Indigenous Knowledge Systems and Development in Africa 3030343030, 9783030343033

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Indigenous Knowledge Systems and Development in Africa Edited by Samuel Ojo Oloruntoba · Adeshina Afolayan · Olajumoke Yacob-Haliso

Indigenous Knowledge Systems and Development in Africa

Samuel Ojo Oloruntoba • Adeshina Afolayan Olajumoke Yacob-Haliso Editors

Indigenous Knowledge Systems and Development in Africa

Editors Samuel Ojo Oloruntoba University of South Africa Pretoria, South Africa

Adeshina Afolayan University of Ibadan Ibadan, Nigeria

Olajumoke Yacob-Haliso Babcock University Ilishan-Remo, Nigeria

ISBN 978-3-030-34303-3    ISBN 978-3-030-34304-0 (eBook) https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-34304-0 © The Editor(s) (if applicable) and The Author(s), under exclusive licence to Springer Nature Switzerland AG 2020 This work is subject to copyright. All rights are solely and exclusively licensed by the Publisher, whether the whole or part of the material is concerned, specifically the rights of translation, reprinting, reuse of illustrations, recitation, broadcasting, reproduction on microfilms or in any other physical way, and transmission or information storage and retrieval, electronic adaptation, computer software, or by similar or dissimilar methodology now known or hereafter developed. The use of general descriptive names, registered names, trademarks, service marks, etc. in this publication does not imply, even in the absence of a specific statement, that such names are exempt from the relevant protective laws and regulations and therefore free for general use. The publisher, the authors and the editors are safe to assume that the advice and information in this book are believed to be true and accurate at the date of publication. Neither the publisher nor the authors or the editors give a warranty, expressed or implied, with respect to the material contained herein or for any errors or omissions that may have been made. The publisher remains neutral with regard to jurisdictional claims in published maps and institutional affiliations. Cover illustration: © Maram / shutterstock.com This Palgrave Macmillan imprint is published by the registered company Springer Nature Switzerland AG. The registered company address is: Gewerbestrasse 11, 6330 Cham, Switzerland

Preface

As the search for socio-economic and political development continues in Africa, it has become pertinent to establish a link between this aspiration and appropriate knowledge systems. Like other societies, pre-colonial Africa existed on the basis of indigenous knowledge systems that incorporated the peculiarities of the respective groups. It was on the basis of the existing forms of knowledge that the societies built various empires, prosecuted wars, settled conflicts, established enterprises and forged diplomatic relationship, among others. However, with colonialism came the denial of African indigenous knowledge systems and imposition of and reification of western knowledge systems as the standard. Backed by state power, the colonialists effectively subordinated African indigenous knowledge systems to their own, with the result that medium of instructions, histories, theories and methods were crafted in the image of the West. Curiously, the post-colonial state has continued in this tradition, with very few exceptions. As the external knowledge systems and the policies that flowed from them have failed to advance developmental outcomes in Africa, African scholars have carried out epistemic disobedience in crafting alternative futures for knowledge production and development on the continent. In this regard, the locus of enunciation and the geography of reason have shifted, if only, in a gradual way to deprovincialise knowledge production from Eurocentrism to pluriversalism, in ways that centre African knowledges as authentic and relevant to the development aspirations of the people. One of the African scholars that have broken boundary in this regard is Toyin Falola, the pre-eminent scholar of History and African Studies. v

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PREFACE

Chapters in this volume were presented at a conference organised in his honour at the University of Ibadan, Nigeria, from January 29 to 31, 2018 to celebrate his extraordinary and prodigious scholarly interventions over the course of four decades. Authors of the peer-reviewed chapters not only engaged with the universe of Falola’s contributions to knowledge production, but also located the ongoing challenges of development in Africa within the context of the neglect of indigenous knowledge systems in various aspects of human lives such as food security, justice system, medical care and conflict resolution. The overarching argument of the book is the need to revisit African knowledge systems and find ways of incorporating them into the development strategies of the continent. Pretoria, South Africa

Samuel Ojo Oloruntoba

Acknowledgements

This book and the conference that preceded it are products of support and collaborations from various partners, friends, colleagues and institutions that are too numerous to mention. The organisation of the conference was made possible by donations from friends and colleagues of Professor Toyin Falola as well as from institutions that he is associated with. The list of donors includes the following: OUR DONORS Engr. Adun Professor Vik Bahl Professor Oladele Balogun Professor Mukhtar Umar Bunza Professor Bola Dauda Dr Olabisi Falola Engr Gozie Ifesinachukwu Professor dele jegede Dr Kenneth Kalu Professor Fallou Ngom Mr Cherno Njie Dr Diran Obadina Dr Edwin Ogah Dr Tunji Olaopa Dr Bola Olusola Mr Femi Owoseni vii

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ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS

Mr Keith Sipe/Carolina Academic Press Dr Babs Sobanjo The University of Texas at Austin Professor Michael Vickers We also acknowledge the kings and government officials who travelled far and wide to celebrate one of the most profound thinkers and innovative scholars of our generation. This book would not have been possible without the contributors. You crossed oceans and deserts to converge at the University of Ibadan to honour a true cultural and intellectual ambassador of Africans at home and abroad. Special thanks go to our editorial assistant, Aramide Bamitale Alabi, who worked at short notices. The publication team at Palgrave also deserves special appreciation for working with the editors right to the production stage. 2019

Oloruntoba Afolayan Yacob-Haliso

Contents

1 Introduction: African Knowledges, Decolonization and Alternative Futures  1 Samuel Ojo Oloruntoba, Adeshina Afolayan, and Olajumoke Yacob-Haliso

Part I Reconstructing Indigenous Knowledges for Africa’s Development  15 2 Falolaist Cultural Brokerage and the Pan-African Agenda in Knowledge Production 17 Malami Buba 3 African Indigenous Knowledge Systems and the Legacy of Africa 37 Gloria Emeagwali 4 Removing the Debris 57 Segun Ogungbemi

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Contents

Part II The Role of the State and Intellectuals in Knowledge Production in Africa  79 5 The Academic and the Crisis of Knowledge Production and Dissemination in Africa 81 C. B. N. Ogbogbo 6 The Intelligentsia and the Crisis of Knowledge Production and Development in Nigeria 93 Samuel Ojo Oloruntoba 7 Pan-African Doctoral Schools and Knowledge Production in Africa: Experiences, Issues, and Testimonials of Participants109 Blessing Nonye Onyima 8 Re-empowering African Indigenous Peacemaking Approaches: Identifying the Enabling Possibilities from Decolonization and Indigenization Discourses131 Peter Genger 9 Back to the Future: Rethinking Alternatives to External Intervention in African Conflicts159 Isaac Olawale Albert

Part III Indigenous Knowledge Systems in Pre-colonial Africa 185 10 Beyond Western Medicine (Drugs): Indigenous Knowledge Systems in Ola Rotimi’s The Gods Are Not to Blame and James Henshaw’s This Is Our Chance187 ’Leke Ogunfeyimi

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11 The Indigenous Knowledge of Law in Pre-­colonial Akwa Ibom Area: A Comparative Study of the Similarities and Differences Between the English and the African Legal System207 Joseph R. Bassey 12 The Resilience of Ondo Indigenous Adjudicatory Institutions 1915–1957231 Charles K. Omotayo 13 Indigenous Knowledge Systems and Food Security in the History of Hausaland: An Examination of Food Preservation and Storage Practices247 Umar Muhammad Jabbi 14 Understanding Igede Indigenous Knowledge Systems and the Future of Igede Cultural Heritage in Benue State, Nigeria261 Mike Odey 15 Yorùbá Traditional and Contemporary Cultural Perspectives on Homosexuality: Questions of Human and Minority Rights279 Ibigbolade Aderibigbe and Adepeju Olufemi Johnson-Bashua 16 Recognizing the Value of the African Indigenous Knowledge System: The Case of Ubuntu and Restorative Justice303 Mofihli Teleki and Serges Djoyou Kamga Index329

Notes on Contributors

Ibigbolade Aderibigbe  is a professor in the Department of Religion and African Studies Institute, University of Georgia, Athens, USA. Adeshina Afolayan  is an associate professor, Department of Philosophy, University of Ibadan, and sub-Dean, Faculty of Arts and Social Science at the same university. He has published widely in books and journals both locally and internationally. Isaac Olawale Albert  is Professor of African History, Peace and Conflict Studies and the pioneer Director of the Institute for Peace and Strategic Studies, University of Ibadan, Nigeria. He was a federal delegate to the 2014 National Conference in Abuja and also served in 2014–2015 as a member of the Presidential Panel for the Review Nigeria’s Defence Policy. He is the immediate past Regional Board Chairman of the West African Network for Peacebuilding (WANEP) in Accra, Ghana; the immediate past Board Chairman of the Society for Peace Studies and Practice (Nigeria), and a co-Chairman of the Think Tank on Research to Evidence for Policies instituted by the University of Ibadan’s Research Foundation. He was a resident scholar at the Rockefeller Foundation Bellagio Centre in February/March 2016. He has published extensively on issues relating to urban violence, peace and conflict in Africa. He delivered the 2017 Kofi Annan–Dag Hammarskjöld lecture on Regional Engagement in Peacebuilding in Africa: Perspectives and Challenges.

