By Sunday Ani
Renowned political economist and social activist, Prof. Pat Utomi, has launched a new movement, “The New Tribe,” aimed at correcting social ills and advancing the common good of Nigerians.
Speaking at a news conference on “The state of the motherland,’ in Lagos, Utomi said the movement would bring together like-minded individuals from diverse backgrounds to tackle the country’s pressing challenges, including corruption, poverty, and inequality.
Utomi, a vocal critic of bad governance and social injustice, believes that The New Tribe will provide a platform for Nigerians to come together and demand positive change, as it promises to be a beacon of hope for a nation grappling with numerous social and economic problems.
He said: “The main objective is to bring citizens together to work collaboratively to save the nation. The structure of the New Tribe, which is nonpartisan but not apolitical, is built on 14 cohorts of social action and seven cohorts of organisation.
“It is also for the correction of our erroneous values and unfortunate outcomes of value decadence in our society that the New Tribe has been birthed.”
According to him, it is a coming together of citizens committed to personal integrity, culture of merit and social justice, as well as sacrificial service to advance the common good.
“These are citizens willing to make changes in the work ethics, and make production an anchor of economic engagement, which favours reason and rational disposition over emotions of ethnicity and faith that is often weaponised by the political actors.”
He said the active cohorts of the New Tribe for now are health, Ubuntu community, public accountability, infrastructure, economic growth and elections.
“Two weeks from today, the leadership of the New Tribe will issue the first state of the motherland report.”
Four months after, it will issue the second and will do so every four months thereafter.”
According to him, values shape human progress. He lamented that values seem to have taken a flight from the country’s current landscape, insisting that citizens have an obligation to seek restoration.