A political economist, Professor Pat Utomi said the
presidential candidates of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), the Labour Party
(LP), the New Nigeria People’s Party (NNPP) have agreed to form a mega party
that will wrestle power from the ruling All Progressives Congress (APC) in
2027.
Utomi made this revelation in an interview on Channels
Television on Sunday.
He said, “It’s a really clean start. You have to start from
the premise that Nigeria has not had a political party since 1999. And let’s be
very honest with ourselves. What we have managed is to create platforms that
enable machine politics from which to grab power, usually for the purpose of
state capture. If you will want to test that, check how much the quality of
life of a Nigerian has improved since 1999.
“It’s frightening but the truth is a matter that in 1999, a
political class managed to build a certain coalition of accommodation to keep
the military out and share the spoils of power in Nigeria and somehow did not
manage to create an alignment with the Nigerian people to improve the quality
of their lives. This is why you can see Nigeria deteriorating, becoming the
poverty capital of the world, becoming the centre of widespread violence
everywhere.
“And if you want to take some clear examples, I want anybody
who is a political scientist, or economist in Nigeria to look at where India
was in 1999 and where Nigeria was in terms of mood, violence in politics, the
quality of life of people and where they both are today in Nigeria versus
India.
“In 1991, India was technically bankrupt. Foreign Reserves
could not accommodate more than three weeks of trading. What has happened since
1999 is that India’s politics has managed to focus on the rational engagement
of a developmental state.
“If you look at the numbers today, India is now speeding
past the so-called miracle economies of South-East Asia. Nigeria, on the other
hand, has been traveling in the reverse direction. What better explanation can
there be than the fact that Nigeria has not managed to organise the structures
for political participation that can focus on the Nigerian people and lift
their lives?”
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