Nigeria, Nov. 24 -- Over the years, the discussions that I have been involved in about how to make Nigeria modern invariably collapse into two questions. The first one: "How do we tilt the balance on the recruitment of personnel (and it doesn't matter in what sphere of our national life) away from consideration of loyalty to that of competence?" Two, "How do we ensure that the marginal cost of breaking the law is higher than the returns to criminal conduct?" Both questions coalesce around a common preliminary. They agree that the continued reliance of our political ecosystem on patronage, ethnic balancing, and personal loyalty, as essential mechanisms of governance, won't do if the goal is to make this space better.

Set aside the questio...