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NOTES ON CONTRIBUTORS

Joseph  R.  Bassey is a senior lecturer, historian and lawyer in the Department of History and International Studies, Akwa Ibom State University (AKSU), Mkpat Enin, Nigeria, His research areas include legal/economic/diplomatic history, African historiography, research methodology and local government studies. He is a member of the Nigerian Bar Association (NBA), Historical Society of Nigeria (HSN) and Academic Staff Union of Universities (ASUU). Malami Buba  is a professor in the Division of African Studies, Hankuk University of Foreign Studies (HUFS), Republic of Korea. He trained as a linguist, with specialisation in pragmatics. He has also written widely on language policy, language in education and (African) knowledge systems. He is an alumnus of University College London (UCL) Institute of Education (MA, 1992) and School of African and Oriental Studies (SOAS), University of London (PhD, 1997). He has held visiting scholar positions in the United States (Indiana University), Germany (University of Potsdam) and the Netherlands (Leiden University). Prior to joining HUFS, he was a professor in the Department of English Language and Linguistics, Sokoto State University, Sokoto, as well as the Deputy Vice-­ Chancellor, Administration, in the same university. In his spare time, he enjoys writing poetry in his local (unwritten) Sokoto dialect of Hausa. Gloria Emeagwali  has been Professor of History and African Studies at Central Connecticut State University, USA, since 1991. She has been a visiting scholar at the University of the West Indies, St. Augustine; the Center for Cross Cultural Research on Women (CCCRW); and St. Antony’s College, Oxford University, UK.  She has published about 70 scholarly articles and 9 books. Professor Gloria Emeagwali has been a reviewer for CHOICE, a publishing unit of the Association of College and Research Libraries whose database now reaches more than 18,000 librarians, faculty and key decision makers in the United States and elsewhere. She is also the Chief Editor of Africa Update, a quarterly publication on African Studies that she founded in 1993. Africa Update is now in its 25th year and is about to publish its 100th issue. Africa Update has published over 250 articles by more than 150 scholars and has been nominated by EBSCO for inclusion in its Academic Search Research Database. Peter Genger  is a scholar and practitioner in interreligious dialogue and peace and conflict studies. He holds an MEd in Inter-Religious Dialogue (Boston College). He obtained his MA degree in Peace and Conflict

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Studies (PACS) and PhD-C (PACS) from the University of Manitoba. Areas of research and publication include: international peacebuilding; global and African Indigenous peacemaking approaches; decolonisation and peacebuilding; indigenisation, conflict transformation, human rights and Indigenous peoples; restorative justice system; and inter-cultural dialogue and peacebuilding. He is the founder/ Director of the Center for Research in African Indigenous Knowledge and Peacemaking Approaches (CRAIKPA). Umar Muhammad Jabbi  is a senior lecturer in the History Department of Usmanu Danfodiyo University, Sokoto. He has to his credit many articles in published books and journals as well as in local and international conference proceedings. Adepeju  Olufemi  Johnson-Bashua is a lecturer the Department of Religions and Peace Studies, Lagos State University, Lagos, Nigeria. Her research focuses on religion, peace and gender. Serges  Djoyou  Kamga  is an associate professor at the Thabo Mbeki African Leadership Institute (TMALI), UNISA, where he teaches the course “Thought leadership for Africa’s renewal and good governance.” He obtained an LLD in International Human Rights Law from the Centre for Human Rights, University of Pretoria. He was a visiting scholar at Midlands State University in Zimbabwe and at the University of Texas at Austin in the United States. He has published in journals and contributed book chapters. Kamga is the author, editor and co-­editor of three books, including the Right to Development in the African Human Rights System, 2018. He is a member of the “building committee” of the Cross-cultural Human Rights Centre, a consortium of one European, ten Chinese and four African universities aimed at bringing Southern concepts and ideas in the area of human rights to Northern audiences. His areas of interest include leadership and African renaissance, development and human rights, human rights from a cross-cultural perspective and disability rights. He publishes in these areas. He is a co-editor of the African Disability Rights Yearbook. Mike Odey  is Professor of History at the Department of History, Benue State University, Makurdi, Benue State, Nigeria. He has published in journals and books chapters both locally and internationally.

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NOTES ON CONTRIBUTORS

C. B. N. Ogbogbo  is Professor of History at the University of Ibadan, Nigeria. He was the former President of the Historical Association of Nigeria and a fellow of the same. ’Leke  Ogunfeyimi lectures at Ondo State University of Science and Technology, Akure, Ondo State, Nigeria. He has authored several academic papers and plays. He has developed a burning curiosity to explore new meanings and untapped themes in African dramaturgy, inspiring some novel literary concepts such as Pragony and Ambiforms. Segun  Ogungbemi was Professor of Philosophy at Adekunle Ajasin University, Akungba Akoko, Ondo State, Nigeria. He previously held faculty positions at universities in the United States. Samuel Ojo Oloruntoba  is an associate professor and coordinator of the research cluster on Innovation and Developmental Regionalism at the Thabo Mbeki African Leadership Institute, University of South Africa, Pretoria, South Africa, and visiting scholar, Institute of African Studies, Carleton University, Ottawa, Canada. He holds a PhD in Political Science, with specialisation in International Political Economy of Trade, from the University of Lagos, Nigeria. He was previously a visiting scholar at the Program of African Studies, Northwestern University, Evanston, and a fellow of Brown International Advanced Research Institute, Brown University, Rhode Island, USA.  Oloruntoba is author, editor and co-­ editor of several books, including Regionalism and Integration in Africa: EU-ACP Economic Partnership Agreements and Euro-Nigeria Relations, published by Palgrave Macmillan, New  York, United States, 2016; and Palgrave Handbook of African Politics, Governance and Development (with Toyin Falola), 2018. Oloruntoba was the recipient of the National Research Foundation of South Africa Award in 2018 and the Wangari Maathai Award for Innovative Research Leadership, University of Texas, Austin, Texas, USA, 2016. His research interests are in political economy of development in Africa, regional integration, democracy and development, global governance of trade and finance, civil society organisations and politics of natural resources governance. Charles K. Omotayo  is Lecturer in History at the Department of History and International Studies of McPherson University in Ogun State and a doctoral candidate at the University of Ilorin. He started his career as a field research fellow for the European Research Council–sponsored international collaborative project between Osun State University and the University of Birmingham, UK.  He has presented papers in a number

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of international conferences and published many of them. His research paper titled “Individual Agency and the Diversity of Traditional Practice: The Iji Nla Association of Ijede” was published in 2017 by the Yoruba Studies Review in the United States, and in 2018, he won a travel grant and attended the International Conference on “Religion, Economy, and Value: Histories of Religious Fundraising” held at the University of Copenhagen, Denmark, where he presented his research paper titled “The Gods Want a House: Untangling Ethics of Religious Fundraising Strategies of Ijo Orunmila Adunlawo; a Traditional Religious Sect in Ikenne, Ogun State of Nigeria.” His research interest is in indigenous adjudicatory systems, religious practices and knowledge systems. Blessing  Nonye  Onyima is a cultural/medical anthropologist, with focus on culture, environment and health of marginal and medically underserved populations. She holds a PhD in Medical Anthropology, an MA in Medical Anthropology and a BA in Cultural Anthropology, University of Ibadan. She was 2016 Fellow, African Humanities Program (AHP) of the American Council of Learned Societies (ACLS) sponsored by the Carnegie Corporation of New York. She has published articles in peer-reviewed journals and has a book to her credit. She teaches Anthropology courses and supervises projects/theses at undergraduate and postgraduate levels in Nnamdi Azikiwe University, Awka. Onyima is a professional member of the American Anthropological Association (AAA), British Sociological Association (BSA), and Nigerian Anthropological and Sociological Association (NASA), and a laureate of the 2013 American Political Science Association (APSA) Africa workshop. She is making efforts in extending her doctoral research towards gaining a postdoctoral fellowship in research institutes or universities anywhere around the world. Mofihli Teleki  works for the Commission for Gender Equality, a constitutional organisation formed under Chapter 9 of South Africa’s Constitution. He is a master’s student at the University of Stellenbosch. He has written several articles and book chapters under themes such as governance, human rights, the right to development and policy analysis. Olajumoke Yacob-Haliso  is Associate Professor of Political Science and Acting Dean, Faculty of Social Science, Babcock University in Nigeria. She holds a PhD in Political Science from the University of Ibadan, Nigeria. She has published widely in journals and book chapters.

List of Figures

Fig. 3.1 (Source: Gloria Emeagwali, 2018) Fig. 13.1 Showing various forms of granaries. (Source: Jabbi, 2014)

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List of Tables

Table 3.1 Table 3.2 Table 3.3 Table 3.4

Nubian Inventions and Innovations 42 Pharaonic Egyptian inventions before Greek, Roman & Arab conquest44 West African inventions and innovations 48 Institutional building and knowledge production 51

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CHAPTER 1

Introduction: African Knowledges, Decolonization and Alternative Futures Samuel Ojo Oloruntoba, Adeshina Afolayan, and Olajumoke Yacob-Haliso

Knowledge production is intensely political and defined by the dynamics and hierarchies of power (Oloruntoba, Sithole, & Nkenkana, 2016). Although all societies have emerged through various complex processes of knowledge acquisition, dissemination and utilization, the unequal power equilibrium in the global system has produced a situation in which the powerful dominates the less powerful. Scholars have argued that knowledge production in the post-Enlightenment era reflects the interests, values and epistemologies of the dominant powers, undoubtedly represented

S. O. Oloruntoba (*) Thabo Mbeki African Leadership Institute, University of South Africa, Pretoria, South Africa Institute of African Studies, Carleton University, Ottawa, ON, Canada A. Afolayan Department of Philosophy, University of Ibadan, Ibadan, Nigeria O. Yacob-Haliso Faculty of Social Science, Babcock University, Ilishan-Remo, Nigeria © The Author(s) 2020 S. O. Oloruntoba et al. (eds.), Indigenous Knowledge Systems and Development in Africa, https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-34304-0_1

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by the Euro-America hegemonic world (Ndlovu-Gatsheni, 2018; Santos, 2016, 2018). This epistemic hegemony was achieved at the expense of the epistemic flourishing of non-Western knowledge systems. This is what Santos called epistemicide, or the murder of knowledge (2016, p.  92). According to Santos, the dominant criteria of valid knowledge in Western modernity, by failing to acknowledge as valid kinds of knowledge other than those produced by modern science, brought about a massive epistemicide, that is to say, the destruction of an immense variety of ways of knowing that prevail mainly on the other side of the abyssal line—in the colonial societies and sociabilities. Such destruction disempowered these societies, rendering them incapable of representing the world as their own in their own terms, and thus of considering the world as susceptible to being changed by their own power and for their own objectives. (2018, p. 8)

