Merit, not nepotism: Why Nigeria and Africa must embrace AI-driven leadership selection

For any nation as diverse, multi-ethnic, and pluralistic as Nigeria, the journey toward greatness and genuine development demands one non-negotiable principle: merit must trump sentiment. No country can sustainably leapfrog into the ranks of advanced economies when leadership selection, particularly in the public and political sectors, is driven more by who you know, where you come from, or whom you worship than by what you know and what you can competently deliver.

Nigeria’s challenge is not the absence of talent. From Abia to Zamfara, across all 36 states, there exists a deep reservoir of qualified, capable, and globally competitive Nigerians. The tragedy lies in the persistent failure to deploy this talent optimally. Instead, public appointments, especially to strategic and technically demanding positions, have too often been shaped by nepotism, clannish loyalties, sexism, family considerations, and political patronage, rather than competence and performance.

The principle of Federal Character, as enshrined in Nigeria’s constitution, was conceived to promote inclusion, balance, and national cohesion. Its spirit is noble. Its application, however, has frequently been flawed. Inclusion was never intended to be a licence for mediocrity. Representation without competence is not unity; it is institutional sabotage.

A properly applied federal character principle should widen the pool of candidates across geography and identity, not lower the bar of excellence. Every state, ethnic group, and region in Nigeria has individuals who can meet the highest professional and ethical standards. The problem has never been scarcity of talent; it has been wilful neglect of merit.

The consequences of appointing ill-suited individuals to critical roles are visible everywhere:

• Weak institutions unable to deliver basic public services

• Poor policy formulation and even worse execution

• Infrastructure decay despite massive budgetary allocations

• Regulatory agencies that neither regulate nor inspire confidence

Over time, these failures compound, leaving key sectors – power, petroleum, education, healthcare, transportation, security, and technology – manned by some of the least prepared hands. Meanwhile, countries like Rwanda, China, and Korea, etc., that have surged ahead in economic growth, innovation, and human development have done so by ruthlessly prioritising competence, professionalism, and results.

Nigeria’s experience is not unique. Across Africa, similar patterns persist, often in even starker forms. In Cameroon, Paul Biya, now in his 90s, has ruled for over four decades. In Uganda, Yoweri Museveni has held power since 1986, repeatedly amending constitutional provisions to extend his rule.

This phenomenon, gerontocracy, combined with corruption and entrenched patronage networks, has frozen political renewal across much of the continent. Leadership becomes an end in itself, not a means to development. Institutions weaken, young talent is excluded, and innovation suffocates.

The global context makes these governance failures even more dangerous. The world is now firmly in the Fourth Industrial Revolution, driven largely by artificial intelligence (AI), data, automation, and advanced computing. Economies are being reshaped at unprecedented speed. Productivity gaps are widening. Skills are becoming obsolete in years, not decades.

The world will not wait for Africa to cleanse itself of retrogressive political and economic cultures. Nations that fail to adapt will be permanently left behind, not just economically, but strategically and geopolitically.

It is therefore no longer acceptable for political campaigns in Nigeria, and indeed across Africa, to remain silent or superficial about technology and AI. AI should be at the heart of leadership debates.

At this stage of human development, citizens must begin to ask hard questions:

• Does this candidate understand the future of work?

• Do they grasp how AI will reshape education, healthcare, security, finance, and governance?

• Do they have a credible technology and innovation blueprint?

• Can they govern in a data-driven, evidence-based manner?

Politicians who cannot answer these questions, or who lack the intellectual capacity to even engage them, should not be entrusted with leadership. Voting blindly along ethnic, religious, or partisan lines is no longer merely irresponsible; it is existentially dangerous.

Ironically, AI itself may offer part of the solution to Africa’s leadership crisis.

Properly designed and ethically governed, AI systems can:

• Analyse qualifications, experience, and performance records objectively

• Reduce the influence of political patronage and nepotism

• Identify cognitive strengths, leadership traits, and behavioural patterns

• Match individuals to roles based on competence and aptitude

Used transparently, AI could help governments identify the best hands, not the best-connected hands. Political affiliation, religion, ethnicity, and family ties would become irrelevant to the selection process—exactly as they should be.

This is not theoretical. In 2024, Nigeria’s Federal Ministry of Communications, Innovation and Digital Economy adopted a technology-enabled, merit-driven approach in assembling experts from Nigeria and the diaspora to constitute the National Artificial Intelligence Strategy Committee. Competence, expertise, and global exposure, not political loyalty, were the defining criteria.

That process demonstrated a powerful truth: when merit is prioritised, excellence follows.

Nigeria, and Africa more broadly, stands at a crossroads. One path leads deeper into nepotism, incompetence, gerontocracy, and economic irrelevance. The other leads toward meritocracy, technology-driven governance, innovation, and global competitiveness.

AI alone will not save Nigeria. But leaders who understand AI, respect merit, and govern with evidence rather than emotion might.

The future belongs to societies that choose competence over connection, ideas over identity, and progress over nostalgia. Nigeria still has that choice. The question is whether it has the courage to make it before the future moves on without us.

Sonny Iroche is an Oxford-trained artificial intelligence scholar and executive chairman of GenAI Learning Concepts Ltd, a pan-African AI consulting and training firm. He is a member of Nigeria’s National Artificial Intelligence Strategy Committee and UNESCO’s Technical Working Group on AI Readiness Assessment. A former senior academic fellow at the University of Oxford’s African Studies Centre, he advises boards and public institutions on AI governance, ethics, and workforce transformation.

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