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Prof. PAT UTOMI Tells City People
In a few weeks from now, one of Nigeria’s most accomplished Political economists and former presidential aspirant, Dr. Pat Utomi, will be celebrating his 70th birthday. And, hard as he may want to keep it low key, the landmark occasion will be celebrated in style. He has no choice. Pat Utomi has an army of mentees and a long list of loyal friends which include some of the biggest names in politics and the corporate sector who will not just agree with him to let his 70th go past with only a quiet get together. They all insist he deserves to be honoured resoundingly on his birthday.
Indeed, if there are a few men in the country who have given so much of their lives to seeing Nigeria turn the corner and become a nation everyone will be proud of, Professor Pat Utomi is one of those few men. His dedication to his years of advocacy for better governance and passionate desire for a better Nigeria has been largely applauded by those who have followed closely his enviable trajectory. But those who know will tell you that, sadly, he has, perhaps, given to Nigeria much more than the country has given to him, which is one of the reasons why many around him have insisted his 70th birthday must be a grand affair.
It’s going to be a week long celebration. And though the ever warm and witty Prof would’ve preferred a quieter affair, he appreciates the love shown him. He knows he has people scattered in all parts of the globe who love him very fiercely.
At 70, this very likeable distinguished personality is still going strong. Though he says age has slowed him down and now wishes to ‘exercise his right of peace’ and retire from active participation in every sphere, he is still the same old Pat Utomi that he has ever been. At 70, he is still mentally sharp. Undeniably intelligent. Incredibly articulate,. Ever witty. His sense of humour is still intact. And yes, still burning with passion for a better Nigeria.
When the City People team led by the Publisher, SEYE KEHINDE, Senior Editor, WALE LAWAL and Photo Journalist, SUNDAY OYEMADE, visited this respected management expert and builder of men, we met a fresh looking, ever cheerful Pat Utomi whose fair complexion still glowed radiantly even at 70. And despite that he informed us he was considering taking a back seat and retire, he still was willing to talk extensively about the state of the nation. Enjoy excerpts of his birthday interview.
For a very long time you’ve been very quiet, and at a point I was worried, wondering what’s happening to Prof, has he given up on Nigeria, until recently when you made a few comments. How has it been, sir?
Oh thank God, but I’ve actually not been very well, for a very long time I’ve not been in the country.
I made it public, I was battling cancer two and a half years ago, but it generally went well. Then, ironically I came back to the country on the 29th of September last year, for the purpose of a medical mission. I got some of my friends who are doctors in America and all of that.
For more than 12 years, my wife was president of the professional women in Ibussa, our hometown. She had been in the medical area, focused on an annual medical mission, which usually takes place in the first week of October. So I came with her from the U.S. on the 29th of September, and we went straight to Delta with the doctors on ground locally and the ones that came from the U.S. So as I was flying back into Lagos, I was not feeling too well, so I had to go straight from the airport to Lagoon Hospital, on Bourdillon.
And I thought, okay, maybe because I’ve not had malaria for a long time, this malaria decided to be aggressive. I got there and they said, it’s no malaria, it’s your kidney that is about to go. I said, ah, wetin happen?
So I had to have surgery here in Lagos. Well, it turned out the prostate was blocking the urethra, so it was affecting the kidney, so I had to go back to my primary physicians.
Then I had another surgery. I only just returned to the country about a month or so ago, so I thank God.
And of course, on your return, you returned back to meet the country in a state of…
Well, you know, you asked if I was giving up on Nigeria. No, not giving up on Nigeria as such, but I’m also retiring. I mean, my concern for Nigeria has been very passionate for 50 years, so there’s a point in time you give up.
It’s been a very sad journey for Nigeria. In fact, I just finished talking to a local CVL documentary person.
I’ve selected a number of my peers across the country and I want them to be interviewed.
What was your dream when you were 20? What do you think happened to that dream? And where do you think we are going now?
So interviews will take place this week, next week as part of a documentary around my 70th. Our dreams went awry, why did that happen?
I can give you the explanation of a social scientist who has followed very closely.
I can give you the explanation of a citizen who has been in the field of play. I can give you the explanation of a general observer from outside just watching. Very sadly, there were some mistakes that happened in the process.
One of the most terrible mistakes was 1999.
