Then there is the big problem of poverty, crime and insurgency activities associated with the desperate poor and this looming anarchy. Could civil society not have pressured policymakers earlier to watch the pattern of income creation and distribution?
Not having built up consistent and sustainable civil society has brought great harm to our democracy, making it less responsive to the needs of the people and accountable.
As German Chancellor Angela Merkel said recently of Russia one of its greatest to make democracy work for it is the building up of civil society. There is ample evidence that the Worlds thriving industrial democacies tend to have more vibrant civil society. Our experience of recent provides lots of examples of how poop civil society frustrates pursuit of the promise of Nigeria.
The examples are legion but it seem the pertinent question is how do we give new impetus to civil society and social enterprise. I founded the Centre for Values in Leadership partly for this reason and I am searching still for ways to celebrate men and women who seek to change the world through social enterprise.
I find that age, education and exposure matter in the pursuit of social causes. It is not accidental the adage says if at 18 you are not a Marxist, something is wrong with your heart but if at 40 you are still a Marxist, something is wrong with your head. Youth is the age of idealism. This is why the decline of the student movement and the domination of campus politics by Prado driving students bankrolled by politicians highlight our decline. In my time as an executive of the students union at the University of Nigeria it was unheard of that political actors influenced us.
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*Pat Utomi, Political Economist and Professor of Entrepreneurship is Founder of CVL. [eap_ad_3]