Psychological Egoism and Governance in Nigeria: Implication For National Development

摘要

Psychological egoism is the view that every action of man is done in his own self-interest. This thesis makes a factual claim that man is naturally is constituted in a manner that every of his desire is a desire for his own pleasure. This is different from ethical egoism which states that one ought to act out of his own self-interest. This work examines egoists' theory within the context of governance in Nigeria in order to expose its implication for national development. This paper was necessitated by the observation of seemingly uncontrollable level of self-interest among political office holders in Nigeria. In doing this, the research used evaluative approach of scrutinizing ideas and documented its findings in classical method. This work discovered that accepting the claim of egoists will mar moral theories in guiding human behaviour. More so, its efficacy in the lives and activities of Nigerian leaders has drastically stagnated national development. This has led to the submission that acceptance of egoists claim renders moral theories null and void in guiding human behaviour which is not good for human co-existence. Thus, there is need for moral code of conduct that will yield positive attitudinal change and other ways of life that will encourage national development.