Epistemicide, “naturally,” led to the evolution of a spurious universalism that congealed around the fundaments of Western science and Western modernity as the only valid framework of knowledge. And in the consequent struggle to establish this universal framework, especially through the violence of colonialism and globalization, a more accommodating pluraversal epistemic dynamics is lost. The Euro-American Empire denies or undervalues the existence of other legitimate forms of knowledges, especially those that come out of Africa. Hiding under racist anthropological and philosophical discourses and ideologies, leading scholars and intellectuals in Europe, including early figures such as Kant and Hegel, denigrated the Africans, denied and rejected Africa’s knowledge systems, and theorized the dehumanization of the entire black race. The colonial project in Africa was constructed around the “civilizing” and “modernizing” missions meant to bring light to what Joseph Conrad characterized as the “Heart of Darkness.” To achieve this objective, the West has sustained centuries-long epistemic violence against Africa. Ndlovu-Gatsheni (2020, p. 2) traces the historical processes through which the subjugation of Africa has been passed in the following way: The unfolding of modern history some five hundred years ago, unleashed colonialities of space (cartography and settlement), time (cutting it into linear pre-modern and modern conceptions), human species/being (social classification and racial hierarchization), nature (turning it into a natural resource), knowledge (theft of history, epistemicides and linguicides) and power/ authority (asymmetrical configurations and legal codification of difference)

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Of these processes, the subjugation of African knowledges, through what he calls theft of history, epistemicides and linguicides, is of particular relevance. Apart from the wilful denial of the history of Africa as a legitimate part of world history, there has been a deliberate attempt towards the erasure of African knowledge systems. Colonial education itself obliterated anything that was local or indigenous to Africa both in the design of curriculum and in the language of instruction. Institutions of higher learning that were established during the colonial era were based on the epistemology of the West, and were designed to produce graduates who saw the West as the standard and the ultimate in the production of knowledge. With few exceptions, postcolonial Africa has maintained this trajectory of epistemic inferiorization in both the design and execution of education policy. In the period leading to independence in the late 1960s and early 1970s, centres of African studies were established in universities in the United States and several European countries. Majority of the Africanist scholars at these centres studied Africa from the lens of received knowledge from racist archaeologists, historians and philosophers, who denied the existence of any form of knowledge in precolonial Africa. Africa became the cultural and sociopolitical source of materials for “area studies” that featured in the intellectual contestation between the East and the West during the Cold War. Except for Africanists such as Thomas Hodgkin, Basil Davidson and Claude Meillasoux, the works produced at these centres only served to reinforce what has been falsely advanced about Africa. In other words, the voices of Africans were more or less absent. The end of the Cold War witnessed a massive cut in spending on African studies. Not until the September 11, 2001, experience which shook the foundation of American military and intelligence power did Africa begin to matter again in the foreign policy calculation of Washington. Olukoshi puts this succinctly thus: If immediately after the end of the Cold War, the prevailing mood that emerged was one of Afro-pessimism that translated into a policy of sidelining countries that were derogatorily referred to in some intellectual milieus as “basket cases”, the period immediately following the events of September 11 2001 resulted in a sea-change in thinking with the result that the very fact of conflict and crises in different parts of Africa became the primary justification for a re-engagement with Area Studies. (2005, p. 9)

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Despite the ups and downs in the political economy of Africa, efforts have been made by Africans to study the continent in ways that reflect authenticity of knowledge. At the political level, early post-independent leaders like Kwame Nkrumah of Ghana, Julius Nyerere of Tanzania and a host of others supported the establishment of universities where decolonization of knowledge and fair representation of the continent were prioritized. Sites of epistemic disobedience and repudiation of false knowledges about Africa were established at Makerere University in Uganda, Dar es Salam University in Tanzania, and University of Ibadan and Ahmadu Bello University, both in Nigeria (Arowosegbe, 2008; Oloruntoba, 2014, 2015). These sites were followed by the establishment of the Council for the Development of Social Science Research in Africa (CODESRIA) in 1973. CODESRIA has been at the centre of producing knowledge that is Afrocentric, authentic and resistant to the dominance of knowledge from the West. Beyond these institutions are the seminal works by scholars like Ali Mazrui, Archie Mafeje, Issah Shivji, Claude Ake, Mahmood Mamdani, Paul Zeleza and Toyin Falola, among others. Despite the locations of these scholars in the West, they have concentrated in advancing production of knowledge on Africa in ways that situate the continent within its historical and contemporary realities. Despite the serial denials of self-­ appointed high priests of African studies, these African scholars provided historical arguments and evidences which demonstrated the existence of massive knowledge systems in precolonial Africa. These knowledges constituted the bedrock for the organization of the society through the establishment of political institutions, justice system, agricultural practices, educational dynamics, religious frameworks and so on. They proved that indigenous knowledge systems were instrumental to state building, economic development and conflict resolutions in precolonial Africa. Toyin Falola is singularly unique in this configuration of intellectual resistance to Western epistemic violence against African knowledge systems, as well as the consolidation of new ways by which African scholars and Africanists can commence the urgent task of Africanizing knowledge through the demonstration of genuine indigenous knowledge systems and the need to engage with these systems to radicalize Africa’s postcolonial survival. What Enrique Dussel, Walter Mignolo and Bouaventura de Sousa Santos are to Latin America, Toyin Falola is to Africa. These scholars are all working with an epistemological project that calls for an end to what Santos calls “the cognitive empire” of the West, and the enthronement of

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the “epistemologies of the South,” to facilitate the emergence of many epistemic centres across the world, built on the ruins of the false universalism of the West. Falola and Mignolo have both championed the arguments for pluriversalism, with their different contexts in mind. In “pluriversalism,” Falola outlines several elements that allow the pluriversal to enable the establishment of an African epistemological intellectual research. According to him, pluriversalism [refers] unambiguously to an African academic orientation and practices that create their own distinctive methodologies and epistemologies, both driven by Africa’s own clearly defined agenda to attain an intellectual autonomy in the service of economic and political liberation. The final intellectual products of African scholars, even when they combine localism with globalism, will be a distinguishable autonomous hybrid that is African in its imprimatur. We become the center of knowledge, not its periphery. We originate, we adopt and adapt, we invent, we renew. (2018, p. 889)

And in “Ritual Archives,” he further throws the fundamental challenge to Africans about rethinking and rehabilitating what constitutes archives that produce authentic knowledge that could help reconstruct postcolonial Africa. Thus, for him, By ritual archives, I mean the conglomeration of words as well as texts, ideas, symbols, shrines, images, performances, and indeed objects that document as well as speak to those religious experiences and practices that allow us to understand the African world through various bodies of philosophies, literatures, languages, histories and much more. By implication, ritual archives are huge, unbounded in scale and scope, storing tremendous amounts of data on both natural and supernatural agents, ancestors, gods, good and bad witches, life, death, festivals, and the interactions between the spiritual realms and Earth-based human beings …. I am deploying the term “archives” in relation to rituals as a means of challenging the conventions of Western archives, namely, what is deemed worthy of preservation and organization as data, whether or not it is interpreted at any given moment. My intervention is not to restrict archives inside the location of the library or university or museum. I am also seeking to apply the techniques and resources of academic archives to rituals so that there can be greater preservation and valuation. (2017, p. 703)

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As the debate continues to rage over the decolonization of knowledge in Africa, chapters in this volume engaged with the universe of indigenous knowledge systems in precolonial Africa, the ways in which the works of Toyin Falola have contributed to the decolonization of knowledge on Africa and the alternative futures that exist for knowledge production in Africa. The book has three parts: Reconstructing Indigenous Knowledges for Africa’s Development: Toyin Falola as an interlocutor; the Role of the State and Intellectuals in Knowledge Production in Africa; and Indigenous Knowledge Systems in Precolonial Africa. Malami Buba explored the cultural brokerage of what he calls Falolaism, within the context of how Toyin Falola’s scholarship has contributed to the centring of Afrocentric knowledges, across disciplines. Buba located the massive works of Falola within his unique style of theorizing and engagement with the West. While not adopting what Mafeje (2000) calls combative ontology, Falola has, through his interdisciplinary approach to writing, contributed to unlearning and rethinking how Africa is studied and known. Buba sees Falolaist cultural brokerage as a multidirectional exercise in which he circulates as both insider and outsider—universalizing Africa’s ethos and methodologies and Africanizing Western conceptions of universalism. He also explicates on this cultural brokerage to mean representation, affirmation and the canonization of a way of being, instinctively imbibed by the individual and projected onto a wider plane inhabited by other individuals. In this regard, Falola is not concerned with just production of knowledge for the sake of it but as a means of correcting prejudicial notions about Africa. Beyond this is the deliberate creation of space and institutions to identify and develop talents, among Africans both on the continent and in the diaspora. Through various publication outlets, he has contributed in helping African scholars navigate the slippery terrain of book and journal publications. In Falola, Buba saw a pluriversalist who believes in the adequacy of African thought system and its knowledges in relations to others, and how this provides unending optimism to the possibilities that lie ahead of the continent and its peoples, not just to achieve development but to teach others the value of shared humanism. This summation of the intellectual journey of Toyin Falola and knowledge production is critical to the ongoing efforts geared towards globalizing African knowledges through centring African voices across disciplines and spaces. The next chapter by Gloria Emeagwali places Falola’s work within Africa’s indigenous knowledge systems. The author argues that the

