Abstract
This paper interrogates the intersection of technology, governance, and state capture in Nigeria, highlighting how digital systems intended to enhance transparency and efficiency often reproduces institutional weaknesses. Using the lenses of institutional theory, technological determinism, and the captured state framework, the study examines case studies of the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC), the Joint Admissions and Matriculation Board (JAMB), and the West African Examinations Council (WAEC). While technology has been integrated across Nigeria’s political, social, and financial institutions, recurrent “glitches” have become normalized, eroding trust, reinforcing elite capture, and widening social inequalities. The analysis demonstrates how technological failures, whether accidental or instrumentalised, shift costs onto citizens while consolidating discretionary power within institutions. Findings reveal that Nigeria’s digital governance is undermined by corruption, infrastructural fragility, and weak oversight, making the glitched state a critical lens for understanding the reproduction of dysfunction in a technologically mediated but institutionally captured environment.