Buharinomics and the hedonistic Calculus

We must start to place the interest and plights of our suffering people high on top of our action agenda –J. J. Rawlings

In his book Introduction to the Principles of Morals and Legislation,Jeremy Bentham proposed a method of working out the sum total of pleasure and pain produced by an act. He proposed that when determining what action is right in a given situation, we should consider the pleasures and pains resulting from it in respect of their intensity, duration, certainty, propinquity, fecundity, purity and extent. This idea is a utilitarian principle, which states that it is the greatest happiness of the greatest number of people that is the measure of right and wrong. This principle is the hedonistic calculus.
Since Bentham propounded this idea, the United Nations General Assembly, in 2011, has passed a resolution, inviting member countries to measure the happiness of their citizens to help guide their public policies. Although, the 2016 World Happiness Report places Denmark as the happiest country in the world, Bhutan – a country in southern Asia – however, became the first country to officially adopt Gross National Happiness (GNH), rather than Gross Domestic Product (GDP) as the  main development indicator.
The variables, however used in ranking countries, include GDP per capita, social support, life expectancy, freedom of choices, generosity, and trust. With Denmark taking the lead in this ranking, Switzerland and Iceland are the second and third happiest countries, while Norway, Finland, Canada, Netherlands, New Zealand, Austria and Sweden follow respectively.
Of the 157 countries being ranked, Nigeria occupies 131 position. This means that Nigerians are happier than only 12 countries. Not a type of score sheet to be happy about. For, when one is beaten by excruciating sun, his frown unveils his teeth.
The least our government could do to put smiles on the faces of Nigerians has already been prescribed in Section 14 (2) (b) of the 1999 Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria, wherein lies that “the security and welfare of the people shall be the primary purpose of government”. Perversely, when a set of people described as cattle herdsmen can kill and destroy it speaks volume about how ‘secured’ the life of the average Nigerian really is. When prices of basic commodities such as tomato, yam, garri, kerosene, are beyond reach without any corresponding increase in worker’s salary –it  says a whole lot about how ‘guaranteed’ our welfare truly is. Our Naira, which was N1 to $1 under Muhammadu Buhari as military head of state, is now at its weakest and volatile state under Muhammadu Buhari as President. When one could stay a week without electricity power, is a big smite on one’s happiness and a promotion of our misery rate.
Sincerely, the average Nigerian cares less about who is being investigated for corruption or how much is being recovered. What he cares about is security and welfare. Can he access the best medical attention without having to pay through his nose? Can he access good education for his kids, without having connections at the top? Can he access to loans to do business and fulfill his dream of being a successful entrepreneur? Can his income cater for his family needs?
Fact remains that this government to make Nigerians happy has done not much. The reason why the former Union of Soviet Socialist Republics (USSR) became balkanised was that they were producing more guns than food. They were paying more attention to enemies than welfare of their people. As late Professor Claude Ake once instructed, man must eat before he does any other thing. Although, man cannot live by bread alone, it is true that man cannot live without ‘bread’. As CNN’s Richard Quest once warned, let us “never count dollars before bodies”. Buhari’s fight against corruption, would not be taken seriously if the suffering currently staring us in the face continues unabated. It is not the fight against corruption  that matters; it is the  measure put in place to restrict people from engaging in corrupt practices. It is about making EFCC, ICPC and the Judiciary more independent and left to do their job – not doing their job for them. This is what President Barack Obama meant when he recommended strong institutions and not strong men.
What government must, focus on is how to put smiles on our faces. This, means providing the necessary morale in bringing about the growth and development we need in our national and private lives. It does not require a human resources (HR) expert to understand this.

Achum is a post-graduate student at the University of Lagos.