My Beauty Best Teacher

Discussing Pat Utomi's latest initiative, Grandiose Parlor highlights a key problem with the Nigerian opposition and Perhaps opposition groups throughout the continent, their lack of a social contract with the very people they claim to represent :

One major limitation of Pat over the years has been his inability to create a solid and reliable bond with the Nigerian grassroots, and from what I can see from the sideline, the “Pat utomi tendency” may still be at work: an over-reliance on the Nigerian elites...I hope Pat sees the need to take his campaign further than the confines of cosy restaurants into the dusty streets of the Nigerian hinterland where the battles of democracy will be fought and its rewards most appreciated.

In Grandiose Parlor:

I would love to see either Ribadu or Utomi become president one day, but what they are doing is trying to score a knock-out victory without throwing a punch! They must earn their slots, politically. They need to roll up their sleeves and get their hands dirty by learning to operate from within the political system, even if they so much hate it. This is the only way they would understand and appreciate the magnitude of the problem of governance—or lack thereof.
Ribadu and Utomi can showcase their brilliance and impeccable qualities to other politicians and the electorate at the grassroots, if they would operate in a capacity less glamorous as the presidency. This would offer them the opportunity of political baptism and credibility, which they lack but need to win elections.

Pat Utomi writes:

Recently I advocated that if we are really serious at making our political office holders more sensitive to the people we have to enact laws that make it MANDATORY for ALL political office holders to receive medical services ONLY in Nigerian hospitals and for their children to attend ONLY Nigerian schools. I argued that the reason they do not care about the decay in Nigeria’s infrastructure and social services is because they do not access them and how can you advocate for something you do not use. Imagine my surprise when I received emails from a few Nigerians complaining that my idea was unconstitutional and will affect people’s liberty. To those who said that, I ask what they understand by the term government. Isn’t government meant to guarantee the welfare of the poeple?

The 4th Lagos Economic Summit:

Will present a forum for government to identify and engage with prospective solution providers and investors who can assist the government in its goals to make Lagos Africa's model city.”With two years to the 20 million-population mark as projected by the UN-Habitat the state must begin to consider the various strategies that others have successfully adopted make Lagos a world-class livable state. The new challenge before the state is to continue to act positively and attract investors and solution providers.

David Kashangaki adds to the conversation about Decorative Democracies:

In a situation in which 'democratic' institutions are the product of a flawed understanding of democracy (that says all the grass roots have to do is vote for the person who gives them the most money and promises everything that people want to hear- knowing that they will deliver nothing), it is highly unrealistic to expect proper institutions to be formed, and that this civil society will be the backbone of them.

It just will not happen. Similarly, trying to transform these institutions by spending vast amounts of donor aid on 'workshops' for the elite won't transform them either. The transformation will come when there is an educated civil society that understands what democracy means; that can tell the difference between empty promises and what is truly realistic about what can be done to develop; that is able to see participation as more than just voting

David Kashangaki adds to the conversation about Decorative Democracies:

In a situation in which 'democratic' institutions are the product of a flawed understanding of democracy (that says all the grass roots have to do is vote for the person who gives them the most money and promises everything that people want to hear- knowing that they will deliver nothing), it is highly unrealistic to expect proper institutions to be formed, and that this civil society will be the backbone of them.

It just will not happen. Similarly, trying to transform these institutions by spending vast amounts of donor aid on 'workshops' for the elite won't transform them either. The transformation will come when there is an educated civil society that understands what democracy means; that can tell the difference between empty promises and what is truly realistic about what can be done to develop; that is able to see participation as more than just voting