Professor Pat Utomi, a renowned economist has said that most citizens have lost hope and given up on Nigeria.
He called for an urgent national dialogue on the political future of Nigeria and on security challenges.
The former presidential candidate of African Democratic Congress (ADC) spoke on Saturday in Abuja at a citizens’ conversation on the state of the nation, NAN reports.
Utomi noted that it was high time concerted efforts were made to fix the numerous problems in the country.
He said: “As I go around Nigeria, I have found out that most Nigerians are in despair; they have even given up on their country and that is a very dangerous thing to happen to any people.
“The question, therefore, is: why are Nigerians so distrust; why are they so unhappy; why are our leaders trading abuses and insults every day on one another.”
Utomi lamented that Nigerians were not having a national public conversation which should focus on the common good of the populace.
“Some think the Nigerian state is hijacked and privatised; there is a sense in which people think elections are meaningless in Nigeria and there is a sense in which there is a level of distrust.
“We need to engage all critical stakeholders’ and groups, but we are starting from the group I like to refer to as complacent middle,” Utomi said.
Chief Ralph Nwosu, National Chairman of ADC, urged political parties to evolve new ways of engaging the people and educating them on how to make Nigeria better.
Prof. Peter Nwangwu, a scientist and former presidential candidate, insisted that the Africa’s most populous nation needed to be restructured.
“We need a Nigeria where there will be total mindset reengineering. There is the need to clean up the rubbish from bottom to top, to have a society that is equitable”, he added.
