Utomi at 70: Public intellectual as statesman

The challenge with Nigeria is not lack of good men and women to drive national development; the problem is the corrupt system that excludes them. Professor Patrick Utomi, who will  turn  70 this week, is  of the rare club of Nigeria’s best and brightest .

He has sought the governorship of his native Delta state and the presidency at different times, but the system was rigged against him, not because he’s not qualified; he is more qualified than those who have occupied these exalted offices.

Contrasting Values

The core of it is that he’s too ethically driven for a corrupt system, too ahead of his time in depth, profundity and intellectual appraisal and understanding of Project Nigeria. An engaging intellectual, both academic and public, his ouvre straddles political economy, management, political science among others.

Utomi is a typical exemplar of a polymath, a living legend and without argument, one of the most important Nigerians in the last four decades.

Fearless, smooth, cerebral, he is not afraid to speak truth to power, and he moves swiftly in and out of power loops with his image and reputation intact.

He is a senior member of the pro-democracy movement of the 90s, and he played a central role in the transition to democracy as one of the intellects drafting position papers on how to move the country forward. Whether those papers were adopted is a different matter.

Utomi is a premium political economist and management expert widely sought after by both public and private sector. And his interventions are enlightened and earth-shaking.

Utomi  has coordinated the establishment of several civil society groups on good governance and accountability, such as Transparency in Nigeria, the Centre for Values in Leadership, the Concerned Professionals, and the Restoration Group. In the business sphere, Utomi was the Vice Chairman of the defunct Platinum–Habib Bank.

Public Roles

Utomi has served in various private sector associations including the Lagos Chamber of Commerce and Industry (LCCI), the National Council of the Manufacturers Association of Nigeria, he is also the Chairman of Poise Nigeria Limited, and the Nigeria Employers Consultative Association (NECA). He has spoken on issues in the following areas on various international platforms; growth economics, comparative development, leadership, oil, and China’s economic surge and growing influence in Africa. He has collaborated frequently with the Center for Strategic and International Studies (CSIS) in Washington, and Chatham House, in the UK. He has also written commissioned papers for the UK’s DFID including the latest collaboration with Colleagues from Oxford on the Political Economy of growth in Nigeria (2006).

Utomi also ran a failed attempt for presidency of Nigeria in 2011. In 2021, Pat and other political stakeholders pioneered the formation of a new political opposition ahead of the 2023 Nigerian general elections.

Pat Utomi was declared as the governorship candidate of the All Progressive Congress for the 2019 general election in Delta State by a faction of the All Progressive Congress. The National  Working Committee of the APC later overturned the declaration and announced Chief Great Ogboru as its Delta state gubernatorial candidate for the 2019 general elections.

He is a professor at Lagos Business School,  and had served in senior positions in government, as an adviser to the former president of Nigeria, Shehu Shagari, the private sector, as Chief Operating Officer at Volkswagen Nigeria.

Personal Background

Utomi was born in Kaduna, he is a descent of Igbuzo in Oshimili North Local Government Area of Delta State. He had his primary education at St. Thomas, Kano 1960 – 1962; Our Lady of Fatima, Gusau 1962 – 1966; Christ the King College, Onitsha,  and Loyola College, Ibadan, finishing his secondary education at the age of 15. The entry age for university education was 17, so he enrolled at the Federal School of Arts and Science in the interim. He later got admission into the University of Nigeria, Nsukka in 1973 to study Mass Communication. Patrick Utomi graduated from University of Nigeria Nsukka in 1977. He attended Indiana University, Bloomington, Indiana, USA, where he got his Ph.D. MPA, MA.

He was appointed Professor of Social and Political Economy Environment of Business and Entrepreneurship at Lagos Business School in 2003. He was formerly scholar-in-residence at the Harvard Business School and the American University in Washington, D.C.