Otti Urges African Leaders on Good Governance, Advancement of Politics

Blessing Ibunge in Port Harcourt

Abia State Governor, Dr. Alex Otti, has called on African leaders to focus more on the advancement of politics and governance across the continent.

Otti made the call, yesterday, in Port Harcourt, Rivers State, during the opening ceremony of the first international conference on ‘advancing politics and governance for sustainable development’, organised by the Centre for Politics of the University of Port Harcourt.

The conference, with the theme: ‘Politics, Resource Governance and Sustainable Development in Africa’ was attended by participants from Nigeria, Ghana, South Africa, United Arab Emirates, United States, Canada and Australia.

Represented by the former Senate Minority Chief Whip, Senator Darlington Nwokocha, Otti said development in simple language was the fair distribution of resources among the people.

“Politics is about people and where human withdraws psychologically from the field for reasons of disappointments and disillusion, what follows will mostly be in line of rein-seeking and system theft,” he said.

The Abia State governor also expressed concern over low voter turnout during elections following growing pattern of cheats, manipulations allegedly  embedded in the system.

He decried the situation despite huge funds used in political mobilisation, noting that the reason was because the people were disenchanted especially, after the 2023 elections.

“You find out that there is continued decline of voters’ turnout on successive elections, despite the rising cost of political mobilisation,” he said.

Chairman of the conference, Tonye Princewill, observed that, “When politics, however is guided by vision and verifiable impacts and when governance is rooted in transparency, inclusion and accountability, nations rise.”

Earlier in his welcome remarks, director of the Centre for Politics, University of Port Harcourt, Prof Fidelis Allen, said how Africa manages its economic resources would determine the condition of the continent in the future.