A Professor of political economy cum chieftain of the Labour Party (LP), Pat Utomi has claimed that Nigerian leaders were forewarned about the issue of the current state of insecurity in the country at a time.
Utomi disclosed this during an interview on Channels Television. He said at the time the civilian administration was coming into power in 1999, an American published a book, which predicted the insecurity Nigeria currently battles with.
According to him, when that prediction was made, he created a group called NUTRA – Nigerians United To Resist Anarchy.
He added that part of what the group did was to buy books and send them to people in policy-making positions to show them where the country was going if leaders didn’t intervene appropriately.
The political economy professor lamented that sadly, the country didn’t do enough with that knowledge, which is why it is here today.
He said, “Nothing about this state of insecurity is a surprise.
“Just at a time, the civilian government was coming in in 1999, an American published a book, ‘The coming Anarchy’ and he more or less predicted what we are going through – how ethnic, religious, and economic cleavages, will come together in a way and even gave a city in Nigeria called Jos, that West Africa could descend into anarchy.
“My reaction as an engaged man was to immediately create a group which we called NUTRA – Nigerians United To Resist Anarchy and part of what we did was to buy books and send them to people in policy-making positions to show them where our country was going if we didn’t intervene appropriately. Sadly, of course, we didn’t do much with that poor knowledge and we are where we are.”
The LP chieftain also charged the Independent National Electoral Commission(INEC) to step up its efforts on voter registration and the issuance of Permanent Voter Cards (PVCs).
He claimed INEC was not doing enough.
“Now there are some people who despair, who think that INEC can never be a fair umpire, who think INEC is an instrument used by those who have power. I chose not to despair too much. Of course, I am not comfortable, I will keep pushing them,” he said.
“I don’t like the fact that voter registration is not continuing, I think that is an invasion of the democratic rights of the citizens.
“INEC likes to put bureaucracy above democracy. I think that all efforts need to be made to ensure that people are getting their PVC after registration. I don’t think they are doing enough; I think more needs to be done.”
Utomi further asked the Federal Government to nip insecurity in the bud so that next year’s polls will not be threatened.
He wants the President Muhammadu Buhari administration as well as the security agencies to ensure that some security threats are being tackled.
