Mediocracy & Meritocracy

The two dominant warring ideologies in Nigeria

Introduction 

In Nigeria, the two major ideologies that define democracy and our contemporary social culture are mediocracy and meritocracy. Unlike in the U.S. where Democrats and Republicans hold diametrically opposed political ideologies, mediocracy and meritocracy in Nigeria’s polity aren’t associated with the two major political parties—the People’s Democratic Party (PDP) and All Progressives Congress (APC). Consequently, they don’t conjure connotations of left-wing, liberal or right-wing, conservative. Many overlaps can be drawn and just as many subsections can be isolated, too, but I’ll focus on both in isolation. 

Using recent events, the Nigerian 2023 Elections and Hilda Baci’s GWR, I will explain how these two warring ideologies shape our society at present—with more focus on mediocracy.

The 2023 Elections

Courtesy: CSUSM

I won’t talk much about meritocracy because it’s a fully developed idea that you can read up on—whatever concise definition you find will align with my views on it. Basically, a democratic system that rewards you based on merit, because you’ve earned it. Social mobility or political appointments aren’t driven by nepotism or, even if they are, then its the exception, not the norm. (It would be naive to think meritocracy has ever been a hundred per cent implemented across many countries in the world, but it’s still a better ideal to tilt one’s morals and institutions towards.)

Mediocracy on the other hand can be reduced to the slogan: fascism through capitalism, capitalism through fascism. It doesn’t embody either extreme fully but uses both interchangeably to entrench an authoritarian system of government. A key component of fascism, for example, is nationalism, and, in Nigeria, there is no palpable sense of nationalism as an organizing political principle. What suffices instead is tribalism, which is a crucial distinction to make. During the 2023 presidential and gubernatorial elections, for example, the Igbos bore the brunt of xenophobic and tribalistic rhetoric that culminated in premeditated violence and mass disenfranchisement. However, what is unique to mediocracy is the reward and encouragement of incompetence, bribery, corruption, all of which can be summed up as a deep-rooted hatred of due process. 

Basically, mediocracy is an ideology that prioritizes results over process. This was clearly exemplified in the just concluded elections. One of the APC’s candidate’s most popular slogan was emi l’okan, which I’ll contrast against the Labour Party’s candidate’s quote: If you must answer your excellency, then the process through which you emerge must be excellent. 

These two points highlight the fundamental difference between mediocracy and meritocracy. Both ideologies taper off in opposite directions: meritocracy, into democracy; mediocracy, into fascism. The first proof of this is how both candidates conducted their campaigns: one shunned debates and the other embraced them, and during the election, the winning party rigged their way into power (another aspect of fascism) while the other banked on the people’s will.

Take the policies enforced by the incumbent government so far—removal of fuel subsidy, introduction of student loans, an increase in electricity tariff and the naira float. These are complex economic policies that require certain processes to cushion their effects. But the presidency is ripping out subsidies like a Brazilian wax—immediate and without warning. What sets his method as mediocratic—fascism through capitalism and ditto—is who the austerity measures employed by the government affect: the people and not the capitalists. In fact, all these policies favours the capitalists whose enterprises are not as successful as hoped.

The American economist Richard Wolff in a YouTube video, Fascism is an economic system that sustains capitalism, said, “The government steps in to reinforce, to support, to sustain private capitalist enterprises…rearrange foreign exchange so the domestic capitalists have an easier time selling their goods abroad and blocking imports so they can sell to their own people because of the government.” [Italics mine]. 

If any of this sounds all too specific, it’s because it is: think Dangote and the CBN’s loan given to him to build a refinery followed by a license to import fuel. Fascism looks like business as always, but it’s insidious and cripples the economy. 

With all the insane VATs and outrageous policies—the student loan bill, to be exact, which promises questionable education and no viable job prospects—it won’t be surprising if the majority of the employed people are forced into the army. One of the main aspects of fascism is expensive expenditure on the military and the president, during his campaign, had jokingly alluded to conscripting the youths into the military. This would be beneficial to a deeper dubious prospect: the more people in the army, the more the rulers can secure their position. Any form of protest would be easily crushed, making the tragedy of the #EndSars movement look like a joke. We all saw the spread of propaganda and doublespeak employed by traditional media who dismissed the #EndSars massacre, saying there were no casualties. Once again, textbook fascism. 

Cook-a-thon

Recently, chef Hilda Bassey broke the Guiness World Record for the longest time cooked by a person. While most Nigerians supported her success, others were envious and tried to centre a narrative that she’s immoral or immodest so as to discredit her victory. Her bikini pictures became a thing of concern, a point of heated debates. It’s easy to dismiss the stupidity as banter, but one thing common in fascist regimes is blatant sexism. This is not to say all sexist countries are fascist, but that considering the fact that Nigeria ticks most of the other boxes—election rigging, policies and austerity measures that favour the capitalists etc.—it becomes more concerning. However, what makes it mediocracy is the weight other Nigerians—including professors and state dignitaries—threw at Dammy, a three-hundred level student fronting as a chef, whose dubious attempt at breaking the record incensed some other Nigerians not only because of the timing but because she didn’t follow any of the rules and ran her campaign as the “virtuous” version of the current world record holder, Hilda, whose slogan and branding for the event was also plagiarised by the crook. This opened the winner to further vicious attacks and Dammy to national backing—NTA congratulated her diabolical efforts, which further shows how traditional media has given itself to being a propaganda machine.

There’s a pattern here between the treatment suffered by Peter Obi and Hilda Bassey. In mediocracy, support is given to the mediocre and not the competent, and things like tribalism and sexism are merely tools used to disenfranchise the competent ones—a fate which isn’t meted out to the incompetent contenders. One reading of this dysfunction is that Nigerians are idol worshippers and idle believers in nepotism, and not just any kind but second-hand nepotism in the form of bribes and handouts. That being said, the reading I prefer is: Nigerians are themselves no different, most of the milestones we’ve achieved in our personal lives haven’t been through competence or merit but through bribery and gaming the system. 

Conclusion 

Mediocratic rule is upon us. Neither sarcasm nor irony will save us. We can’t laugh forever. It’ll get to a point where people will have to employ stand-up comics to perform at funerals or where the bereaved will buy coffin on hire purchase. As long as deregulation—taxing the masses and not the capitalists—persists, things can and will get worse. As long as we value results more than processes, our higher institutions will keep on churning out graduates who don’t know the difference between “am” and “I’m”. Degree holders will struggle to write letters and finish four, five, six, seven years of schooling without garnering critical thinking skills, which should be a residue of a stellar tertiary education. As long as we favour mediocrity and choose to bribe our way to the things we get, we will also root for thieves and looters and killers. We will employ sexism and tribalism when it suits us. As long as we don’t shift consciousness to the fact that there are only two relevant political distinctions to me made in our country—the politicians and the people, we will labour under tribe and religion in vain. As long as we don’t identify the threat mediocracy poses to meritocracy, we will sleep and wake up one day with nowhere to run because hell will be upon us.