Professor Pat Utomi delivered a thought-provoking keynote address at the First News 4th Public Lecture held in Port Harcourt on October 4, 2024.
Themed “Building The Niger Delta of Our Dream with or Without Oil,” the lecture focused on the challenges facing the Niger Delta region, with Utomi emphasizing the urgent need for leadership reform.
In his address, Utomi highlighted what he described as “the tragedy of poverty in plenty” that plagues the oil-rich region. Despite the immense wealth derived from the Niger Delta’s natural resources, the region continues to grapple with widespread poverty and underdevelopment.
“I want to push us into a place of pain so that we can reflect,” Utomi stated, urging the audience to confront the harsh realities of the region’s situation.
According to Utomi, leadership is a fundamental issue that has stunted the region’s progress for decades. He called for a collective resolve to overhaul the existing leadership structures and pave the way for a brighter future.
“Leadership is a problem that we need to deal with,” he said. “Can we say never again to the kind of leadership that has brought us here? Can we say let us begin again, because it is possible to begin again?”
Utomi also outlined his vision for how the Niger Delta can make progress, emphasizing that sustainable development in the region is possible, even without the reliance on oil. His remarks challenged stakeholders to rethink the region’s dependency on oil and to explore alternative paths for economic growth.
The First News 4th Public Lecture, organized to mark the newspaper’s anniversary, brought together key figures from across the Niger Delta to discuss the future of the region and explore solutions to its long-standing challenges.