Have you ever imagined a hut in a city? The type with irregular walls, unevenly patched floors, and shining aluminium roofing sheets that generates a lot of heat. Now imagine you need to beautify that hut into a house with all the facilities you need to function. Do you upgrade or demolish the hut to rebuild it into something that would last, sound, and be thorough in and out?

Now, imagine how many things have failed in Nigeria because we stupidly thought technology alone was coming to save us. Pause now and mentally count the things that failed in this country because we thought a newly implemented technology would save us. I am talking about things from agriculture, elections, finance, governance, politics, transportation, etc. Globally, technology alone has never been a Saviour; it has been an enabler and a projector for the culture of a people or a society.

Technology only beautifies the people that use them. So the reflective question today is, how can you solely use technology to brush over a pervasive culture of ineptitude, fraud and corruption? Technology alone cannot cover up the ills of our society. Instead, it exposes them. If the people in charge of “technology” are a part of that pervasive culture, then technology alone cannot save us. It happened with the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC); it happened with the Federal Road Safety Corps (FRSC), and it has begun evolving at the Nigerian Immigration Service (NIS) – the people are what makes technology work and thrive. Without a sound culture, “technology” will be rendered useless.

Have you seen a car drive itself without the input of a “man”? Even in the emerging era of self-driving cars, a man is still needed to get into the car, press in a location and be there to take over in the uneventful case of a malfunction. A car is a product of technology, but it needs “we the people” to fulfil its purpose. Waiting for technology to save you is like “lying idle and expecting everything to fix itself”. Technology doesn’t have a mind but the minds of the people who control her. Let me put this here: Nigeria has enough technology to save her from corruption, insecurity, food shortages, bad roads, electricity, education, etc., but will the glorified culture or mindset of corruption and selfishness let her thrive?

The new thinking should be culture over technology. What is culture? Culture is our commonly held beliefs and values as a people. We cannot simply think of technology as a shortcut to fixing our pervasive societal culture and believe it will survive the onslaught of a pervasive people. The use of technology as a shortcut has failed many times in Nigeria. It will continue to fail if our political, societal, and religious leaders don’t influence our culture to do things right and act right. The use of technology has always arrived beautifully as a Saviour and then it gets butchered by the people like a nobody; so the real question is which one would be the next to die?

Technology alone cannot save us; if our political, societal, and religious leaders continue to fail, the people will eventually rise to save Nigeria – Only people can save Nigeria!