A Nigerian Professor of Political Economy And Management Expert

Patrick Okedinachi Utomi is a Nigerian professor of political economy and a management expert. He is a Fellow of the Institute of Management Consultants of Nigeria and a former presidential candidate.

He is the founder of the Centre for Value in Leadership (CVL) and the African Democratic Congress. Additionally, he is a professor at Lagos Business School and has served in senior positions in government, including as an adviser to the president of Nigeria, and in the private sector as Chief Operating Officer of Volkswagen Nigeria.

BACKGROUND

Patrick Utomi was born in Kaduna on February 6, 1956. He is of Igbuzo descent in Oshimili North Local Government Area of Delta State. He had his primary education at St. Thomas, Kano, from 1960 to 1962; Our Lady of Fatima, Gusau, from 1962 to 1966; Christ the King College, Onitsha, and Loyola College, Ibadan, completing his secondary education at the age of 15.

Since the entry age for university education was 17, he enrolled at the Federal School of Arts and Science during the interim. Later, he got admission into the University of Nigeria, Nsukka in 1973 to study Mass Communication.

Patrick Utomi graduated from the University of Nigeria Nsukka in 1977. He attended Indiana University, Bloomington, Indiana, USA, where he obtained his Ph.D., MPA, and MA. He was appointed Professor of Social and Political Economy Environment of Business and Entrepreneurship at Lagos Business School in 2003. He has also been a scholar-in-residence at the Harvard Business School and the American University in Washington, D.C.

Within a few months of returning to Nigeria from Bloomington, Indiana, United States, Pat was enlisted by the former Vice President Alex Ekwueme to provide consultancy services on some public policy papers. Soon after, he was appointed Special Assistant by former President Shehu Shagari, a position he lost following the military coup of December 1983, which terminated the Second Republic.

Following the end of the Second Republic, he became Chairman/Chief Executive Officer of Utomapp Holdings Limited from 1984 to 1986, and Assistant General Manager, Corporate Affairs, Volkswagen Nigeria Lagos, from 1983 to 1993.

Utomi was a Scholar-in-Residence at the American University, Washington DC, USA, in 1996, and a Research Associate at the Harvard Business School, Boston, Massachusetts, USA, in 1996. (Lagos Business school started operating in 1991.)

Utomi is a member of various professional bodies, including the Nigerian Institute of Public Relations (NIPR), Institute of Directors (IOD), Nigeria Economic Summit Group, and Nigeria Economic Society.

Utomi coordinated the establishment of several civil society groups on good governance and accountability, such as Transparency in Nigeria, the Centre for Values in Leadership, the Concerned Professionals, and the Restoration Group. In the business sphere, Utomi was the Vice Chairman of Platinum–Habib Bank. He is also a columnist and chairman.

Utomi has served in various private sector associations, including the Lagos Chamber of Commerce and Industry (LCCI), the National Council of the Manufacturers Association of Nigeria, and he is the Chairman of Poise Nigeria Limited and the Nigeria Employers Consultative Association (NECA).

He has spoken on issues in various areas on international platforms, including growth economics, comparative development, leadership, oil, and China’s economic surge and growing influence in Africa. He has collaborated frequently with the Center for Strategic and International Studies (CSIS) in Washington and Chatham House in the UK. He has also written commissioned papers for the UK’s DFID, including the latest collaboration with colleagues from Oxford on the Political Economy of growth in Nigeria (2006).

Utomi also ran an unsuccessful attempt for the presidency of Nigeria in 2011. In 2021, Pat and other political stakeholders pioneered the formation of a new political opposition ahead of the 2023 Nigerian general elections.

Pat Utomi was declared as the governorship candidate of the All Progressive Congress for the 2019 general election in Delta State by a faction of the All Progressive Congress. However, the national working Committee of the All Progressive Congress overturned the factional declaration and declared Chief Great Ogboru as its Delta state gubernatorial candidate for the 2019 general elections.

He was nominated and voted by the public as one of Nigeria’s top ten Living Legends in the Vanguard/Silverbird Television Awards. Great Nigeria Lives of the 20th Century; and Who is who in Africa.

He has been a guest speaker at the annual Business Club meetings of the Africa Business Club at the Harvard Business School, Wharton, Kellogg School, and the TedxEuston at the University of London.

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