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t­ransnationalization of African knowledges was underpinned by the long and large migratory movements of Africans to all continents of the world over hundreds of thousands of years. As a testament to the originality and authenticity of African indigenous knowledge systems, she showed how Africans have contributed to innovations on different aspects of life. In this regard, Emeagwali notes that the artefacts, innovations, traditions, intellectual ideas, belief systems and activities that occurred in the non-­ colonial era of Africa’s history are derived primarily from indigenous knowledges. The author further notes that the decentring of African knowledges called for a deliberate art of genre bending through interventions that could lead to recentring. Emeagwali identifies two models that Toyin Falola has developed to advance knowledge production on Africa and for Africa and its diaspora: Toyin Falola Knowledge Production (TFKP) and Toyin Falola Institution Building (TFIB). According to the author, embedded in the two models are dedication, tenacity endurance, commitment, passion; a sense of history, historical consciousness, embrace of one’s cultural matrix and the recognition of the power of indigenous knowledge. On the one hand for instance, through TFKP, hundreds of articles and books have been written by Toyin Falola to centre African voices across disciplines in the humanities and social sciences. On the other hand, through TFIB, Toyin Falola has established a Pan-African University Press and Toyin Falola Centre, which create opportunities for scholars and students alike to publish and be supported through various initiatives. She concludes that the ingenuity and creativity of Toyin Falola can be reproduced elsewhere. Although she did not mention how this can be done, it suffices to know that the pursuit of endogeny is critical to the transformation of Africa. While not ignoring knowledges from other parts of the world, the future of Africa and its development surely lies in the pursuit of endogeny as against extraversion (Adesina, 2008). In other words, the development of indigenous knowledge systems is critical to understanding and proffering solutions to the myriads of challenges that are confronting the continent today. Segun Ogungbemi builds on Emeagwali’s contribution to the discourse on the innovative ways in which Toyin Falola has pursued the centring of African knowledges in the global knowledge economy. In what he calls removing the debris, Ogungbemi locates the works of Toyin Falola in a determined effort to object to the racist knowledges that the West has produced on the continent. He argues that Western education has served as a double-edged sword in Africa. Also, Falola has also used the good part

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of Western civilization to remove the debris of prejudiced mindset of the racists who one way or the other have a course to read or relate with Falola’s knowledge production. Ogungbemi argues that even though Western knowledge has led to some form of development, the overall scorecard has been that of underdevelopment as many citizens wallow in abject poverty. Conflicts of various proportions have also been the defining feature of different parts of the continent. Ogungbemi traces these challenges to various factors, including failed leadership, corruption, ethnicity, religious fundamentalism and so on. After analysing the above challenges, he narrates how Toyin Falola has contributed to the promotion of knowledge production in Africa. These include the annual hosting of Annual Africa Conference at the University of Texas at Austin, United States; Toyin Falola International Conference for Africa and Its Diaspora, which has been held in different parts of Africa over the past seven years; as well as the USA-Africa Dialogue, which provides an opportunity for intellectual engagement among Africanist scholars both on the continent and in the diaspora. In Chap. 4, Chris Ogbogbo examines the crisis that has engulfed the academia in Nigeria and how this has obfuscated developmental aspirations and potentials of the country. He argues that knowledge production and dissemination in Africa in the twenty-first century is facing a fundamental crisis that has become the bane of development in the continent. Thus, interrogating Africa’s epistemological traditions has become critical in explaining the major challenges confronting African realities. The author laments that the high expectations from society for the academics to proffer solutions to the multifarious challenges that are confronting it have remained largely unmet due to the internal contradictions of the system itself. Apart from the problem of extraversion, which is underpinned by Western origin of the universities in Nigeria, the failure of successive governments to adequately fund education has contributed to the lost glory of the academia in Nigerian universities. As the university is a microcosm of the larger society, it has also been plagued by the factors that have bedevilled Nigerian society itself, such as corruption, maladministration, favouritism, tribalism and a host of others. Ogbogbo also emphasizes that it is important to note that the crisis in the universities began with the effort at indigenization of the faculties in the wake of political independence. As the not so qualified became recruited into the exclusive club of the academe, the standards began to drop. Also, the transition from a colonial-styled university to one with

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local relevance was not achieved by most of the academics. Their works were aimed at being accepted by scholars in the West and so sought to address concerns defined by the West. In the process, they increasingly lost local relevance. Yet, as Mafeje (2000) argues, all knowledge is first local. If such knowledge is of any significance, its relevance will not be lost to the global audience. He further laments that the greatest manifestation of the knowledge crisis within the academe is the fact that the universities ceased to be centres of excellence where merit is upheld as the most important variable in the appointment of members of faculty or into administrative positions. He concludes that academics should see their roles beyond generation of ideas. Rather, they should ensure that such ideas are implemented. This recommendation is problematic to the extent that while it is not impossible to have practitioners among academics, several examples have proved that most times such academics get sucked up into contradictions that have defined the macro-environment in which they have been called to operate. Oloruntoba’s chapter on the intellectuals and knowledge production and development in Nigeria takes Ogbogbo’s argument further. He argues that intellectuals in Nigeria have not been able to provide the leadership in terms of ideas and theories that can galvanize development in the country. While there have been instances of determined efforts by scholars to generate ideas that could foster socio-economic and political development, this has not been the general practice. He locates the gap between expectations and reality to the origin of the university, the character of the state and the eroding values of scholarship. Following on Ogbogbo’s argument in the preceding chapter, Oloruntoba laments that organic intellectuals who are supposed to be the vanguard of progressive change have become few in Nigeria. Whereas the early periods after independence witnessed the emergence of intellectuals who contributed to policymaking through their various publications, the crisis of the 1980s, the militarization of the polity and the increasing resort to provincialization of the university system have affected the space through which the value of the intellectuals can be felt in the country. While many have migrated to other countries, many more have joined the predatory elites through acts of commission or omission. At the level of knowledge production, the crisis within, the failure of the state and the contradictions of materialist culture have grossly undermined the extent to which intellectuals from Nigerian universities are shaping debates at the national, regional, continental and global levels. He

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concludes that academics have both moral and professional duties to deconstruct and decolonize the current model of knowledge production, taking into cognizance the local peculiarities of the society. It is also expedient for them to engage the state and its agents in debates that can bring about ideas for development. Oloruntoba further contends that the Academic Staff Union of Universities (ASUU) has a role to play in stemming the rot in the academia by ensuring that erring academic staff members are dealt with according to extant laws. This association should also engage in setting research agenda for its members and engage the state constructively on issues that border on the development of the country. Rather than engaging in unholy alliance with the management of the various universities in the country, as it appears to be the case in some instances, the labour union should ensure that universities are run according to rules, which are regular, standard and consistent with the desire for academic excellence at the global level. To be sure, ASUU has been calling attention to the rot in Nigerian universities for decades. The little improvements here and there in the funding of the university system owe a lot to the struggles that the union has been engaged in with the state over the years. The role that non-state actors have been playing in rebuilding educational standards, especially at the level of doctoral supervision and early career development, is the focus of Blessing Onyinma’s chapter. She identifies various pan-African doctoral schools and the contributions that these have been making to building the research profiles of emerging African scholars. Using personal experience and those of other participants, she argues that such programmes like Pan-African Doctoral Academy (PADA) at University of Ghana in Legon, Ghana, and African Doctoral Academy (ADA) at Stellenbosch University in Cape Town, South Africa, have been helpful and indeed necessary for building capacity of emerging African scholars. The benefits of these programmes lie in the engagement that established scholars have with the participants, through which they are exposed to global standards in methodologies, theories and analysis. The involvement of Africans in diaspora in these initiatives has been of strategic importance. This is because, the brain circulation and brain gain that accompany their involvement are more helpful to mitigate the disastrous effects of the brain drain of the 1980s and 1990s. Despite the importance of these programmes, Onyinma laments that the funding for such initiatives is from donors that are not based in Africa. In order to ensure ­sustainability, it has become pertinent for African governments and their respective universities to support such initiatives.

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The contributions of Peter Genger and Isaac Olawale Albert in Chaps. 8 and 9 are related as they both investigate the importance of indigenous approaches to conflict resolution and peacebuilding in Africa. Post-­ independent Africa has been largely marked by one form of conflict or the other. With few exceptions such as Liberia and Sierra Leone, where Nigeria led the initiatives under the umbrella of the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS), to intervene and restore normalcy, it has always been the case that conventional approach to conflict resolution designed by external stakeholders has been adopted, with minimal effects. The failure of the liberal peace paradigm to ensure enduring peace and reconstruction after conflict situations is the focus of Peter Genger’s chapter. After a review of the various arguments and scholarly analysis of the limitations of the application of the liberal peace paradigm in Africa, he recommends that a return to the root, that is, the historical experiences of conflict resolution in Africa, should be revisited. While making case for mainstreaming of African peacemaking paradigm into the conflict resolution processes on the continent, he argues that the emergence of Western modernity in the early 1920s with its imposing universalist mantra of Western knowledge calculatedly expunged indigenous knowledge by privileging itself over anything indigenous. Thus, he concludes that African policymakers at national and continental levels need to listen to African epistemic community and adopt African indigenous knowledge systems in resolving conflicts in Africa. The author lauded the various declarations of African leaders towards asserting the agency of the continent. However, the fact that many of these policymakers are key players in the recurring conflicts in Africa undermines the possibility that they can be the vanguard of change. Isaac Olawale Albert followed Genger’s logic of acknowledging the various political clichés and declarations of African leaders on the need to proffer African solutions to African problems. However, he identifies the paradox in making such declarations while at the same time providing the leeway for the United Nations and other external stakeholders to intervene in conflict situations in Africa. Lack of resources and the resultant dependent orientation of African leaders have further reinforced the continued intervention of external forces in the resolution of conflict situations in Africa. While much hope has been placed on the African Union and Regional Economic Communities (RECs) to solve African conflict problems, the internal contradictions within these institutions constitute complex problems that limit their capacity to effectively deal with the

