PHILOSOPHICAL ANALYSIS OF TECHNOLOGY INTEGRATION IN NIGERIAN EDUCATION: BALANCING TRADITIONS AND INNOVATION

Abstract

Technology integration in education is widely regarded as a pathway to innovation and 
development, particularly in Sub-Saharan Africa. Yet, in Nigeria, such integration is often 
uncritically modeled on Western epistemologies, which undermines the deep 
philosophical traditions subsumed within indigenous knowledge systems. This paper 
makes an incursion into some of the issues that have foreshadowed its proper applications. 
A philosophical incursion is made therefore, into the foundations of technology 
integration in Nigerian education, explicating the interplay between tradition and 
innovation based on some African epistemologies such as Yorùbá empiricism, Zera 
Yacob’s rationalism, Ubuntu, and Omolùwàbí. The study constructs a normative 
framework for ethically and culturally coherent technology use. It therefore summarizes 
that despite huge effort to integrate technology into education in Nigeria, the models do 
not reflect the values of indigenous knowledge system that is meant to aid decolonization. 
The study recommends a transformative model of digital education grounded in 
communal ethics, data sovereignty, and epistemic justice, education curriculum re
design, platform development, policy-making, and AI governance that reflect a balance 
between Africa’s rich intellectual heritage and the demands of the global digital age.