By Henry Uche
Professor of political economy and management expert, Pat Utomi has said that Nigerians have become a global tribe that can aggregate the good of the world in which they have thrived no matter the constraints in their path.
He urged the citizens to try and take back their country by creating greater welfare advancing possibilities in spite of government.
The don made the remarks at the inaugural meeting of the working Council of a group, the Health Care Cohort of the New Tribe on June 11, 2024.
Prof Utomi who is the inspirator of the New Tribe observed that of a higher category of people in society are citizens, those who feel a shared humanity and solidarity with other people for their humanity no matter their geography.
Part of his statements reads: “In the weeks of hard work to raise the membership of this work council of the health care cohort, it became quite clear that Nigerians have become a global tribe that can aggregate the good of the world in which they have thrived no matter the constraints in their path into a new age for all its people reduced sadly to a country of pity as the poverty capital of the world by lack of leadership, a collapse of culture and the embrace of emotion over reason, leaving society a victim of the absence of rational public conversation.
“It is not by accident that you the leadership council of the health care cohort are the first to be armed with your brief to go out there and confound doubters with a moral compass that will produce outcomes the world will discuss for a long time. The social sectors of health care and education have long been considered central to man’s escape from the slavery of misery.
“I feel so very proud of this day that it is a time when your collective talents become the platform for showcasing the triumph of the human spirit as initiatives flowing from your genius and compassion solve problems of both the affluent and the poorest of the poor as they work to up the quality of life within the challenges in our land.
“Many years ago I arrived the Bisi Onabanjo University Medical school in Sagamu to speak at an event of students of the CVL club I had founded who were led by Tolu Ademujimi. The speaker, then provost from LUTH finished his remarks saying the Nigerian Health Care System was a ‘man made disaster’.
“A key goal of this cohort is to undo that which man has done to health care in Nigeria.
Who are we to so dare and why do we passionately seek a new order.?
“Some years ago, two Columbia University Economists, Arvind Subramanian and Xavier Sala-i-Martin, in an IMF working paper more or less suggested Nigeria was better of without a government because the welfare effect of Oil income if just shared to all Nigerians was higher than the outcome of governing Nigeria in the manner it is governed.
“It therefore makes sense for citizens to try and take back their country by creating greater welfare advancing possibilities in spite of government. How do we plan to go about this. Here we turn to the wisdom of Ancient Greece.
“For the Greeks, at the base of civilization, are people who think of themselves alone. This category they called idiots. Moving up are the next category who care for others but only others with parochial linkages such as blood, language, and religion. These they called tribesmen. For tribesmen all not of the tribe are enemies to fought ferociously.
“Of a higher category of people in society are those who feel a shared humanity and solidarity with other people for their humanity no matter their geography. These they called citizens.
Our goal is to erect a moral tribe of citizens who speak and live personal integrity, hold high the dignity of the human person, celebrate the work ethic and entrepreneurial creativity, and hold on to merit with inclusion, as the essence of the social order in which we recognize that I am because we are.
“This new tribe in seeking to bring talk to action has created two sets of cohorts in a cluster of 14 and seven for sectors of intervention, and mode of organization, respectively, to operationalize the vision.
Just as we are giving to ourselves today the brief for the healthcare cohort, others for education, values, public accountability, Election reforms, etc will follow.