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challenges. Consideration for geostrategic interests of the external powers, defined in terms of the contestation over influence and control of African resources, constitutes another layer of problem to managing conflicts in Africa. He concludes that a sustainable African continent is one in which African leaders take the front seat in managing their conflict issues and not the one in which they wait for the intervention of outsiders. This is because external intervention in African conflicts is often organized in a manner that compromises the original intentions of Responsibility to Protect (R2P), violates state sovereignty in most cases and securitizes African environments. Consequently, correcting this problem would require a retooling of the regional peace and security architecture in Africa by empowering actionable “Panels of the wise” at the levels of AU and RECs and strengthening regional standby armies for Chaps. 6, 7 and 8 peace support operations in addition to pressing for increased democratization of the international system in a way that leads to sincere practice of R2P. The last part of the book examines indigenous knowledge systems in precolonial Africa and their applications to different issues such as medicine, justice system and food security. Using Ola Rotimi’s The Gods Are Not to Blame and James Henshaw’s This Is Our Chance as illustrations, ‘Leke Ogunfeyimi examines how indigenous medicine can help in facilitating healing. In a rather creative engagement, Ogunfeyimi seeks through the chapter to evolve new knowledge and practices for the analysis of culture and cultural objects, through engagement with the cognitive sciences, to highlight the clear difference between Western drug and African medicine, and to elaborate on the essence of interdisciplinary scholarship. Using examples from his immediate milieu, he shows how African herbal healers are filling the gap that Western absence is not available to provide. He uses these examples to highlight the need to preserve African medical tradition. This is important in the context of the increasing failure of the state to provide well-equipped hospitals for citizens, especially the vulnerable ones who live in rural areas. Rather than dismissing what has worked since time immemorial, the author makes case for more research into how African medicine can best be used to advance well-being on the continent. The next two chapters examine the judicial and adjudicatory process in two precolonial societies in Nigeria. While Joseph Bassey examines the judicial system in Akwa Ibom state from a comparative perspective with the English legal system, Charles Omotayo narrates the resilience of Ondo indigenous adjudicatory institutions from 1915 to 1957. Using case studies of law and practices in the precolonial Akwa Ibom society, Bassey

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negates the racist view that precolonial Africa had no legal system before the colonial intrusion. He argues rather stridently that law originates out of experiences of conflicts, failed aspirations, denial of fundamental rights and desire to exploit and suppress and to keep the peace; and that law is rooted in history of the community, be it a mega or small community, white or black race. He notes that like history, no one community or race has the monopoly of idea of law to the exclusion of all other human beings. Despite the deliberate efforts of the colonialists to suppress the justice system in Akwa Ibom, the age-long justice system in this part of the world has stood the test of time. Omotayo’s argument is like the above. He notes that the Ondo people of Yoruba ethnic group in Southwest Nigeria have developed justice system for centuries before colonialism. Using the Jomu tribunal as a case study, the study X-rays the various indigenous adjudicatory tribunals in Ondo, explores the juristic thought of the Ondo people and concludes that unlike British-styled courts and the customary courts, religion was used not only to underpin the potency of law in the indigenous tribunal but also to appeal to the supernatural. Following in the above line of thought, Umah Jabbi examines the indigenous knowledge systems and food security in the history of Hausaland and also food preservation and storage practices. He argues that the Hausa people have for centuries evolved, through trial and error, a body of knowledge for securing their lives and property as well as in the general conduct of their daily affairs. As food security continues to be an issue of concern in Nigeria, the author concludes that there is need to revisit the precolonial systems of food preservation in Hausaland. In his contribution, Mike Odey examines the cultural heritage of the Igede people of Benue State, Nigeria. The author underscores the importance of preserving the cultural heritage of any society. With respect to Igede culture, he notes that it has evolved and ensured despite the challenges of modernization. He concludes the chapter by locating the cultural renaissance and consciousness of the Igede people within the broader decolonization debate in Africa. Ibigbolade Aderibigbe and Adepeju Olufemi Johnson-Bashua examine Yoruba traditional and contemporary cultural perspectives on homosexuality. They argue that contrary to the popular perception that homosexuality is a foreign practice, the practice was present in precolonial Yoruba society. An evidence of this was the portrayal of this practice in some of the traditional modes of workship such as Ifa. The last chapter by Mofihli

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Teleki and Serges Kamga Djoyou places restorative justice within the practice of Ubuntu. They argue that the limitation of Western jurisprudence in relations to restorative justice makes it mandatory to adopt indigenous knowledge systems that with conflict resolution in Africa.

References Adesina, J. (2008). Archie Mafeje and the pursuit of endogeny: Against alterity and extroversion. Africa Development, XXXIII(4), 133–152. Arowosegbe, J. (2008). The social sciences and knowledge production in Africa: The contributions of Claude Ake. Africa Spectrum, 43, 333–351. Falola, T. (2017). Ritual archives. In A.  Afolayan & T.  Falola (Eds.), Palgrave handbook of African philosophy (pp. 703–728). New York: Palgrave Macmillan. Falola, T. (2018). Pluriversalism. In T.  Falola (Ed.), The Toyin Falola reader on African culture, nationalism, development and epistemologies (pp.  889–912). Austin, TX: Pan-African University Press. Mafeje, A. (2000). Africanity: A combative ontology. CODESRIA Bulletin, 1, 66–71. Ndlovu-Gatsheni, S. J. (2018). Epistemic freedom in Africa: Deprovincialization and decolonization. London and New York: Routledge. Ndlovu-Gatsheni, S. J. (2020). Four journeys of capital and their consequences for Africa. In S. Oloruntoba & T. Falola (Eds.), Palgrave handbook of African political economy. New York: Palgrave. [Forthcoming]. Oloruntoba, S.  O. (2014). Social sciences as dependency: State apathy and the crisis of knowledge production in Nigerian universities. Social Dynamics, 40(3), 338–352. Oloruntoba, S. O. (2015). Pan-Africanism, knowledge production and the third liberation of Africa. International Journal of African Renaissance Studies, 10(1), 7–24. Oloruntoba, S.  O., Sithole, T., & Nkenkena, A. (2016). The global politics of knowledge production and African development trajectory. In M.  Muchie, V. Gumede, S. Oloruntoba, & C. Achu (Eds.), Regenerating Africa: Bringing Africa’s solutions to Africa’s problems: The journey so far (pp. 18–33, 225–240). Pretoria: African Institute of South Africa Press. Olukoshi, A. (2005). African Scholars and African Studies. Retrieved September 30, 2013, from www.kms1.isn.ethz.ch. Santos, B.  S. (2016). Epistemologies of the south: Justice against epistemicide. London and New York: Routledge. Santos, B. S. (2018). The end of the cognitive empire: The coming of age of the epistemologies of the south. Durham and London: Duke University Press.

PART I

Reconstructing Indigenous Knowledges for Africa’s Development

CHAPTER 2

Falolaist Cultural Brokerage and the Pan-African Agenda in Knowledge Production Malami Buba

Introduction Within these two conceptualizations of Africa and Africans is to be found Falolaist ideas of cultural brokerage, in which both the continent and its peoples assume the authorial voice of creativity, spirituality and universality. The immensity and dimension of this brokerage also have to be measured against all the other great voices of Africa’s epics, of Africa’s griots, babalawos, marabouts and scholars of the nineteenth- and twentieth-­ century Africa. In many respects, these voices speak to particulars of nation, nationality and ethnicity. Yet, their contribution to Africa’s reawakening and reckoning is multilayered and expansive. In Falola’s case, his impact on Africa and Africanist scholarship is of even greater epic, given the timeframe of three decades within which he has been associated with knowledge production and propagation for the benefit of Africa, Africans

M. Buba (*) Division of African Studies, Hankuk University of Foreign Studies (HUFS), Yongin, Republic of Korea © The Author(s) 2020 S. O. Oloruntoba et al. (eds.), Indigenous Knowledge Systems and Development in Africa, https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-34304-0_2

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and the world at large. Perhaps, even more startling is his capacity for localist theorizing, which seeks to decenter scholarship and the scholastic enterprise. Unlike Marcus Garvey, he is not after a journey rooted in roots and African fundamentalism, but one that is rooted in engagement with the canons of the West and their epistemic assumptions. And, in a marked departure from Africa and the disciplines quoted earlier, he is interested in challenging those very epistemic assumptions couched in concepts and abstractions that are clearly antithetical to their avowed universalistic tone, ‘a designation of institutional power and ideological Eurocentricity’ (Bhaba, 1994, p. 31). No ifs here; ‘methodological rigors’ are still attainable by African scholars through an Africa-centered press, Africanized concepts and abstractions, as well as Africa-based congregations of scholars of African descent. This is what is viewed here as one of the pre-­eminent contributions of Toyin Falola’s pan-African agenda toward the rehabilitation of Africa’s scholarship and its global proliferation. Falolaist cultural brokerage, then, is a multidirectional exercise in which he circulates as both insider and outsider—universalizing Africa’s ethos and methodologies and Africanizing Western conceptions of universalism. In this sense, it is very much part of the well-known brokerage phenomenon in which an individual serves as a ‘bridge between two worlds’ (Bart-Williams, 2015), ‘bringing ideas and people together’ (Kelly, 2017), ‘shuttling between intersected positions [and] space of difference’ (Bhattacharya & Verbelow, 2014). Falolaist brokerage, however, is much more than that. It is about representation, affirmation and the canonization of a way of being, instinctively imbibed by the individual and projected onto a wider plane inhabited by other individuals. In other words, Falola is both the medium and the message of cultural brokerage. The rest of the chapter will be an attempt to evaluate Falola’s brokerage with respect to knowledge production, knowledge dissemination and knowledge accreditation.

