Kankara Schoolboys Abduction Evidence of Government’s Failure, Says Former Presidential Candidate Prof. Utomi

If citizens have been seeking for any strand of evidence to the fact that government in Nigeria is non-existent, Professor Pat Utomi suggests that the abduction of over 300 Kankara schoolboys is one.

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Prof. Utomi, a fellow of the Institute of Management Consultants of Nigeria and a former presidential candidate was of the view that the lack of coordination in the dissemination of accurate information within the government’s structure portrays the country as an unserious one.

“If we were looking for evidence to the fact that we don’t have a working government in Nigeria, that is it,” Utomi told ARISE News when he spoke of the general episode of the Kankara schoolboys.

“I mean if something can happen in our country and people go from ten to five hundred and something with the same governmental operators, then something is fundamentally wrong.

“I think also in that same whole sordid affair, some people said they were rescued after daring military operations, others said we just used some extraordinary negotiation tactics to get them to release, there were like four-five versions of the magic of performance.

“There were some who were even cynical enough to say the whole thing was faked and staged to show that they can rescue. I don’t really care which it is at this point, but it is a statement of state failure,” he said.

Utomi, who is a professor of political economy and a management expert noted that the country must be careful with its actions. He said investment flows into Nigeria is waning as the world is closely beginning to observe the country as one that’s unserious.

“We need to be very careful about how we act, the world is watching. Investment flows into Nigeria have been waning because of these perceptions. We cannot afford to do things like that, when in doubt shut up.

“If you’re organising let there be one central source from which government voice can come and it should come with informed input and this is what that whole episode brings out. We really need to organise government differently in our country.

“Even when there is a federal and a stateside to things, surely coordination is possible to ensure that we don’t leave the impression to the world that we are sort of unserious people because to be very frank with you, that’s how the world generally sees governing in Nigeria as sort of unserious and we shouldn’t let this happen,” Prof. Utomi said.

By Abel Ejikeme

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