Amin Buba Dibal
Development challenges towards an egalitarian state Nigeria faces stem from multi-dimensional sources, from an unethical elite governance culture and absence of individual ethical sovereignty in leaders, state capture and grand economic and financial corruption, leadership lack of vision, undermined governance systems, poor practice of rule of law and accountability and to an uninformed citizenry.
In discussing these challenges in governance terms, the greatest blame goes to leadership, especially policymakers and other key public officials who have been granted authority and trust to plan all aspects of our national life, enact policies, legislate, delegate authority, and allocate resources for governance and development.
When we consider the level of underdevelopment in Nigeria across sectors and how we are extremely lagging compared to other countries at independence such as India, Malaysia, Indonesia, and South Korea to mention a few, unthinkable unethical conduct of high public officials against the interest of the Nigerian people in many sectors, the quantum of stollen national wealth, one wonders what do the Nigerian leadership elite stand to benefit at a deeper level to see the nation they preside over constantly declining in all aspects?
The focus of this article is thus on the “benefits of an enlightened self-interest for the Nigerian leadership elite” who amongst them with an ethically redeemed conscience may care to know or be reminded.
Enlightened self-interest action is defined by Wikipedia as follows: “Persons who act to further the interests of others (or the interests of the group, nation, or groups to which they belong) ultimately serve their self-interest.”
Furthermore, it states, “In contrast to enlightened self-interest is simple greed, or the concept of “unenlightened self-interest,” in which it is argued that when most or all persons act according to their myopic selfishness, the group or nation suffers loss as a result of conflict, decreased efficiency and productivity because of lack of cooperation, and the increased expense each individual pays for the protection of their interests.”
What is thus the driving force and motivation for the “unenlightened self-interest” practices of the Nigerian leadership elite that has kept our country underdeveloped?
It could be deduced from the observation of their lifestyle, public conduct, and expressions to postulate that the motivation for the wanton embezzlement of public resources and destruction of our institutions are absence of vision for society and vain longing for the prestige of power, pathological desire for inordinate pleasure and luxury, petty class ego and the desire to leave fortune of wealth for their children.
But what is the rational validity of these driving forces and motivation to warrant the destruction of the systems of state and structural violence against its people? Against this background, three redemptive outlooks that broadly respond to all the driving motivations are suggested for our leadership elites.
This is in addition to an already established recommendation of psychiatric therapy the former EFCC boss Farida Waziri recommended for public officials in Nigeria because of the level of corruption, whereas the rule of law and accountability would have been mitigated if enforced.
However, given the rule of law hardly applies in this context for now, let’s appeal to the redeemed consciences of some amongst them who have some left.
An Egalitarian society: When a society is socially just, all its members stand to benefit inclusively and sustainably. Most times, members of the leadership elite in positions of authority abuse the law, steal public resources, and undermine public institutions meant for service to citizens as if they will never come back to society as “ordinarily” citizens someday.
However shortly after they return to “ordinary” society, they also join in lamenting the conduct of those in power and the failure of social services delivery despite the times they had in office but never did much to reverse the level of their authority.
We see this manifesting in how for example former governors who made it to the senate complain about how their current governors hijacked political structure but they never did anything when in office to ensure our politics rests on principles and rules, safeguarded by a robustly built institution of a party, thus now pushing to ensure LGA autonomy which they hope amongst others will reduce the overbearing power of governors.
We see the opposition to state police even by former state governors now in the senate largely because they are now at the receiving end but did not establish or strengthen a system or nurture a culture of rule of law in this regard when in office.
When in office, everything procurement must be done by your companies or cronies and not by the rules of public procurement, thus when you leave office, none of your companies will ever get any contract because the next person does the same and you will also be complaining.
We manipulate and coerce the judiciary and when you leave public office you never get justice because the next person in power will do the same as you did. You abandon and destroy the health system in Nigeria and get medical attention only abroad but go to the funeral of your friends and relatives who have no access to equipped and quality health services in their communities.
You fail to fix roads thus recording high death rates on the roads due to potholes with victims from around you. You underfund regulatory agencies for example NAFDAC to the extent the agency does not have vehicles for optimal inspection in many cases thus you become vulnerable to taking substandard products that could kill many people around you and probably even yourself.
You underfund NDLEA and destructive drugs abound in society with the likelihood of your children having easy access. You did not do much to make education accessible and qualitative for all at all levels and now we have criminals to threaten our peace in the neighborhoods, highways, and forest.
You failed to fix refineries and the poor around you are pushed to extreme poverty and would never allow your phone to rest.
We politicize and weaponize security according to Okonjo Iweala in her recent (August 2024) presentation at the NBA conference and your kinsmen and even traditional leaders are captured, tortured and your original communities displaced.
Unfortunately, most of our elites do not think along this path as far as it does not happen to their immediate family members and even believe they will always evade all such social menaces, thus, letting whatever kind of blood-stained money just keep coming.
However, this brings to mind the famous postulation of the German Lutheran Pastor, Martin Niemoller, a critic of the Nazis in the 1930s who spoke about how complicit Germans were in the crimes of Hitler and how self-centeredness can bring chaos to all of society in the long-run had this to say:
“First they came for the communists, second the socialists, third the trade unionists, fourth the Jews, and in all I did not speak out because I was either a communist, socialist or trade unionist, then they came for me and there was no one else left to speak-out for me”.
Let us create a sustainable society that works for all, where the weak and strong are protected, where all hard-working, disciplined, and courageous can aspire and achieve their dreams, and not individuals saddled with public trust steal public commonwealth with negative implications for the whole of society.