Knowledge Production Knowledge production is meant to put the stress on knowledge, especially Africa’s ways of knowing, as a vehicle of empowerment and emancipation. In Falolian cultural brokerage, this is the most important beginning, a renaissance, if you will, that Africa must first address in its journey toward self-confidence and self-actualization. In the beginning was the word, and the word has been deployed for centuries to ‘decivilize’ Africa, as Aime Césaire describes the basis of colonialism (Césaire, 1955, p. 2). Colonial education sought and succeeded to a great extent in accentuating the

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Western canon as the fountain of all knowledge, and that Africans and other marginalized parts of the world must drink deep from this well of wisdom, in order to be considered educated. Of course, as with all colonial enterprises inside Africa, many are called, but few make the cut due to the pyramidal framework imposed on colonial education systems. Built around the colonizer’s language, such as English, the system, as Wa Thiong’o (1986, p. 12) graphically describes it, has ‘a broad primary base, a narrowing secondary middle, and an even narrower university apex’, producing ‘a class of natives … English in taste, in opinions, in morals and in intellect … a buffer between the real owners of the Empire and the vast masses of the owned’ (Wa Thiong’o, 2003). The greater harm, of course, lies deeper in the mindset of the colonialist—‘championed by the entire system of education (Wa Thiong’o, 2016, p. 186)’—in which images of the dark continent—‘assaulted by the powers of darkness’ (Conrad, [1902] 1994, p. 70)—predominate and annihilate any sense of shared humanity with the colonized. How could it be otherwise, when the dominant ideology favors an ahistorical viewpoint about Africa? Falola’s disruptive intervention is to point to Africa’s knowledge systems as alternative interpretive funnels through which the continent’s historical and contemporary condition should be interrogated for its utility and for informing the ‘other’. Concept packaging is one of his major programs of action in this respect. He advocates strongly for the deployment of local concepts, such as Omoluwabi, Ubuntu, Hunhui and Mutuntaka, wherever and whenever possible to replace ‘canonical’ terms purporting to convey universal truth, when they are deeply imbued with notions of otherness that further raises the bar (Buba, 2016; Falola, 2016, p. 286). Said (1994, p. xxii) applauds this mode of intervention, which is indicative of ‘the political willingness to take seriously the alternatives to imperialism, among them the existence of other cultures and societies’. The overarching paradigm for this exercise in Falolaist cultural brokerage is pluriversalism, an epistemological program of dislocation and decentering, seeking to evacuate discourses of and about Africa from the old sites of legitimacy and contestation: I use pluriversalism to refer unambiguously to an African academic orientation as well as practices that create their own distinctive methodologies and epistemologies, both driven by Africa’s owned and clearly-defined agenda to attain intellectual autonomy in the service of economic and political liberation. (Falola, 2016, p. 265)

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The new site is a parallel modernity construct that interrogates both the conceptual and institutional orientations of the future of Africans, using a revitalized set of epistemes, where they are already in place or elevating folk-talk to a high-order thinking reference framework, where semantic gaps exist (cf. Kane, 2003). An even more challenging task to which Toyin Falola has devoted his considerable intellect and resources to overcoming is pursuing an agenda for the recognition and acceptance of this new thinking tool into the pool of intellectual apparatuses in the hands of African and Africanist scholars. The aim, it seems, is to institutionalize these concepts into disciplinary and interdisciplinary methodologies in the humanities and beyond. So, how does Falola work his way up and back from this strategic goal and ambition? An important element of pluriversalism for Falola is the dissemination of Africa’s, especially internal, academic writing for the benefit of the wider world. At first, it revolved around mentorship of scholars in the continent, who were then supported in their plans to relocate out of the stifling academic atmosphere of the 1990s to an equally challenging, but ultimately more engaging diasporic atmosphere of the United States. Falola himself had had to undertake that arduous journey to Canada, to Australia, to the United Kingdom before finally settling in Austin, Texas, United States, where his academic excellence led to an endowed chair. Many of the mentees eventually became gurus in their respective fields, and in the process helped to reconfigure how Africanist scholarship is conducted and the issues that are considered germane to intellectual interrogation. At the 2015 conference to celebrate the launching of Abdulkarim Bangura’s Toyin Falola and African Epistemologies, the ten invited scholars wrote on aspects of their own awakening to the significance of propagating Africanity and knowledge Africanization as a first step toward an inclusive program of knowledge production and dissemination. The significance of this occidental journey by African scholars to academies in the diaspora lies in challenging the old site of distant and ‘neutral’ introspection about the African condition with an empowering narrative of renaissance, pan-Africanism and conceptual reconfiguration. It is instructive in this respect that Falola (2013) has documented case studies of the way in which cultural brokerage of the ‘New Diaspora’, as exemplified by the sterling academic qualities of Tanure Ojaide, the poet, and Akin Ogundiran, the historian, seeks to ‘bring knowledge of Africa to the Americas and that of Americas to Africa’ (p. 278). Beyond this transatlantic endeavor, scholars, such as Ojaide and Ogundiran, are forcing

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their respective disciplines to acknowledge the continuities inherent in knowledge production, and that Africa has always been part of that continuity ‘itself a theory of symbolic immortality’ (p. 277). In addition, any talk of the ‘dark continent’ in the cosmopolitan arena must confront not only the reality of this continuity but also its very relevance to its academic growth, reputation and ‘insertion’ into the highly competitive world of academic ranking. Toyin Falola alone has turned the University of Texas at Austin into a Site of Special Scientific Interest (SSSI) for the humanities, with its world-class Africa Conference and the stream of academic visitors, who are forced by the nature of the invitation or of the theme of the events to rethink disciplinary mindsets and contribute to the fountain of knowledge Africanization. This author recalls a call from Toyin Falola to discuss a talk on ‘ways of knowing’ to coincide with the publication of Toyin Falola and African Epistemologies (Bangura, 2015). Surprisingly, he was expected to present the keynote address on a subject that at first glance bore no connection to his pursuit of linguistic knowledge (Buba, 2016). What he did not reckon with at the time was that Babban Gwani, ‘expert of experts’, was challenging him to note his own practice and heed his counsel to the new diaspora: [W]e as scholars have to keep extending the frontier of knowledge, use our resources to transform scholarship in Africa, and ensure that our studies also inform mainstream scholarship. We must be fully inserted into all mainstream knowledge systems and must struggle to be at the center. (Falola, 2013, p. 278)

Having presented similar talks as an ‘insertion’ effort, it would come as a real surprise to this author if Falolaist cultural brokerage was not already at work in this very effort at underscoring his unusual capacity for generating ‘social capital’ in the form of a network of Africanist scholars meeting and discussing Africa’s journey of ‘joy and pain, energy and fatigue’. Crucially, unlike the normative form of cultural brokerage, which requires at least two individuals with insider instincts and outsider temperaments, Falolaist cultural brokerage is often a solo adventure requiring the broker to see ‘the world with multiple gazes and countless insights’ (Falola, 2013, p.  264), as Ojaide is celebrated, as the template for an Africa-centered cultural brokerage. See also Buba (2017a, 2017b, 2017c) In this sense, knowledge production by Africans for Africa and about Africa becomes a humanitarian response to a world of receding voices,

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depleted habitat and tenuous development. Our languages have been trashed and trampled upon by a selfish elite whose very privilege is at risk where so-called local knowledge and ‘cultural creators’ are set to take center stage with the promotion and elevation of African languages to mediums of academic thinking across the disciplines. Africa’s ecology is also in jeopardy because the knowledge system embodied in our diverse linguistic landscape is disappearing. What you can’t name becomes difficult to recognize, let alone to preserve for the future. Our development as a continent is mired in the rhetoric of untenable sustainable development, since its very foundation is linked to exogenous languages, cultures and technologies. And without pervasive literacy in Africa’s indigenous languages and their utility as media of STEM and humanities instruction, very little development will be achieved in ways that either Sen (1999, p. 12) envisaged: ‘… enhancing the lives we lead and the freedoms we enjoy’, or Rodney (1989, p. 114) defined: ‘… a capacity for self-sustaining growth’. Still, there is another strand of knowledge production in which Toyin Falola thrives and excels, and this is in helping Africa-based scholars to turn their research activities into publications for the world. The establishment of the pan-African press and its strong board of eminent Africanist scholars points to a commitment to cultural brokerage on a global scale. Africans and Africa-sourced and Africa-produced ideas now have a voice and a platform for the propagation of Africa’s intellectual maturity and a space for contestation with the dominant discourses of poverty and underdevelopment. It is not so much that this is a watershed, since Dike, Ajayi, Tamuno, Ake, Boahen, Usman, to mention a few, are well-known global academic references even now. The critical brokerage by Toyin Falola is the realization that that golden period of academic excellence in Africa by African scholars needed to be ‘recovered’ and accentuated with an even greater resolve and resources. Undoubtedly, Babban Gwani’s unique upfront and forward-thinking strategy of turning ideas into social enterprise has paid off. At the time of writing this chapter, more than thirty books have been published by the pan-African press, and that in turn has unleashed the flourishing and proliferation of hundreds of theoretically grounded researches from Africa, by Africans, about ideas that really matter to the continent: ‘we elevated African knowledge’, as Falola (2017c) humbly understated his Stewardship in 2017. Of course, this is in line with Toyin Falola’s commitment to ensuring that African scholarship is put in the service of Africa’s progress and development.

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Two case studies can serve to highlight this point. In a web posting on USA-Africa Dialogue—a brokerage of immense value and relevance to the discourse on Falolaist cultural brokerage—Falola (2017a) predicted that ‘the story of Moses is about to begin; what he sees as the end, I see as the beginning’, which was why he aptly titled his congratulatory message about Moses Ochonu’s endowed Vanderbilt Chair in African History, ‘Moses Ochonu: The Comma Before the Period’. Although firmly rooted in Falolaist tradition of celebrating the African and eulogizing Africanity in their works, Professor Moses Ochonu provides Toyin Falola with an opportunity to present his pan-African agenda unapologetically: ‘I’m an incurable Pan-Africanist,’ he shouted, even to those who do not fully share his obsessive revisionism, like Moses, whom he nevertheless considered ‘ten times more talented than me … [and] a better historian than me’. Falola used this celebration to recount his ability ‘to play God’ in the affairs of African scholars whose careers he has closely monitored, and then predict their future accomplishments. Obviously, this is no magic, in spite of Falolaist subscription to the powers of Yoruba Gurus (see Falola, 1999). He accompanies such predictions with messages of inspiration to the mentee and subliminal messages to the targeted hosts of institutions to which he hopes his mentees would then go to inspire another set of MacArthur Genius awardees. He told Moses Ochonu that ‘his name, from our own end, is always there’ when Ivy League universities such as Yale and Columbia come calling, only for Moses Ochonu to decline their offers! Ochonu was after ‘holding an endowed chair [which] has been my ultimate goal’. And Professor Ochonu achieved this, but he never forgot the incredible feat of cultural brokerage that went into this immense achievement, which Toyin Falola rightfully pointed out ‘belongs to us all, the fulfillment of my own dream for Africans and Africa’. In reply to Toyin Falola’s effusive message of congratulations, Ochonu (2017) penned ‘Falola and the Power of Mentorship’, a power that I characterize as cultural brokerage. He attributed his ‘professional confidence’ to Falola, who ‘offered me a space of publication to a volume he was editing … [and] that propelled me forward in my scholarly endeavours’. Moses Ochonu noted how Falola made extensive comments on his dissertation and encouraged him to bring it up to the standard of publication. Ochonu called this endeavor, Falola’s ‘unsolicited investment in my scholarly enterprise’, wondering what he had done ‘to deserve such attention and favor from this scholarly Iroko … [and] who does such things …, a congratulatory card, a sweet, accompanying note, and a check … in our

