POST EXPRESS: Metaphorically, let's imagine that technology is an animal. For the West, it's a fast, tamed horse. For Asia, it's a bull, raging, impatient and easy prey to social, political and economic whims. For Africa, what is it? A stubborn wild cat? A dog? A willing camel? Or what?

EMEAGWALI: Technology is a broad term and the appropriate metaphor will depend on what type of technolgoy we are talking about. Traditional medical technology reminds me of the famous Indian legend called "The Blind Men and the Elephant:"

In an ancient village, a parable tells, all the people were blind. One day while walking on the road, six men from that village came upon a man riding an elephant. The six men, who had heard about elephants but had never been close to one, asked the rider to allow them to touch the great beast. They wanted to go back to their village to tell the other villagers what an elephant looked like.

The rider agreed and led each of the six men to a different part of the elephant. All the blind men touched and stroked the elephant until they were certain they knew what the animal looked like.

In great anticipation they returned to their village to report their experience. The villagers gathered around to hear about the elephant. The first man, who had felt the animal's side, said, "an elephant is like a great thick wall."

"Nonsense," said the second man, who had felt the elephant's tusk. "He is rather short, round, and smooth, but very sharp. I would compare an elephant not with a wall but with a spear!" The third man, who had touched the ear, took exception. "It is nothing at all like a wall or a spear," he said. "It is like a gigantic leaf made of thick wool carpet. It moves when you touch it."

"I disagree," said the fourth man, who had handled the trunk. "I can tell you that an elephant is like a giant snake."

The fifth man shouted his disapproval. He touched one of the elephant's legs and concluded, "An elephant is round and thick like a tree."

The sixth man had been allowed to ride on the elephant's back, and he protested, "Can none of you accurately describe an elephant? Clearly he is like a gigantic moving mountain!"

Growing up in an African village, I did not understand how complex technology can be. Like the elephant, technology has a million different parts. Medicine, computers, telephones, electricity, automobiles, and airplanes are a few examples.

Like these blind men, African traditional medicine men claim the ability to do the impossible. Without formal scientific education, they grope around in the dark in their attempts to cure incurable diseases and explain things that scientists know are impossible.

I have seen "rainmakers" paid to stop or send rain. It is impossible to send rain. The only exception is when aircrafts or rockets are used to shoot millions of particles of silver iodide into the cloud to melt dangerous hailstones that are as large as tennis balls.

For us to understand and harness the power of technology, we must invest in quality education, make it compulsory to university level, and have libraries comparable to those in the United States. It takes many years of training to work in cutting edge technology such as replacing a heart or cloning people that died 100 years ago.

Compulsory education that is of good quality will teach Nigerians that each person cannot do everything by themselves. Affluent Nigerians want to build their own well and pump their own water instead of bringing good water supply to their city. Nigerians want to have a generator in their backyard instead of working with NEPA. Someday we might want to grow and grind our own garri instead of finding ways of supporting our farmers to be more productive. A good technological education will enable Nigerians to understand that it is cheaper and more reliable to ++++++

Juju, sorcery, faith healing and traditional medicine is still flourishing in Africa, co-exists with modern medicine and, infortunately, the Nigerian government even recognizes traditional healers. Traditional healers have limited education and understanding of modern medical technology and erroneously believe that they can cure AIDS, cancer and just about anything that ails you. The problem is their healing methods cannot be replicated and factually documented by other doctors. We are asked to accept by faith. Scientists have their own belief systems which is based on experimentation, replication of experiments, cause and effect, and factual documentation.

As a scientist, I know that these claims are impossible. Some traditional healers offer a vial of lizard blood as a love portion that guarantees that one's husband (or wife) will be faithful. Such traditional healers are like the blind men in "The Blind Men and the Elephant" legend.

The lack of access to modern medicine is one of the reason the life expectancy in Africa is 52 years while than in some western countries is about 75 years. Nnamdi Azikiwe frequently travelled abroad for medical treatment and, not surprising, he lived to be 92 years old. Sani Abacha was ostracized and banned from traveling and seeking medical treatment in western countries and he died at the relatively young age of 54 years.

However, I am not saying that there is no merit whatsoever in some forms of complimentary medical practices such as stress relief, holistic healing, yoga and herbal medicine. It is time for us Africans to reassess some of our 2,000-year-old medical tradition. We should adopt the best that modern medicine has to offer and adequately fund our medical centers of excellence such as the University of Nigeria Teaching Hospital in Enugu that pioneers in open heart surgery.

We also have to select some areas of technology and excell in them. For example, there is power shortage and abundant sunshine in Nigeria and it makes economic sense for the Petroleum Trust Fund to encourage the development of alternative energy sources such as solar power. Covering the rooftops of Nigerian buildings with solar cells will convert sunlight into electricity and make it unnecessary to depend on NEPA. Unlike generators, solar cells require no fuel, generate no pollution and are quiet.