The Americans for example are able to build a fairly egalitarian society and we can see for example how Nigerians from poor backgrounds have risen to heights of excellence in various endeavours and now form over 70% of all doctors of colour in the US and generally the most successful ethnic nationality in North-America.
The allure of bequeathing inheritance: A key reason for the level of corruption amongst public officials in Nigeria as widely expressed has to do with so-called “securing the future of their children.”
However, it is not actually that strongly evident that those who have stolen public wealth for their children have secured their future. It is rather established that most people who have not worked through the process of securing a fortune most times end up wastefully squandering it and destroying themselves.
The most important thing is for parents to educate their children and instill in them good values and leave fairly earned inheritance where feasible.
Children will fend for themselves in a responsible and sustainable manner based on their expertise in the ever-abounding world of opportunities. It has been observed that education, ethical values, hard work, and dedication have prospered people from the bottom of society to heights of excellence like Elon Musk, Warren Buffet, and Richard Branson who were all for example not bequeathed anything by their parents to grow wealthy.
Conversely, a luxury most often, especially those provided to children in the context of the absence of a philosophically robust ethical framework and culture of hard work (which most corrupt leaders lack and thus cannot grant children) kills their passion to pursue dreams, deactivates the drive for creativity and deny children the possibilities to engage life in a manner that brings them out to experience life in ways that could spark the unveiling of their potentials for greater exploits.
According to Jay L.Z. in an Article in the Journal of Family and Economic Issues, March 2012, “Do People Save or Spend their Inheritances? Understand What Happens to Inherited Wealth, “, it is posited that “inheritances have similar windfall characteristics to lottery prize winners, lottery winners saved just 16 cents of every dollar, bankruptcy rates soared for lottery winners 3–5 years after winning and college gamblers had more problematic financial behaviors than non-gamblers”.
On another note, according to Zavanna Dova, speaking on TEDx on a theme entitled “How to Create Your Indispensable Inheritance”, 2022, state that “70% of inherited funds do not pass the second generation but squandered.”
Similarly, the risks of managing wealth and the propensity to drive children to delinquency are proportionally very high amongst those who have inherited wealth they have not worked for than amongst those who are educated, ethically groomed and basically supported to find their path to livelihood in life.
It is important to note that most of those who perpetrate and aid the corruption in our systems undermine the capacity of our institutions to function across arms of government and at all three tiers and agencies of government, speak and defend some worst among our leaders from roughly at least 95% of those that the resources they would have stolen or gotten will hardly even exceed their generation until it is finished or keep them barely above average or in the middle- class socio-economic ladder by the second generation and still be vulnerable to the ravaging impact of the corruption they help sustain and perpetrate in our society.
It is also alluded to that the margin and quality of life of the middle-income earner is the same as those of high net-worth people with just difference in the ability for the rich to afford luxury materials, sponsor expensive parties, afford costly vacations, ultra-expensive schools for their children and the psychedelic experiences of ego.
With hard work and robust lifestyle planning, many perpetrators of corrupt practices in our system could live within the middle-income earner strata or help create a society that could guarantee an average lifestyle for all. Why not then lend a hand to build a society that guarantees the thriving of all and protects our collective interest?
We largely cannot accumulate so much to secure our future and all around us, it is rather better we build a society where the hard-working would at least live well and the more determined could exploit.
The legacy of name: Most times, our elites see their name in posterity vis-à-vis their conduct in public office does not matter. But beyond the experiences of momentary ecstasy that come with sudden acquisition, the fact remains that every human longs to be remembered on the good part of history at a given point in life.
Beyond inherited wealth, our offspring would cherish noble and genuinely esteemed family names in society. Despite the seeming cherishing of corrupt public officials with even royal titles by some of our traditional institutions, when you talk to ordinary citizens in society and gauge random public opinion on the streets, the elites are the least held in any esteem or seen as role models for society but most often referred to with all sorts of derogatory names uttered in disdain, from ole in Yoruba, babban barawon gomnati in Hausa and onye-oshi in Igbo, all meaning thieves about leaders.
I remember an incident when I was driving a middle-class vehicle and two young men roughly drove onto the street on a motor-bike seemingly expecting me to leave my lane for him, in annoyance, the young men on the bike exclaimed in Hausa and interpreted as follows, “…after stealing all, you people also do not want us to even use the road”.
He assumed I was one of the members of the leadership elite class that was benefiting from the stolen national commonwealth, obviously by the middle-class vehicle I was using.
I doubt much if consciously that any leader would want to be in the annals of those that have failed their society nor any child would be proud to be referred to as for example the son of a Mobutu Sese-Seko of Zaire, Ali Bongo of Gabon or Paul Biya who offered their nations nothing but destroyed them but conversely of Nelson Mandela of South Africa, Lee Kuan Yew of Singapore and Paul Kagame of Rwanda.
This piece may be nonsense to most of the Nigerian leadership elite who after assuming the position of authority in trust to serve the people become power drunk and confused by the intoxication of ego because of a lack of vision for society and being in such a state until back to “common society.”
They would then maybe live with unspoken regrets if they have any conscience left as they also become victims of the same society which they have contributed to destroying, as sadly referred to in our country that “Nigeria has then happened to you”.
For those with ethically redeemed consciences, let it lead for the good of society and to the credit of your names now and in posterity.
Is it worth destroying your country for the vain and transient reasons of a hedonic lifestyle and luxury, the prestige of power, emotionally and psychologically destructive ego, and the ill-perceived idea of leaving a fortune of wealth for your children?
When we build a fair society and systems work for all, we all stand to benefit now and our children will have a secure future.