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cold impersonal academic universe?’ For Professor Ochonu, mentorship is one of the most difficult, but most important components in the life of a scholar, requiring mentors to write ‘letters of support when I solicited them, without grumbling’. In Falola’s case, not only does he not mind obsessing about his mentee’s careers ‘often to the detriment of his own’, he actually ‘enjoys doing so’. For this and many other acts of kindness, academic support and the cultural brokerage that goes with it, Ochonu sees in Falola ‘an example to all of us who find ourselves in academic and intellectual stations from which we can guide and nurture aspirants to those positions’. Clearly, then, discoveries of this kind—and there are many of this type—have led to the expansion of the pan-African agenda of shifting the focus from the wider discourse of colonial disequilibrium to the more herculean task of examining the nature of internal sublets perpetrated by, for example, northern emirs and chiefs with the explicit endorsement of the British colonial authorities. The other case study relates to the improbable leap of academic carpet-­ crossing that Falola engineered, so that Professor Augustine Agwulele could thrive and flourish in the difficult journey toward tenure and full professorship. Falola’s (2017a) announcement of the ‘Good News from Augustine’ brushed aside all his battles for acceptance and recognition over many decades, and simply recounted Professor Agwulele’s capacity to ‘take a word, … and blow it into thirty pages’. He then noted Agwulele’s special gift of contextualization, whereby ‘he starts with the socio-cultural ingredients of a people, maps out the fulcrums, delineate the perceptions, and then concludes on the very concerns of [that] culture, and what it tells us in the larger umbrella of meaning-making’. A succinct description, if there ever was one! The real context has, however, been mercilessly compressed by the casualness of Falola’s muted personal cultural brokerage at many points in Professor Agwulele’s struggle with meaning and meaning-making in an area and location not known for interdisciplinary preoccupation. Agwulele (2017) responded very much in kind to Toyin Falola by contextualizing his full professorship and attributing this elevation to an encounter with Babban Gwani, who counseled him on the need to broaden his academic interest, Falola noted. He counseled his mentee that experimental phonetics, which Augustine was pursuing as a graduate student at the time, is ‘a specialized field which does not give much opportunities to minorities’. He then urged him to ‘consider including an African component in your work’. This intervention became one of the motivating factors for

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Agwulele’s integrative approach to a linguistics science that combines sociocultural studies with a commitment to the peoples of Africa. An example of this ‘take-a-word-and-blow-it integrative approach can be gleaned from his 2016 article on “…‘race’ in American campaign rhetoric”’, where he pointed out that ‘what Americans mean by “race” remains nebulous to me; is it skin color, or something else’, concluding that ‘the way to end discrimination by race begins with ending the manufactured consent around it and its usage’. Falola, then, facilitated the process by which experimental phonetics procedures blend into the morphological architecture of words and their sociocultural bearing in ways which bare scientific dissection leads to more questions than answers, as in Agwulele’s rhetorical question about the meaning of ‘race’ and what meaning makers mean when they use it. Thus, knowledge production as a vehicle of pan-Africanism and epistemological insertion requires Falola to take a holistic long view of the task of ‘return to source’. Ideas of, and about, Africa require interrogation by a new crop of Africans at home and in the diaspora. Conceptual othering contained in the narrative of coloniality and modernity has to be challenged within its own paradigms, by utilizing a set of tools grounded in Afrocentricism. And in order to bring those ideas out into the contested arena, a platform for knowledge production in the form of publishing houses and related series spin-offs must be established and authorized by a distinctively Africanist agenda from the editorial board to cover portraits.

Knowledge Dissemination Falolaist pan-African agenda insists that not only African scholarship must be encouraged to flourish within African academies, but ideas and ways of knowing contained in such a scholarship must find their way into mainstream academic discourses in the respective disciplines. The difficulty, as ever, lies with the stricture of knowledge production and knowledge dissemination, which tends to exclude or marginalize concerns of the subaltern. In such a climate of hostility toward Africa’s productive processes, the opportunity provided by Toyin Falola for Africans to publish their book-length works has expanded the reach and scope of scholarship produced within Africa. Over the last two decades, at least eight major monograph series have been established at the instigation of Falola, with a view to addressing the academic imbalance that continues to bedevil the African continent, especially since the economic downturn of the 1980s. Through

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such series, Toyin Falola explored the possibility of mainstreaming African scholarship both of African scholars inside the academies of the continent and of diaspora Africans, especially those in the United States. An example of a series founded by Falola is the Carolina Academic Press African World Series founded in 2010 as ‘a series anchored in the humanistic and social science tradition [whose] goal is the identification of the strategic place of Africa and its diaspora in a shifting global world’. In one of the most recent publications in the series (Afolayan & Falola, 2017), a list of thirty-­ seven books was presented as part of the ‘recent titles’, six of which were co-edited by Falola himself. A look inside any of these titles will highlight the nature of the transatlantic enterprise to which Toyin Falola has devoted his life. In Zeleza’s (2012) In Search of the African Diaspora, we see an example of Falola’s cultural brokerage at its best. This is a book by an African/ Africanist intellectual about the African experience in the diaspora from a distinctively Africa-centered series edited by Toyin Falola. The testimonies and encounters across continents, races and discourses of difference and subalterity demonstrate the crucial role of cultural brokers in knowledgeproduction processes associated with Africa’s lived experience in the global arena. In this case, both Falola and Zeleza consciously sought each other out and set out to fill the gap in our understanding of the nature and variety of this experience. Zeleza’s hugely readable academic travelogue is a masterpiece of narrativity, in which the traumas of dislocation and alienation are juxtaposed with stories of dogged activism in the new space and communitarian philanthropy toward the home country, whether it be Zimbabwe, Nigeria, Ghana, Mali or Malawi. Zeleza is, of course, both the narrator and a natural subscriber to this diasporic experience, having cut his teeth as an academic in Penn State. He was concerned that even famous Africa-oriented publishers such as James Currey could use ‘atrocious covers … for Roots and Resolution of African Conflicts’ (p. 260). In narrating this story, Zeleza was responding to an observation made by one of his interviewees, Becky Clarke of Ayebia Publishers, concerning the cover picture of James Currey’s memoirs of ‘a black woman with a picture of a snake coming out of her head and inside a half-naked black boy’, that when she confronted Currey about his motivations for using ‘such demeaning pictures’, he merely noted that ‘he likes them!’ It is narratives of dissatisfaction, such as this willful Eurocentric sentiment, that are inspiring black publishers to enter this highly restricted but ultimately lucrative market of African publishing. Clarke felt that white publishers like Currey

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have misused the opportunity afforded them through African Writers Series to fully develop Africa publishing, while at the same time noting that even if that were undertaken, the lack of black representation in the editorial room will continue to imbue their publications with ‘their own Western sensibility … betrayed by either incredible ignorance or indifference to African interests’ (p. 258). Clarke’s foray into publishing, she says, is a reaction ‘to the battles she fought constantly, even over covers and pictures’ at James Currey. And in his own characteristic cultural brokerage, Zeleza has reportedly paid it forward by (co-)publishing Barrack Obama and African Diasporas with Ayeibia Publishers (cf. Zeleza, 2009). It is this variety of cultural brokerage that Falolaist pan-African agenda seeks to promote and entrench, so that Africa’s many voices will be heard and engaged with, using this virtuous circle composed of ‘engaged African, Pan-African, African American and Diaspora scholar[s]’, black publishers and Africa-centered editors, and ideas and discourses infused with African epistemes of struggles against the hegemony and tyranny of the Western hemisphere. In some cases, granting bodies with diverse academic support is critical for journeys into the unknown, such as the transatlantic diasporic encounters that Professor Zeleza eminently described in his truly remarkable brokerage travelogue, inspired and supported by Tade Aina’s Ford Foundation. Falola’s role in this and in related knowledge production brokerage continues to be acknowledged as a shining example of what is achievable, and serves as a reminder to the sage words of the great African fundamentalist, Marcus Garvey, who pointed out to us that ‘there is no height to which we cannot climb by using the active intelligence of our own minds’ (Garvey, 1925). Zeleza (2016) himself noted with pride that the ‘Harvest of [12 books in] 2016’ is a measure of Falola’s ‘prodigious scholarship and … indefatigable commitment to our collective liberation as peoples of African descent’. Zalanga (2016) thanked Falola ‘for all the inspiration and … willingness to work with people from diverse social and cultural backgrounds’. And while congratulating ‘the great Professor Toyin Falola, for his remarkable publication output’, Emeagwali (2016) hoped that ‘one day, Professor Falola will tell us how many hours—of research and writing—he spends [in his] passionate commitment to scholarship … and a formidable dedication to the reconstruction of Africa’s past’. Part of that reconstruction is retelling the story of Africa to the world as part of that globe’s intellectual heritage through the instrumentality of Africa-centered publishing houses that enable African and diaspora black scholars to

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explore areas of greater interest and relevance to Africa’s reemergence as a force for ideas that matter. In his own right, Toyin Falola has engaged with Africa and brokered its cultural significance through the publication of close to 200 books that he and his collaborators have authored, including the autobiographical A mouth sweeter than salt (Falola, 2013) and Counting the tiger’s teeth (Falola, 2014a), which confirmed that Mwalimu Falola can ‘walk the talk’ by participating in a peasant rebellion! If you add the hundreds of other Africanist scholars’ books that Toyin Falola edited in the numerous series that he founded to celebrate Africa and African scholarship, we could be well into the three hundreds mark!

