Lucre of mediocrity cult and the psycho-social paralysis of Nigerian essence
By Emma Nzeaka
The philosopher Immanuel Kant, posits that, “Man is an animal, who if he lives among others of his kind, needs a master(…) he desires a law which will provide limits for his freedom(…) his egoistic animal inclination guides him into excluding himself where he can.” This type of attitude filters down and corrodes the entire social fabric through contamination and unless there is a deliberate social cleansing. Have we taken any action to combat this blasphemy? No! The ethics that underpin the entire socio-political growth are on the verge of social suicide as the virus of mediocrity eats away at them all.
Because there is no conscious effort to place the appropriate individuals in the right location at the right time due to the lack of social dynamics, we are dismayed by the emotional defect in the Nigerian character. If an intentional social cleansing does not take place, this mindset propagates and corrodes the entire social fabric. Immanuel Kant, a philosopher, claimed that “Man is an animal, needing a master if he lives among others of his kind.” He wants a law that places restrictions on his freedom. Where he can, he excludes himself because of his animalistic ego. Have we taken any action to combat this blasphemy? We are on the verge of committing societal suicide when the virus of mediocrity corrodes the entire moral ethos that underpins social and political growth. We are dissatisfied by the lack of social dynamics since there is no conscious effort to place the appropriate individuals in the appropriate locations at the appropriate times.
“Why do Nigerians read so much yet do so little?” I was asked by a white South African woman. I was unable to provide a straightforward response because I find it absurd that intelligence and diligence should be devalued and denigrated. This is a hallmark of a civilization that is unwilling to advance in Nigeria. Since excellence is not rewarded, you are not inspired to give your all and instead settle for giving only the bare minimum. Therefore, what we have is a swirl of social violence, which René Girard describes as “a vicious circle” in his mythical book Violence and the Sacred. Once a community enters the circle, it is unable to punish anyone whose presence defiles the neighbourhood. The person used as a metaphor is mediocrity personified, and democracy cannot remove them from our system; instead, a determined collective effort is required.
Bishop Kukah, a well-known preacher and social activist, gave a speech titled “Power Without Authority” at a conference in Abuja on April 26, 2012, during which he spoke extensively about mediocrity and how it has ruined our society. He emphasized how state policy has made mediocrity “the fundamental objective and the guiding principle.” Despite regularly producing officeholders, Nigeria has not created leaders. For the establishment and growth of a process and culture of leadership recruitment and discipleship, the environment has not been suitable.
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The system has been shortened as some of our social crusaders have joined this mediocrity cult and are steadily becoming less people-oriented, therefore the dream of the reverend Bishop might just be another fantasy. The overwhelming amount of rascality in the system, as it seems society has given tacit approval to mediocrity, the hoi-poloi have conceded to underperformance because they are overloaded. This is a certain way to end your social life. Until we make the choice to choose the most knowledgeable and sharp minds who foresee, plan for decades, and decide our collective destiny in a modern world where you must get it right the first time, our community will never advance at the appropriate rate.
If we are to fulfil our collective destiny, we must always think creatively and present the strongest candidate for any position. This is a philosophy that must be ingrained in our minds. Communities and the nation as a whole will stagnate until the quota system, which is based on constitutional mediocrity and is known as tribalism in Nigeria, is eliminated from our statute books and from our collective psyche because it has harmed every aspect of our lives and is about to sever our shared destiny. Men and women with restricted imaginations who struggle with creativity due to their appetite should either be elevated to this level of keen imagination or expelled from their empty world of ignorance because they have made the decision to live forever in the all-pervasive Platonic cave devoid of light and life.
We are shown the truth, but since we are accustomed to illusion and fantasy, we reject it. To deal with the truth and its repercussions, we need a concerted effort that is supported by denials. There is no reason why we should not keep them at bay and transfer control to socially innovative people now that we have had enough time to repair the rift and gap that the colonialists left behind. Or have we, collectively, chosen to savour the putridity and scatological wealth of the canon of mediocrity? This is well-expressed in The Trouble with Nigeria by Chinua Achebe.
It may even be considered one of colonialism’s legacies. If that’s the case, we have had decades to fix it; instead, we opted to multiply it even tenfold. We have no justification at all. Despite the risk of being contaminated by the good people, a concerted effort must be made for both ourselves and the community of ordinary people. Men cannot confront the plain truth of their own violence without running the risk of completely giving in to it, as René Girard puts it. So, exercise caution, it will take a lot of moral fortitude to “reinvigorate” a weak cultural order.
According to Jean Jacques Rousseau, in his Social Contract, ‘’the human race will perish unless it changes its mode of existence’’, when men have reached the point at which the obstacle that endangers their preservation in the state of nature is overcome by their resistance and the force which each individual can exert with a view to maintaining himself in that state. If the response to changing the status quo is menacing silence motivated by self-preservation, the lacuna will continue to grow, giving rise to a multitude of materially and mentally impoverished generations, armed robbers, false prophets, pseudo-social crusaders, ballot box snatchers, rotten villages where people suffer from a variety of preventable diseases, and neighbourhoods that turn into cemeteries.
If we have all chosen to shirk our social responsibilities, accept the usual ordinariness and paucity of wisdom, and kowtow to the mediocrity cult, then the goal of governance has failed due to the glean of personal aggrandisement, and we will never be stable until, in the words of Martin Luther King in his classic oratorio I Have a Dream, “justice rolls down like waters and righteousness like a mighty stream” for the nation to survive this throes of mass social suicide.
- Nzeaka, E.E Ph.D. teaches at Pan- Atlantic University Lagos Nigeria