A political economist, Professor Pat Utomi, has expressed regret that successive governments in Nigeria have treated young people like ‘idiots’.
“Governments have been not trustworthy in Nigeria, let’s be very frank,” Utomi said on Channels Television’s Sunrise Daily programme on Thursday.
“It has treated young people like they are idiots, repeatedly, and this is sad because most governments in Nigeria were first run by young people.
“If you think about military rule, they were in their 20s and 30s, most of them, but something in the nature of the command hierarchy of the military, compounded by oil coming in, led to a beginning crystallisation of a new class system in Nigeria.”
“Governments have been not trustworthy in Nigeria, let’s be very frank,” Utomi said on Channels Television’s Sunrise Daily programme on Thursday.
“It has treated young people like they are idiots, repeatedly, and this is sad because most governments in Nigeria were first run by young people.
“If you think about military rule, they were in their 20s and 30s, most of them, but something in the nature of the command hierarchy of the military, compounded by oil coming in, led to a beginning crystallisation of a new class system in Nigeria.”
The thought leader said: “Any government that does not begin with recognising that it is not trusted is wasting time. So, the first thing that it needs to do is start building trust and that begins with honest commitment.”
“There are models of how you build trust but the first thing begins by your doing the right thing and building what they call an emotional bank account.
“Every time you say you are going to do something and you do exactly what you say you are going to do, you make a deposit in the emotional bank account. Every time you say you are going to do something and you don’t do it, you make a withdrawal.
“Ultimately, whether you are believable is a function of the balance in that emotional bank account,” Utomi added.