TheCable

A political group, Rescue Nigeria Project (RNP), with focus on “creating new standards for leadership in the country”, has been unveiled.

The group, which held its inaugural national caucus meeting on Tuesday, had Usman Bugaje, a former member of the house of representatives; Pat Utomi, a professor of political economy; Tunde Adeniran, a former chairmanship aspirant of the Peoples Democratic Party, and Abdulfatah Ahmed, former governor of Kwara, in attendance.

Bugaje, RNP national coordinator, said the group was founded as part of efforts to promote quality leadership in the country.

“The challenge is how to introduce a set of criteria or better still re-calibrate the recruitment mechanism in our political parties to prioritise knowledge, competence and character,” the former reps member said.

“The deepening crisis in the political parties is all the more reason why this re-calibration is necessary.

“We intend to renew the spirit of leadership and create new standards to speak to the role this great country is expected to play in the great continent of Africa.

“By 2030, Nigeria’s population is expected to rise to 300 million and by 2050, it is expected to be about 450 million, when it will be the third largest country in the world after India and China. Thus, we must seek to change the conversation about leadership.

“The first thing we should want to know about our president is not which part of country he or she comes from, rather how competent is he or she?”

Speaking at the meeting, Utomi expressed concern over the current state of the economy, and said there is a need for the government to focus on improving revenue generation.

“What shall we do to change the mindset of the politician to be production-focused rather than revenue-focused? Because revenues are killing us. We’re all struggling to gain more revenues, yet, we’re just rushing for what will make us poor,” he said.

“So, let us see if political parties can develop a mindset that can get us away from where we are.”

On his part, Adeniran, also a member of RNP, said: “What is worrisome is not only the fact that so many things are wrong, but the very fact that people do not seem to care that things are wrong. And the youths are watching and they ask the question: ‘where is our future?'”

Rose Danladi, a member of the group, called for diversification of the economy.

“Somehow, our focus has shifted from adding value to the resources that we have, to extracting it for peanuts. I want to plead with us, that this privilege will not last forever,” she said.

In his remarks, the former Kwara governor said Nigeria’s political leaders need to match words with action.

“If you look at what we’re doing, we want to see how we’ll do things differently. There have been so many talk shows in Nigeria. There have been so many activities put in place in terms of efforts. But none has really translated into walking the talk,” he said.

“So, we want to see this as a platform that for once, we genuinely and sincerely bare our minds on the critical issues that are facing us in terms of insecurity, in terms of economy, and of course, infrastructure. And most importantly, the social dislodgement that we are faced with.”