Utomi, Momodu task nation on intellectual leadership, youth policy

Former Presidential candidates of the African Democratic Party (ADP), Prof. Pat Utomi and Publisher, Ovation Magazine, Mr. Dele Momodu, who ran on the platform of National Conscience Party (NCP) in 2011, have tasked the country on the need to build intellectual leadership with mental capacity and exposure.

Besides, they argued that such prerequisites were needed to lead the country out of its present woes and to formulate youth oriented policies.

Speaking at the launch of a book ‘Our Entrepreneurship Mandate’ written by Ola Grace at the weekend, Momodu said the country was into the mess it found itself currently because most of the leaders it has produced lack the intellectual capacity to run a nation and have refused to seek advice on how to get things done.

On the other hand, Utomi said what the country needs today is leaders that can shape values because value shapes human progress.

According to Momodu, “I was stunned by what people say when I decided to run for the highest office in 2011. Many Nigerians asked who was Dele Momodu does he think Nigeria is Ovation? Then I asked myself what was wrong in being a journalist and aspiring to run for the presidency?

“Why are people questioning the competence of a journalist, but that’s our country because we belittle ourselves. I remember that most Africa founding fathers like Chief Obafemi Awolowo, Dr. Nnamdi Azikwe, Oginga Oginga, Jomo Kenyata from Kenya who wrote Not Yet Uhuru among others have their background in writing or journalism.

“What we’ve lost in this generation is the fact that most of the leaders we have, actually lack the intellectual capacity to run a nation; when you lack something, it is expected you make up for it by surrounding yourself with people who have what you don’t know, unfortunately, politics is not as stable as that, primordial sentiments are attached to everything we do in this country.” 
The Ovation magazine publisher added that no government anywhere in the world can provide jobs for everybody and wondered why people complain of government not giving jobs to the people.

According to him, “Part of what our leaders lacks is their inability to create an environment to teach entrepreneurship in schools; without entrepreneur, there is no way America would attain the status of the greatest country on earth; America is the only place where a 19-year-old man is already flying a private jet either from singing, design or developing an application.”

On corruption, the former presidential candidate said, “Reason corruption had refused to die is because our system encourages it. Corruption is not about whether you are breaking down doors; there are system that discourages corruption and one of them is the credit system, you cannot see any developed nation where people cannot get draft, scholarship or loan.

Utomi observed that leaders shape values and value shape human progress, stressing: “What a leader does is to shape the value of the society. Our country is in a position to either become a time bomb for arm-robbers to take over everywhere or we decide to create entrepreneur in the youths to give us demography. Those who are controlling population do not have enough young people to produce for the old, so we have to take advantage of numbers of the young population we have in the country. How can a country that wants to make progress don’t even have a youth policy,” he asked.