereas the personal sector confirmed up in pressure, elevating almost half a billion naira for the summit at Tinapa, authorities officers have been extra involved with political infighting and self-indulgence.
“At a degree in the course of the assembly at Tinapa, I began searching for the governors, I couldn’t discover them… I went there and noticed they have been all completely drunk on champagne,” Utomi shared with seen frustration. His anecdote served as a metaphor for the broader challenges dealing with the area: management distracted by trivia whereas essential alternatives slipped by.
Utomi’s lecture was not only a recounting of previous failures; it was a searing critique of what he described as “psychological poverty”—a type of mental and ethical laziness that has prevented the area from reaching its full potential.
“Once I say poverty now, I’m not speaking about materials poverty; I’m speaking about psychological poverty. That’s what has crippled us,” he declared, underscoring that the area’s challenges are usually not nearly a scarcity of assets however a failure of management and imaginative and prescient.
The professor, recognized for his candor and deep insights into Nigeria’s socio-political dynamics, argued that the Niger Delta’s future shouldn’t be tied solely to grease.
“We’re sitting on what could be described as ‘poverty in a lot,’” he stated, echoing a long-standing critique that the area’s plentiful oil wealth has not translated into widespread prosperity. As an alternative, Utomi urged the area to undertake a forward-thinking, diversified {economic} strategy, drawing on different sectors reminiscent of agriculture, manufacturing, and know-how.
He additionally referenced world examples to point out what is feasible with the correct of management. One of the vital putting comparisons Utomi made was with Singapore, a small island nation that, in 1965, was ejected from its federation with Malaysia and appeared destined for failure.
“Their chief started to weep as a result of there appeared to be no hope for them,” Utomi recounted. However by way of visionary management, Singapore reworked itself from a Third World nation to a First World nation in only one era.
“My imaginative and prescient was that the South-South would flock collectively to prosperity, just a bit imaginative and prescient, nothing extraordinary. But it surely took one or two unserious individuals in management to poo-poo what everyone else would have finished,” he lamented.
Reflecting on the summit at Tinapa, Utomi’s voice carried each pleasure and unhappiness. Pleasure, as a result of the personal sector confirmed what could possibly be finished with dedication and a transparent imaginative and prescient; unhappiness, as a result of that imaginative and prescient was finally squandered.
“We raised from amongst ourselves almost half a billion naira with out asking the federal government,” he stated, emphasizing how the personal sector stepped in the place the federal government lagged behind. He described how main banks reminiscent of Zenith, Oceanic, and others contributed tons of of thousands and thousands to the summit’s success, just for the hassle to be derailed by a scarcity of political will and cooperation.
One of the vital profound moments in Utomi’s speech was when he mirrored on a presentation he made in the course of the Tinapa summit. Utilizing a storytelling strategy, he requested the viewers to think about a future 25 years from that day—a future the place a younger lady from Cross River would journey on a quick prepare by way of a extremely industrialized Niger Delta.
“She would say, ‘This space was only a crummy oil-invested place the day I used to be born, however due to what the leaders did at Tinapa, I’m witnessing this transformation,’” Utomi narrated.
It was a imaginative and prescient filled with promise, however as Utomi famous, it has remained simply that—a imaginative and prescient.
Utomi didn’t maintain again from naming the culprits. He positioned the blame squarely on the failure of management and the petty rivalries which have held the area again.
“The key motive why we didn’t make progress is that about two or three of the governors started to quarrel with each other for no motive,” he revealed, pointing to a tragic tendency for private egos to override collective good.
But it surely wasn’t all doom and gloom. Utomi’s lecture additionally offered a path ahead. He urged the area to be taught from its previous errors and to as soon as once more embrace the personal sector as a companion in growth. Citing the instance of aggressive communalism within the Nineteen Fifties and Nineteen Sixties, when Nigeria’s regional leaders competed to outdo one another in growth, he highlighted how such competitors led to the fast industrialization of areas just like the Western and Jap areas, the place industrial estates sprung up in Lagos and Port Harcourt.
“Between 1957 and 1960, the contribution of business to GDP was 20%. How does such a factor occur that dramatically? As a result of there have been severe leaders,” Utomi defined.
In his closing remarks, Utomi returned to the theme of management, emphasizing that the Niger Delta can not afford to waste any extra time.
“Can we are saying allow us to start once more? It’s doable to start anew,” he urged.
He burdened the significance of training and industrialization as the dual pillars upon which any future progress have to be constructed. Drawing on the teachings of leaders like Obafemi Awolowo, who prioritized training and industrialization within the Western area, Utomi made it clear that with out severe funding in these areas, the area will proceed to flounder.
Utomi’s lecture on the First Information Public Lecture was each a sobering reflection on the previous and a rallying cry for the longer term. His critique of “psychological poverty” and his name for a brand new imaginative and prescient to rescue the Niger Delta from the quagmire of underdevelopment resonated deeply with the viewers.
Because the area grapples with the challenges of a post-oil future, Utomi’s phrases function a well timed reminder that visionary management, personal sector engagement, and a renewed dedication to regional cooperation are the keys to unlocking the Niger Delta’s immense potential.
The query now could be whether or not the leaders and other people of the Niger Delta will heed the decision to “start once more” or whether or not the area will proceed to float, weighed down by the very assets that ought to have been its blessing.
As Utomi stated, the time for motion is now, and the area should seize this chance earlier than it slips away as soon as extra.
