INTERNATIONAL DAY OF HAPPINESS: THE NIGERIAN CONTEXT

It just occurred to me to contextualize the notion of ‘happiness’ on this International Day of Happiness. Oftentimes, we, in a reflex kind of way, equate ‘pleasure’ with ‘happiness’. While both are intrinsically transitory in nature, ‘pleasure’ is infinitely more transitory, more physical and has a greater possibility of being triggered by exogenous forces. ‘Happiness’ is generated internally and it is a state of being. Now, constantly doing things and engaging in acts that give one pleasure may lead to a happy state of being, but it is not a given. If that were invariably so, wealthy and successful people ought to be the happiest people in the world. In fact, studies have shown that suicide rates are higher among the wealthy than the poor, even though some studies also found that unemployed people are, in fact, 72 percent more likely to commit suicide than people who are working (the keyword here is ‘likely’) That is enough to deconstruct the myth that money is all that one needs to be happy. No doubt, money helps to make life more tolerable, and by extension, can improve well-being and aid the attainment of a state of happiness. In the same vein, conjugal bliss is not guaranteed by affluence, as truistic as that may sound. Money has been found by numerous studies to be an iceberg in the sea of marital concordance. One such study in Sweden concluded that the probability of divorce increased as the woman began to earn as much or more than their spouse. This is especially true of many Nigerian-born couples in the diaspora. Generally speaking, marriage now seems more like a union of financial resources than of love. The point that money is not the panacea for happiness has never been more forcefully made.

Wouldn't it be appropriate then to ask oneself an honest question: “What is ‘happiness’ to me?” In the quest to understand oneself, honesty has to be at the forefront. It is not the government’s duty to make us happy; it is only the government’s duty and responsibility to provide an enabling environment for us to engage in the pursuit happiness. This is a basic human right. When the government fails in that most important of regards, it is no longer fit for purpose. Such enabling environment encompasses areas such as gainful employment, prompt and effective healthcare, provision of widely accessible education at all levels, efficient and safe transport infrastructure, the provision of adequate security, and so on. With all these tools in place, the onus now falls upon the individual to go on the pursuit of their happiness. Indeed, a text from the American Declaration Of Independence on July 4 1776 says it all:

“We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness.--That to secure these rights, Governments are instituted among Men, deriving their just powers from the consent of the governed, --That whenever any Form of Government becomes destructive of these ends, it is the Right of the People to alter or to abolish it, and to institute new Government, laying its foundation on such principles and organizing its powers in such form, as to them shall seem most likely to effect their Safety and Happiness. Prudence, indeed, will dictate that Governments long established should not be changed for light and transient causes; and accordingly all experience hath shewn, that mankind are more disposed to suffer, while evils are sufferable, than to right themselves by abolishing the forms to which they are accustomed. But when a long train of abuses and usurpations, pursuing invariably the same Object evinces a design to reduce them under absolute Despotism, it is their right, it is their duty, to throw off such Government, and to provide new Guards for their future security.……”

See? This brings me full-circle to the extremely dire situation in Nigeria. Aren't we living under a despotic dispensation? Aren't abuses and usurpations the order of the day? Haven’t our safety and happiness as a people been trampled upon and severely compromised by Jonathan and his mob from hell? Hasn't corruption eroded our confidence in the brightness and sureness of our collective future? If the answers to these are resoundingly ‘Yes’, aren't we right then to want to right the wrongs that have reduced the vast majority of Nigerians to trembling wrecks and no-hopers? Isn’t it our duty to defenestrate the rapacious and thuggish destroyers of our commonwealth? Nigerians are groaning under the weight of unjustness and callous disregard for our safety and happiness. All we demand is a fair chance to change the order of the day, the order of play and the course of our history; and elect a government that would usher in a new era of hope in these most uncertain of times. It is not fatuous to demand change, it is our inalienable right to feel safe and possess the ability to pursue happiness. We want a government that has humanity and humility emblazoned on its heart, and one that understands that most soulful of Chinese proverbs:  “Doing good is the greatest happiness.”

May the 28^th of March 2015 be the day that our hope is reborn, when sanity takes its pride of place at the heart of government and probity is sat on the high table. Our destiny is in our hands at last; our golden chance is at hand. Our resolve must overwhelm their determination to extend their evil rule.

May the good Lord bless the Federal Republic Of Nigeria and its beautiful people.