Terrible in a very, very particular way. You see, when the military finally gave up from harassment from civil society, majorly people like us, they decided to hand over to politicians, as we know.
The politicians, as we know, were tired of their dribbling. We know how many transition efforts were aborted by Babangida. So by the time Abdul Salam was trying to rush these things through in 1998, the real politicians believed these people were just playing their usual game.
At best, they would just find some stooge and give it to him, and then come back and take the thing from him. After a year or two, they would accuse him of all kinds of things. Maybe he would even be collaborating, because they put him there for that purpose.
So they didn’t quite show up. Take away Ekwueme, Bola Ige and one or two others. The real politicians didn’t show up.
So, all kinds of scoundrels, mercenaries, all kinds of people who should never even have been allowed to enter politics, should have been shut down by people like Papa Adebanjo. These kinds of people just swarmed into the political arena, and Nigeria just never recovered from it. What made it even worse was that when they then rushed in, oil prices went up. The oil prices were down to single digits under Abacha. Once the civilians came back in, it went up to 100 and something. These guys pocketed the money and used it to raise barrier of entry into politics. So genuine people could not enter into politics. They were just scoundrels, people who could kill their mother, who could bribe, who could do anything… It’s not hard to recognize that where we are today is where we’ll get to. It’s very self-evident, and I’ve been shouting about it for years.
So that’s where we are.
As you turn 70, what’s on your mind? What are the things that weigh on your mind more these days?
My personal peace. I’m trying very hard to just let go of so many things….Actually, the person who captures it well is a Gambian business man, a friend of mine. He says look, you’ve given everything for Nigeria, you’ve worked so hard for Nigeria, whatever is left of your time, why don’t we just give you a house in Sierra Leone or Gambia? Just live there peacefully, watching the Atlantic, and leave Nigeria alone? I said to him, I’m willing to accept. Who says no to a free house?
But it is not quite a joke because four days ago I got a chat from Father George Ehusani. He said somebody, a journalist sent it to him to send to me. The chat was a number of things from history. One was a Bolivian farmer who betrayed the location of Ernesto Guevara. So when they captured him, they asked the man, why would you betray somebody who has spent his life fighting for your freedom? The man said, ah, all the crackle of gunfire from him and all of that is scaring my animals. As far as he was concerned, all of that was about scaring his animals.
The second part of the story was from Egypt. This Egyptian patriot who fought against the capture of Alexandria, he said when Napoleon captured him, sentenced him to death, he said, well, we can release you if you can pay 100 gold coins as restitution for my troops that you killed. He said, well, I don’t have all of that money, but I’m sure that the traders of Alexandria value my commitment to struggle enough that they will pay up the money. So they took him in manacles, chains, to the market in Alexandria.
The people were not willing to do anything. They said, he’s even a troublemaker. He’s always causing trouble, disturbing trade.
And Napoleon said, you know, I will execute you, not because, because I don’t like people who are fighting for freedom of their people to be condemned for this noble thing even if it’s against us. But I will execute the sentence of death for fighting for a people so stupid that they couldn’t see the value of the sacrifices you have made for them.
So the person who sent it to Father George asked him to tell me, Nigerian people are useless, why are you bothering yourself for them? It is not untrue to say that sometimes you feel like that. Not all the time, but sometimes you wonder, look at what I’ve just gone through. I’ll give you a very interesting example of something that impressed me enormously, not so much because of the sensitivity.
When I was not feeling so well abroad, I was appointed a fellow at the Woodrow Wilson Center in Washington, in Global Policy Scholar. I was organizing a conference on sovereign wealth funds. I did several of those kinds of conferences. I even brought President Obasanjo to one, several governors to another.
So in this particular one, I wanted to get some managers of sovereign wealth funds. So I called up Uche Orji, who used to be the manager of Nigeria’s sovereign wealth fund, or the managing director of Nigeria’s sovereign wealth authority, as it was called.
And when Uche got my call, he says, before you say what you are calling me for, I want to let you know that you are appreciated in a very special way for what you do for Nigeria, for what you stand up for. But even more importantly, I want you to know that there are people who know that the stand that you take costs you. The first time a Nigerian has said that to me. Everybody goes, ah, okay, you heard what he said? That’s very good. Only a really intelligent and honest, sensitive person will admit that they know that all those things I do cost me.
