A renowned political economist and former presidential candidate of the African Democratic Congress party, Prof. Pat Utomi, tells TOBI AWORINDE that the Federal Government should initiate dialogue with Biafra agitators
What is your reaction to the release of the leader of the Indigenous People of Biafra, Nnamdi Kanu?
I think that it begins a process of redeeming Nigeria. The regard that nations have in today’s world is defined by a few basic things, amongst them human freedom, regard for the rule of law, and institutions that try to ensure that our conduct essentially gives dignity to the human person. So, I think that any decision that brings us more into line with civilised conduct takes us away from attribution of impunity, which is really what has described the story of Nigeria in the last 50 years, a country with extraordinary potential, which sadly has been in a mood of state capture. There has been a state capture in Nigeria since 1966 and the culture and tradition of those who have dominated this society completely for 50 years has been a culture of arbitrariness and exercise of personal authority over due process. Part of what this has done is that it has created a level of uncertainty that has struck me remarkably in the last one week, travelling and speaking in the US.
Years ago, I wrote a piece titled The Generation That Left Town, in which I was talking about the talented Nigerians who just couldn’t take it anymore, and one by one, one ticket after the other, they left our country. I travel all the time; I’m in the States and in Europe several times every year, sometimes, almost every month. Day before yesterday (Monday), I was at the Atlanta airport, from one flight to another, a total of about two hours or so. I am not joking, up to 12 different sets of Nigerians came to say hello to me — Nigerians who live in America, some of them working in the airports there. It struck me: my God, we’ve lost a generation in this country and this is the result of the impunity and arbitrariness of the Class of ’66 that exercised state capture over Nigeria, which caused this country to lose its best talents.
So, when you see some moving away from that tradition, like releasing a person who has not been found guilty after being held for two years, then you would think to yourself, ‘Perhaps this is a redeeming process.’
In the run-up to the 2015 presidential election and even after winning, there were some concerns about President Muhammadu Buhari’s antecedent as a military head of state. But the President claimed that he had become a converted democrat. Do you think that Kanu’s 18-month detention points to the President’s dictatorial history?
I don’t want to think anything. Everything now is guesswork. All I want to do is hope that my country continues in the tradition of the rule of law, in the tradition of institutions that respect the dignity of the human person. Forget what they say about the so-called strongmen of Asia that built strong economies. (There is) no modern state that makes continuous progress that does not try to build strong institutions. The reason is very simple: when people are making decisions, including economic choices like investment decisions, what they ask themselves is, if I cannot anticipate behaviour, what is the likelihood that I will lose this investment I’m making? Imagine a civilian governor, just like the military in Nigeria, your predecessor made a decision, followed rules, and without even blinking an eye, you violate the property rights of the person (citizen) that is involved and you think, because of arbitrariness that is the way of Nigeria, ‘who can do anything to me, I’m governor?’ Well, you’ll be governor for eight years and come out, and somebody else will do the same thing to you. That is how limited they are; they don’t think.
The point is that the arbitrariness continues, and because it continues, many people will not invest in a country like Nigeria. So, the growth, the devel
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