Patrick Okedinachi Utomi, a Nigerian professor of political economy and management expert, has dismissed the Imo state governor, Mr. Rochas Okorocha, as unworthy to be labeled a role model.
The professor of economics said this during an interview with SaharaTV, in reaction to the comment of Mr. Okorocha about the performance of the current administration.
When asked; “governor Rochas Okorocha just said that 89% of Nigerians are not satisfied with the Buhari administration, do you agree with him?” Mr. Utomi chuckled then questioned how the governor came about the statistics.
“My goodness, I don’t know where he did the survey and I am not quite sure Governor Rochas Okorocha Is a role model for anything,” Mr. Utomi said.
However, he conceded that the APC led federal government has not fulfilled many of its manifestos. He also acknowledged that the party was not as organized as it should be when it got to power, adding that this was the reason for some of the “hijacks” earlier witnessed in the party.
He said; “We have just come from nearly two decades of a political party that has a certain culture that has taken our country very far. Unfortunately, I don’t think our party was as well organized when it got to power as it should be. So, a bit of hijack took place.
“A lot of work was done to show a way forward. I am sure you’ve heard the Vice President say that what was supposed to be the road-map for the APC, the manifesto, was written in my house by himself, myself and one or two other persons. I am not sure what we wrote is what we are quite seeing”
Nonetheless, he opined that ills of almost 20 years cannot be cleared in barely two years.
He stated that the leadership of the country must take developmental issues seriously. “I really think we are in such a situation that we need to play down partisan items because our country is on the verge of dying. We have population growth at nearly 3 percent. We have a huge youth bulge. Right now, the police is as far as it can be from harvesting a demographic dividend.
“If Nigeria does not run policy in the direction of investing heavily in education and healthcare and providing opportunities for these young people, what Nigeria will reap is already is … anarchy.
We anarchy comes, it does not matter what you have put away for your children, everybody goes down.