An outrageous, unjustifiable sense of entitlement

At the recent crowning of King Charles of England, anti-monarchy protestors were arrested. Of particular irony was the video of a black policeman arresting a white Englishman protesting against the monarchy’s selfish enslavement of black people and colonization of the world! On social media it was presented as an example of how the black man […]

At the recent crowning of King Charles of England, anti-monarchy protestors were arrested. Of particular irony was the video of a black policeman arresting a white Englishman protesting against the monarchy’s selfish enslavement of black people and colonization of the world! On social media it was presented as an example of how the black man cannot stand up for his rights but prefers to collude with his oppressors.

The situation is somewhat similar in today’s Nigeria where the outgoing administrations at both federal and state levels cannot be said to have performed selflessly or creditably but are desirous of fanfare. At the federal level, governance has been an unmitigated financial disaster, yet the ruling party supposedly won the election. 

Resorting to unconstitutional and illegal central bank borrowing and converting it into a 40-year loan, President Buhari has effectively mortgaged the future of generations yet unborn. His failure to optimise global oil prices, stop crude oil or oil money from missing, reduce the high level of insecurity, cease routinely squandering money on foreign travels, remove bottlenecks to private investment, or increase human capacity development, means that he is leaving Nigeria, a once proud wealthy nation, much worse off as a modern beggar nation from which citizens are queuing up to escape! 

At state level, many outgoing governors are leaving behind arrears of unpaid salary, uncompleted projects, white elephant projects and abandoned projects. Despite being surrounded by incontrovertible evidence of their failure in governance the president, vice-president, governors and their deputies have rewarded themselves handsomely with approximately N651 million “hardship allowance”! Ignoring the 133 million Nigerians living in multi-dimensional abject poverty they claim “hardship” for being chauffeur-driven in brand new vehicles, flying free of charge in private jets, receiving free medical treatment overseas, and regularly banqueting or junketing around the world!

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In addition to unjustifiable life pensions which “entitle” ex-governors to the same salary as the incumbent, some governors are further rewarding themselves on departure. Eighteen days to the expiration of his tenure, the Taraba State governor approved N2 billion for the purchase of luxury vehicles for himself, his deputy and their wives, the women never having held public office! After leaving office the deputy who is a senator-elect will collect another Jeep along with other “goodies” at National Assembly’s expense!

In truth, our national decline is a direct result of our political class replacing a sense of service and gratitude with a sense of expectation and entitlement. 

After May 29 the most pressing expenditure will be the purchase of new cars for the presidency, ministers, governors, legislators, commissioners and a plethora of special assistants, special advisers, and senior special assistants. This sense of deservingness when nothing has been done is not supported by any article in the Constitution. Nowhere does it grant political office holders the right to spend money on benevolence towards themselves and their families.

To paraphrase author Criss Jami, “Man is not by nature deserving of all that he wants, and not entitled to walk over other people’s rights to get it”. Trampling on citizens’ rights is the stock in trade of Nigeria’s political elite. Highly intolerant of criticism, their deluded minds see themselves as a gift to, rather than a curse upon, the nation. They worship themselves, and anything when reminded of their moral failings and unimpressive performance, they seek to restrict freedom of speech and control people’s views.  Serially guilty of double standards they rely on the tolerance of Nigerians to keep them permanently in lives of luxury. The entitlement mentality is not a good thing and tolerating such aberrant behaviour is not necessary for Nigeria to survive. 

Tolerating wrongful behaviour is overrated, destructive and inimical to national development. A level of rational intolerance is required. It’s trite that what a person thinks they deserve, is not what they are entitled to. For example, everybody deserves love, but not everyone is entitled to it!  Nigerian political leaders act as if the nation owes them. They have an unrealistic, unmerited or inappropriate expectation of deserving favourable living conditions and favourable treatment. Their sense of entitlement is a narcissistic personality trait based on their belief that the nation owes them something in exchange for their nothingness and they deserve privileges for simply winning elections. 

In truth, most Nigerian political office holders did not contest because they intended to uplift their communities, but bore their election expenses because of the unmerited rewards of office camouflaged as “entitlements”. Their sense of entitlement makes them ungrateful for the privilege given to them to make the nation a better place. What separates privilege from entitlement is gratitude. Nigerian political leaders ungratefully fail to distinguish between “rights” and “entitlements”. The fact that someone has a right to behave in a certain manner doesn’t mean that he is entitled to do so.

Rights are legal considerations relating to enforcing certain actions, entitlements are moral considerations related to a duty of care. Our elected officials must learn to treat the electorate with respect, compassion and gratitude. If they are genuinely kind to citizens and commit acts of selflessness without expecting a favour in return, they will earn real respect, not the current condemnation. The problem going forward is that the president-elect cannot be expected to do anything about the aberration of an unwarranted sense of entitlement because it was he who, as governor of Lagos State, first enacted a law firmly establishing unjustifiable unwarranted entitlement as being legal.