By Jonathan Orakwe Ezugwu
With the way tech is transforming the world, if I asked you to describe the future in one word, you would probably say ‘digital’, or something along that line. And that is not out of place.
Today, the catchphrase of nearly every government is ‘digital’ something, whether that is economy, transformation, innovation, or the likes. Hardly do citizens hold any conversation without terms such as platforms, data, algorithms, or automation, popping up. We hear daily that “the future is digital”. But that is only partly true. Having the most technology does not guarantee the future. Having the best leadership does.
History reveals that technological inventions usually rewarded societies that understood change management. In other words, tech alone never changed the world. Tech with the requisite leaders did. These leaders are the ones who build the institutions and design the policies that turn technological inventions like the steam engine, electricity, and internet into progress. Essentially, technology remains the tool, and leadership, the driver. This trend applies even today.
Across the world, countries have access to similar technologies, from broadband connectivity and digital payments, to cloud computing and artificial intelligence. Yet, outcomes differ from one country to the other. For instance, while some countries deploy digital technology to improve security, education, healthcare, and economic opportunities, others are still struggling to achieve these outcomes, despite their avowed huge investments in tech. The missing link is clearly not technology, but leadership.
Despite its popularity in everyday parlance, digital transformation remains largely misconstrued as a technological project where indeed, it is a leadership project. This misinterpretation leads many governments and organisations to equate digital transformation with counting the number of smart devices purchased, proportion of the citizenry connected to the internet, number of websites launched or apps developed, etc. These are interesting data, but they are only surface indicators. The real work lies beneath.
Do citizens now receive better services? Are institutions becoming more responsive? Do businesses now innovate more easily? Are public resources being managed more transparently? Are people participating more productively in the digital economy? These are the real questions digital technology or transformation should answer in the affirmative; otherwise, it would have achieved too little. Real digital transformation happens when leadership transforms alongside technology. This is the central idea behind this column.
So, every week on this page, we go beyond mere conversations about software, gadgets, the latest tech trend, or a celebration of tech for its own sake. Instead, we explore how leadership, public policy, governance, and institutions impact how societies use technology to solve their problems.
We tackle a different set of concerns, like how governments should lead in the age of AI, what kinds of institutions are relevant for a booming digital economy, how public trust should be created and sustained in an increasingly digital world, how privacy should be protected, why similar technologies produce varying outcomes across societies, and perhaps most important, what kind of leadership can move Nigeria from merely consuming tech, to using tech to improve governance, expand opportunities, inspire public trust, and foster national development, among others. These are not tech concerns, but leadership issues.
As Nigeria races towards digital transformation with ambitious reforms, the foregoing concerns are no longer the exclusive preserve of technologists. These concerns now demand the attention of other stakeholders including public servants, policymakers, educators, business leaders, civil society, and indeed everyone who believes tech should serve the utmost public good.
Ultimately, the technologies we adopt will not decide what our future will be. It is the quality of leadership we choose to drive those technologies that would determine our future. It is no longer news that our societies will become digital. But, is our leadership ready to govern the digital age?
Ezugwu, a digital public leadership researcher, writes from Owerri, and can be reached via joezugwu@gmail.com
