Technocrats Can No Longer Afford to Be Docile in Political Affairs, Otti Warns

Wale Igbintade

Abia State Governor, Dr. Alex Otti, has called on technocrats to be actively involved in the political affairs of Nigeria, warning that if they refused to participate in politics, they would end up being governed by their inferiors.

Speaking at the 54th Annual Accountants’ Conference organised by the Institute of Chartered Accountants of Nigeria (ICAN), with the theme: ‘Governance Reimagined: Mapping the Future,’ Otti warned that “we shall be doomed if we remain aloof and imagine that we shall be spared when the ship ultimately wrecks”.

He stressed the need for accountants and other technocrats to quickly get involved in the politics of their local communities, adding that the best way to develop a new template for governance was to create a new culture of community participation in public affairs.

He said: “The assignment before us is to evolve new ways of tackling the existential problems that confront us because we shall be doomed if we remain aloof and imagine that we shall be spared when the ship ultimately wrecks. The unfortunate truth is that there may be no lifeboats to jump into

“One takeaway from my message today is that we can no longer afford to be docile. We must be interested because according to Plato, ‘one of the penalties of refusing to participate in politics is that you end up being governed by your inferiors’
“We have to quickly get involved in the politics of our local communities because ultimately, the best way to develop a new template for governance is to create a new culture of community participation in public affairs, starting from where we live, where we work and all the places where we want to see things change for the better.

“Let me assure us that we shall get it right if we step out of our comfort zones and begin to mobilise ourselves to work for a better future. This is a race for the future and only the willing and determined will win. Let us come together and write a more fitting narrative of our dear nation over the next few decades,” Otti explained.

The governor recalled that Nigeria was once a nation of optimists, who held very strong hopes that ‘we were on the ascent on the development ladder’.

He said it would have been very difficult to believe that Nigeria will still be struggling with electricity problems in 2024.  

According to him, the assurance was that by the dawn of the new millennium, the problem of a perennial power failure would be a thing of the past, adding that Nigerians have failed to live up to the expectations of millions of people around the world who had imagined in the 1950s and early 1960s that this land will attain superpower status, or something very close, by the dawn of the new millennium.
Highlighting his journey to change the political dynamics of Abia State, which started in 2014, Otti urged Nigerians not to give up on the country.

“We have gathered this afternoon to talk sincerely to ourselves and ask a few soul-searching questions. Sharing the same auditorium with some of the most accomplished experts in the field of accounting, I am convinced that the intellect, reach, and influence to begin the process of changing our worrisome reality can be found in this large pool of people. Although some opinions insist that our problem is not lack of ideas but failure to execute.

“The truth is that the people are tired of hearing the regurgitation of excuses by those with access to public microphones. They just want things to work — their children going to schools where they are taught in a conducive environment by properly trained and motivated teachers. They want access to basic amenities including electricity, pipe-borne water, and good roads.

“Our people want a community where the institutions of state are effective and responsive; they want the emergency services to respond as soon as they are contacted, without hindrances or excuses, they want to go to the courts and get justice in good time, they want to go to bed each night with both eyes closed, certain that they will not be jolted awake by masked gunmen, or find themselves in the middle of nowhere, surrounded by kidnappers for whom the sacredness of human life is an abstract idea that can only be scorned.  

 “For our young ones, all that they ask for is an opportunity to make a living and pursue their dreams without structural limitations. Unfortunately, many of us are yet to fully appreciate the hemorrhage of human talent from our country fuelled by the ‘japa’ phenomenon,” Otti explained.

The Abia State governor said it was depressing to observe that the opportunities they took for granted after their tertiary education in the 1970s and 1980s had disappeared for the majority, however brilliant they might be.

“So, we have regressed. Unfortunately, all of us, in one way or the other, have contributed to this sorry situation,” Otti added.