Unenlightened self-interest

One of the surest ways to know if a society will make economic progress is to see if its so-called elite understand the concept of enlightened self-interest. It basically means furthering the interests of others, ultimately to serve your own self-interest. Think of people like Cornelius Vanderbilt, John Rockefeller, Andrew Carnegie and JP Morgan. These were selfish men who ruthlessly amassed huge fortunes, but then turned around and “helped” a lot of other people, and thus secured two things – their own legacies, and the prosperity of their descendants. But these men walked the earth more than a century ago. In our time we have seen Bill Gates, as an example, ruthlessly build up Microsoft to be the dominant player in the desktop computing world, and now, having secured the future of his progeny, he is going about securing his legacy through his foundation. One of the things he is doing, and doing well, is health.

Last week, Gates gave a series of interviews to various international media organisations regarding the current COVID-19 pandemic, and in each of those interviews, he showed a clear understanding of the dangers of the virus and the empathy of someone who wants to help. It also helped that he, at various points the world’s wealthiest man, was social distancing. Now contrast that with the behaviour of Nigeria’s top of the pile.

Since this pandemic came to Nigeria, our elite have not acted with discipline, or with any form of enlightened self-interest. This lack of discipline has endangered the lives of fellow citizens starting from the very top. President Buhari’s chief of staff, Abba Kyari was one of the first members of the elite to contract the deadly virus after a visit to Germany that a Chief of Staff should not have been involved in, but that is another matter. After he returned to Nigeria by way of the United Kingdom and Egypt, rather than self-isolate as stipulated by the Nigeria Centre for Disease Control, Kyari went about exercising his power and being seen in close proximity with a lot of Nigeria’s power elite including but not limited to Adams Oshiomhole, George Akume, Lai Mohammed, Ramatu Tijjani, Zubair Dada, Garba Shehu, Yahaya Bello, Boss Mustapha, Osagie Ehanire, and most notably, Nigeria’s richest man, and a friend of the aforementioned Bill Gates, Aliko Dangote.

The ill-discipline was not limited to the ruling party as the governor of Oyo state, one of his special assistants, the governor of Abia state, all had their moments of indiscretion.

Then there are our celebrities who following a lockdown which many have rightly said is hard enough for a largely indigent country such as Nigeria, still found time to share the virus amongst themselves in award shows and most ironically, in a house party hosted by Funke Akindele, who just happened to have done some television ads advising people on the need for social distancing and is a (now former) brand ambassador for Dettol.

The actions of Nigeria’s religious elite have also caused shame. We have had Islamic clerics encouraging their adherents to turn up for Jumat services despite the knowledge that India’s exposure to the virus exploded after a Muslim conference (as did Malaysia’s), and many Christian clerics thumbed their noses at the government’s order to close. In one of the more famous ones, Chris Oyakhilome served to fuel a conspiracy theory that has come to be associated with the pandemic. Perhaps imbued by a loss of church and personal income following the movement of restrictions in a bid to stem the spread of the virus, Oyakhilome’s resort to questioning the existence of the virus, thereunto attacking the proposed 5G technology as an instrument of the Antichrist is as worrisome as it is laughable.

Even worse, the federal government’s attempt to dispel rumours of its decision to buy 5G technology from China served to add to the fake news and misinformation that has been making the rounds, and it goes to show that the Buhari administration has not learnt anything from its handling of the “Jubril of Sudan” case where the President’s handlers encouraged him to make a statement proving that he’s alive and not a body double.

If there’s an open secret about the lack of development in Nigeria, it is the problem of leadership. From what events have shown in the last few weeks, however, the problem goes beyond the leadership and includes followers as well, as fitness enthusiasts, largely from the middle class, took to the Oworonshoki Expressway in Gbagada, Lagos last week openly defying the stay at home order–an offence which Funke Akindele and a number of others have been prosecuted for. This is not to lay the blame squarely on the shoulders of the citizens however because if Nigeria’s elites had acted responsibly, we probably would not have gotten here in the first place.

A self-aware, enlightened elite would be the vanguard of fostering a deep and contextual understanding of the pressing issues of the day. In a pandemic-laden environment that is exacting significant social and economic costs, it is a moral and pragmatic imperative. Unenlightened self-interest, in which most or all persons act according to their own myopic selfishness, means that the group suffers loss as a result of conflict, decreased efficiency because of lack of cooperation, and the increased expense each individual pays for the protection of their own interests.

Unenlightened self-interest is why trust in government and its governing ability has plummeted from the heady days of optimism that marked our return to democratic rule. Unenlightened self-interest is why power, health, infrastructure and education have not been fixed. Unenlightened self-interest is why a political restructuring of the country has not happened.

In the final analysis, the Nigerian penchant for tolerating and even rewarding the bad behaviour of its elites and ruling class will, among other things, severely undermine the containment efforts as well as, give free rein to gross irresponsibility as well as non-accountability which no sane society should condone. The lack of self-awareness of that elite and ruling class will ultimately lead to our society’s destruction.

CHETA NWANZE