It costs me from an uncivil public authority that will block your business interests in all kinds of ways, but I never talk about it because it doesn’t matter. But that somebody like him wanted me to know that there are people who know, was very impressive for me.
So, generally speaking, God has been kind to me in spite of everything, and I’m thankful. So, as I turn 70, I should exercise my right of peace. To just be by myself, stay in my village, drink palm wine if I want to drink.
I know palm wine doesn’t go well with my body, but at least from time to time I will drink it. If I want to entertain myself walking around the village, I will do it.
How do you plan to celebrate your 70th birthday?
Oh, it’s a very long program, actually. You know one of my problems is that I have a long train of mentees, and so many of them have different plans, different ideas. I try to keep it less elaborate than when I turned 60. When I turned 60, it was eight days of programs every day, sometimes twice a day, two programs a day.
This 70 is reflecting that I’m getting older. It’s less hectic, but it’s in three different cities. We begin on the 4th of February with the traditional CVL annual lecture.
Normally, every year we have this international conference. Speakers are often international, speaking on problems of economic development and poverty. So that of this year will be in Enugu, first time outside Lagos. So, Enugu on the 4th of February and it’s a very, very long lineup of speakers. Two of the keynoters, former President of Mauritius, Dr. Ameenah Gurib- Fakim, and the new president of the African import-export bank, Afrexim Bank, George Elombi.
And then we have panel conversation kickers, two internationally famous economists, Professor James Robinson, who won the Nobel Prize in Economics a year before last, in the University of Chicago, James Robinson. And then, Professor Paul Coulier from Oxford, who has been the long-running director of the Center for African Economies at Oxford, who actually gave the 2017 CVL annual lecture. I remember at that lecture, Ambode was governor, and Ambode was present at the lecture.
After listening to him, Ambode had to plead with him to come back later that year in May, when Lagos was celebrating 50 years to give the 50th anniversary lecture. Then we have the panel, which is a mix of academics, policy makers, of international repute. Two governors, the host governor Peter Mbah, and the governor of Abia, Alex Oti, will be on the panel.
Two academics, economist academics, Professor Fred Olayele, who used to be Chief Economist of New York, but is a professor in Canada now, will be on the panel, alongside Professor Osita Ogbu, the former Minister for National Planning.
Then the two internationals, Alan Kyerematen, who was Minister of Trade and Industry in Ghana, but used to be at UNECA, and Kandeh Yumkella, Dr. Yumkela, who used to be Director General of UNIDO. So this will make up the panel for Enugu.
So that’s Enugu on the 4th. Then we’ll move to Asaba on the 6th, birthday proper. The focus there will be on entrepreneurship in the oil and gas sector. And the keynote will come from Aliko Dangote. And then the panelists will include Austin Awuro, mainly Delta people, people who the people can relate to. Downstream will be Gabriel Ogbechie of Rain oil.
And so, one more person that I haven’t spoken with, but if I get hold of him, I’m confident he will join the panel. He’s become a big player now in oil, It’s Tony Elumelu. So I’m going to hopefully get hold of him between today and tomorrow. So after that, we’ll have a Thanksgiving mass in Igbuza, my hometown, which is 5 minutes from Asaba.
And then, we’ll move to Lagos for the Owambe. So we’ll have a Thanksgiving mass in Falomo on February 8th.
And then a luncheon event in Lagos. So that’s the limited scoop for this year.
Will there be any book launch?
Yeah, absolutely, yes.
I have, well, two books. I don’t know whether to call them, ‘upgrades.’ New books, rewrite of old books. Some 20 years after. And yeah, the book launch will take place. I was writing another completely different book, which I had hoped would be ready, Evaluating economic development strategies and why they failed in Africa. But I didn’t manage to finish it. So that will probably come later in the year.
But I’m presently writing a new book. That’s a completely new book. That one looks at businesses that I helped take off.
Several businesses, from the Tennessee group, the Pertinence group, you know. So I had written one that had that number and Linkserve that introduced Nigeria to the internet and stuff.
Those were in the first book. This new book has a series of new companies and how they rose. So that one is there.
And then there is a book on Leadership. You know, the art of leading, looking at grit as a factor in leadership.
So, yeah, those two.
