Professor Pat Utomi, Founder/CEO of the Centre for Values in Leadership has stated that Nigeria must focus on its educated young and unemployed population to double its GDP in 5 years.
Utomi disclosed this while being a guest of Sunday Politics, an interview programme on Channels TV hosted by Seun Okinbaloye.
The former presidential aspirant hinted that he will be part of a political coalition for Nigeria’s Presidency in 2023, with the goal of doubling Nigeria’s GDP.
He stated that he once told someone that within a week of being president, he will put an order that will put every unemployed graduate from the universities and polytechnics to work with N100,00 assured.
When asked where the money will come from, he hinted that the world is looking at Africa to help save the planet by greening its forest and stopping the Sahara. He said that Nigeria can get the world to pay for that by telling graduates they become part of a green army that would save the planet.
“Just to prevent the desertification and advancement of the Sahara, and providing trees to deal with the carbon challenges of our world, we can get enough,” he stated.
He also stated that if Nigeria reduces the cost of governance, it would be enough to fund employment-related reforms.
“What are they (politicians) doing? Why does the National Assembly cost us more money than education, which is where we will catch up from?” he asked.
“When President Olusegun Obasanjo was President, the National Assembly did not cost us as much as it is costing us today. It’s much worse now. We need fewer lawmakers. We need to pay them much differently.
“Politics is service, it is not a profession. It is something for people to take off some of their time to give service,” he said.
He stated that he is part of a political coalition that will announce its representation for the 2023 Presidential elections with the aim of doubling Nigeria’s GDP in 5 years.
He also added that as an APC member in 2015, he knew within weeks after the election that the party was going nowhere, as it was just a collective of men who wanted power, not leadership.
He said, “It was clear the science of it all was power, not service, we threw a bunch of people that had no shared values and we got a collapse of culture, and because of that collapse, there is no progress.”
Utomi said that it is possible for Nigeria to double its GDP and employ millions of its educated workforce in a short period of time.
“If we don’t have a plan to double GDP in 5 years, we must get out of the way. The population we fear can become the source of our demographic divide,” Utomi said. “China and India have shown, that if you invest in a young population, it can be the rocket to propel your economy. In Nigeria, we are killing the educational system, they can’t even get to sit down with ASUU.”
He also stated that if Nigeria’s economy is growing, Nigeria will reverse the flow of brain drain, especially in its health sector
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