The shadow government necessary to keep the leaders who can be told, says Pat Utomi – Thage

By Ayo Kehinde

The famous political economist, Professor Pat Utomi, said that the formation of a shadow government is both a moral and democratic imperative aimed at considering the owners of public offices responsible.

Speaking during an interview with the show for the news of Thursday’s news of Thursday, Utomi defended the concept among the recent criticisms following his declaration of a shadow government in Nigeria.

He tracked down the idea to a historical push for inclusive governance throughout Africa, citing a 1985 fundamental conference in Nairobi organized by the Aga Khan Foundation.

“That conference requested a tripartite approach to governance in Africa. One of its main results was the creation of the enabling environmental forum: the precursor of the Nigerian economic summit group. Unfortunately, we moved away from that vision,” he said.

By complaining that which he described how the capture of the Nigerian state from a close elite, Utomi said that the Shadow Government initiative tries to revive that abandoned vision through a coalition of opposition figures, groups of civil society and development agencies that offer alternative governance solutions.

“A group of people has diverted the state, subordinate the private sector and a civil society completely put aside. Look at the mess in which we find ourselves: they don’t go anywhere. To claim the promise of Nairobi 1985, we needed an alternative picture to face the problems of Nigeria,” he noticed.

Utomi rejected threats and criticisms against the initiative, insisting on the fact that there is no legal basis for any action against citizens who organize good government.

“What kind of legal action? For what reasons? That citizens have united to comment on government’s services? People can define themselves in something, provided that it is for the public good,” he said.

He also criticized the fixation in the elections at the expense of governance: “Stop talking about the next elections. The government does not exist for the elections, but for the service to the people”.

Utomi has also accused the media of allowing political submerforms, failing to challenge the owners of public offices.

“The media allow them to get by. You should tell them when they speak nonsense. Let’s see what they actually reached,” he said.

By highlighting the decline of life standards, Utomi compared Nigeria development trajectory with those of the nations between peers.

“Think about it: the Middle Nigerian today lives much worse than the 1960 Nigerian. Compare it with where the middle or Chinese Vietnamese was located in 1960 and where they are now. It is like the night and the day,” he said.

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