Pat Utomi: Younger generation needs to challenge the status quo

Pat Utomi, political economist, says said the younger generation needs to be mentored to challenge the status quo.

Speaking at the second anniversary of the Goke Omisore lecture, Utomi said the rich are working against the poor.

He said knowing this, young persons need to rise and take their fate in their hands.

“I agree with all the speakers. I just want to add that the younger ones need to be mentored to be able to challenge the status quo,” he said.

“The rich class are united against the common people, therefore, the younger generation should be united to wage war against the status quo.”

Buttressing the point Utomi made, Bassey Henshaw, a former senator, said his generation needs to train the youth for the future.

Annkio Briggs, social critic and human rights activist, said her generation has failed to give what the youth of Nigeria want, therefore, it is unfair to be calling on them to fix and salvage the country.

“We didn’t give the youth what they want, now we want them to fix the mess we created. I have children aged 27 to 44 but Nigeria has been unkind to them,” she said.

“My position is that we need a new Nigeria. Nigeria as at today cannot give you a citizenship because Nigeria does not exist.

“Lord Lugard gave us the name Nigeria. I am who I am because I am an Ijaw woman. We should even decide whether we want to retain the name. What is going on in Nigeria is insane. Nothing is working and the country is haemorrhaging. We should either restructure or be allowed to leave the amalgamation of 1914 peacefully.”