‘Recivilization’ (Knowledge Accreditation) Agenda The term ‘recivilization’ has been used here in a narrow sense as the antidote to the program of postcolonial ‘decivilization’ that Aime Césaire set out to accomplish in his discourse. Césaire was at pains to explain the bare-­ faced lies contained in the civilizing mission of colonization. One piece of evidence of this vacuous nihilism is his observation that ‘out of all the colonial statutes that have been drawn up, out of all the memoranda that have been dispatched … there could not come a single human value’ (p. 2). Since this was the case, Césaire continued, the first task of decolonization is to expose the barbarism of the colonizer and colonization as a principle of human organization, characterized by: ‘a head … cut off or an eye put out … a little girl … raped … a Madagascan tortured’. Accepting these tragedies as a fact of life under French colonisation was a pointer to the fact that ‘civilization acquires another dead weight, a universal regression takes place, a gangrene sets in … and [that] at the end of all the racial pride that have been encouraged … a poison has been instilled into the veins of Europe and, slowly but surely, the continent proceeds towards savagery’! (Césaire, 1955, 3ff)

Note the stress on savagery, for this was precisely the notion stamped on the forehead of every African throughout and beyond the colonial encounter, some will argue, for example, Mbembe (2001). And it is also precisely for this dehumanizing notion that Fanon captured the pathology of colonization as a final definition of the native ‘as a sort of quintessence of evil’ (p. 32). So, how did this work within the colonial program? Here’s Fanon’s forensic examination of the savage phenomenon:

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[T]he native is declared insensible to ethics; he represents not only the absence of values, but also the negation of values. He is, let us dare to admit, the enemy of values, and in this sense he is the absolute evil. He is the corrosive element, destroying all that comes near him; he is the deforming element, disfiguring all that has to do with beauty or morality; he is the repository of maleficent powers, the unconscious and irretrievable instrument of blind forces. (Fanon, 1963 [2001], p. 32)

The argument in this respect, then, is that recivilization, in the sense of recovering Africa’s pride and history and reconfiguring its relevance and insertion into the comity of cultures and civilizations as a continuous universal curriculum, is a monumental task, which Toyin Falola has taken up as his life’s goal. (Hear Rodney (1989, p. 80): ‘in the fifteenth century…in most respects, African development was comparable to that which they [the first Europeans] knew’.) The guru himself has not shied away from identifying the enormity of the recivilization agenda, which, among other elements that it must confront, is the perception of the very color associated with the peoples of Africa (cf. Hall, 2016). Black, an othering terminology from the antiquities, has continued to become the label of choice for the savage of Césaire, the quintessential evil of Fanon, and ‘a library of negativity’ as Falola noted: The black man has a black mind. The black box and the black deeds of pirates show how words create meanings, how being depressed, angry and moody became black thoughts. Alternative news used to come via ‘black transmissions’, hardened criminals are locked up and driven in a ‘black maria, intentionally bad-mouthing good people is ‘painting them black’, and when activists present alternative interpretations, they become labeled as black propaganda. (Falola, 2016, p. 6)

Falolaist’s ‘recivilization’ agenda runs through the whole gamut of the intellectual and sociocultural rehabilitation of the African continent, which, in turn, could lead to development that matters to the people for whom it is intended. In addition to the books he has authored and the books he has brokered, as well as the African scholars that he has mentored, Toyin Falola conducts a non-stop journey of advocacy and reawakening through talks, lectures and manifestos in universities throughout Africa and throughout the year. (He counted fifteen of these lectures in five countries in 2017.). This can be illustrated by a recivilization encounter with the Sokoto Caliphate that Falola undertook in 2014, and, as a result, paved the way for a very important collaborative extra-­institutional agenda.

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In August 2014, this author chaired a local organizing committee toward an International Conference on ‘Repositioning the Humanities in the Service of Peace and National Integration in Africa’, and boldly and courageously emailed Prof Toyin Falola, whom he had not previously met nor had any contact with, to invite him as the keynote speaker. An unexpectedly immediate and positive response was received from Professor Falola. If it were commonly known at that point of the extent of Falola’s pan-African credentials and his incredible spirit of generosity, this would not have been surprising. It was a seamless affair, largely due to the humble way that Toyin Falola conducted himself throughout the various interactions with him. He typeset his own talk, paid his own way and came with a substantial amount of gifts of physical books and a 25  GB e-library resource of books and articles on Africa and the humanities. Falola’s talk was topical and contextually situated as an evaluation of ‘current practices’, highlighting ‘critical transformational ideas that are needed’, with ‘a twelve-point agenda labelled as the ‘Sokoto Manifesto’. The manifesto sought to initiate profound changes within the academy and wider society. Crucially, he puts the burden of transformation on the Humanities, which he defined as ‘the repository of a community’s stories, histories, images, desires and contradictions’. (Falola, 2014b, p. 9)

Falola (2014b) localized one of the responsibilities of the humanities in a university in Sokoto as the need ‘to understand Islam, Islamic cultures, and Islamic history, notably that of the Sokoto Caliphate’. This has already begun to take shape with the establishment of a Centre for the Study of the Sokoto Caliphate (CSSC) by the Sokoto State University, whose main aim is to collect, document, preserve, disseminate and interrogate the contributions of the Caliphate scholars in light of their relevance to contemporary issues of postcoloniality and modernity. This initiative can be seen as part of a larger program of putting into practice, what Falola saw as one of the tasks of the humanities, which is to ‘redefine, putting Africa at the core’, and ‘making Africa the center of the world’ (p. 39). Islam is indeed a sociocultural phenomenon not only in Sokoto but in the entire Muslim north, such that it is better in this respect to speak of an Islamic religious culture, locally defined, experienced and practiced in communion with preexisting cultural practices (Buba, 2016). Given this scenario, a study of Islam in this area is an important aspect of redefinition of the twenty-first-century agenda to address what the people really want, part of

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which is the restoration of values. Falola calls this element of his twelve-­ point agenda, the imperative of ‘the remoralization of society … away from decadent values, immoral practices, and corruption, which could serve as an antidote to the “perils of modernity”’ (Falola, 2014b, p. 61). Another responsibility within the transformation of ideas by the humanities is the need to recover our power to define because whosoever has the power to define has power over other things, since the power can be used to turn that which is positive to negative, to turn its own locality into universalism, to spread and plant its own culture and religion, to turn itself into the center of the world, to create its civilization as the core and put others in the race to catch up. (Falola, 2014b, p. 32)

Falola (2014b) noted that all encounters with modernity have the power to redefine our relationship with the past through memory elision, and with the future by setting ‘a society in a different course, sometimes ruining its capacity for imagination’ (p.  33). Elucidating further on the need to ‘return to source’, or what Wa Thiong’o (2004) described as ‘the recovery of the original’, Falola himself quoted extensively from Wa Thiong’o’s examination of the way in which the European definition of Africa and Africans worked to erase our Africanity and, at the same time, affirm Empire’s ‘civilization’ agenda. A key point in the process of this intellectual annihilation was the negation and demotion of African languages as vehicles of intellectual introspection and acculturation. This in turn required a displacement process in the form of the imposition of European languages in the performance of even the most mundane tasks, such as the naming of a street! According to Ngugi Wa Thiong’o, given that: each language, no matter how small, carries its memory of the world, suppressing and diminishing the languages of the colonized also meant marginalizing the memory they carried and elevating to a desirable universality the memory carried by the language of the conqueror. (quoted in Falola, 2014b, p. 35)

Falola, then, posits as his clarion call within the Sokoto Manifesto the need to look at the issue of language use and choice in our respective countries and in the continent at large, because: “we have to communicate to our people in the languages they understand so that the scholars and

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the people can travel together. Critical voices are not necessarily represented in what we do, while what we do is present in languages that those whom we write about cannot consume” (Falola, 2014b, p. 53). Falola’s call at Sokoto State University was heeded by initiating an intellectual dialogue about the relevance of the Sokoto Caliphate to contemporary Nigerian society with an inaugural lecture on this theme by the eminent theologian and historian of the Sokoto Caliphate, Sheikh Muhammad Isa Talata-Mafara. Sheikh Isa wrote and delivered his erudite paper in Hausa before an audience of Sokoto Malamai ‘scholars’ and their university counterparts in the humanities (see Talata-Mafara, 2016). It was an unprecedented event in the history of scholarship in Sokoto, where multilingualism was explicitly encouraged and intellectual discourse was engendered through the language of the common people who were there to hear and react to research and scholarship about one of their most cherished memories, and a legacy of scholarship that they had bequeathed to African history and African epistemology. As such, scholars in Sokoto more than lived up to the challenge given by Ngugi about documenting social ruptures and continuities in an African language, a process that is best characterized as ‘authentic knowing’, where ‘ a direct contact between knower and the known’ is engendered, enabling ‘awareness to discern what is there, without seizing the object or changing it’ (Puhakka, 180). Direct contact, in the form of utilizing African languages in our social and academic encounters, is, perhaps, one of the missing links in the pursuit of humanistic convergence in the service of Africa’s development (Buba, 2017c). Wa Thiong’o (2003, p.  9) made a similar point more than a decade ago, when he pointed out that ‘accepting our languages as a fact of our being, enriching them and then encouraging dialogue among them through the tool of translation is the best way of creating a firmer cultural and democratic basis for African unity’. In this respect, Falolaist cultural brokerage should be viewed as a process of knowledge accreditation, in which the pan-Africanist viewpoint is locally recovered and universally celebrated as a contribution to the vast fountain of knowledge that must be embraced by all of our African societies, in order for the African continent to move forward, and in tandem with the wider world.

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Concluding Remarks The purpose of this chapter was to discuss the mediating influences of Professor Toyin Falola as acts of cultural brokerage in the truest (positive) sense of the concept. It is argued that Falola is always in the mode of brokerage for his people, for his country and continent, and for scholarship. Falola is always challenging scholars to widen their academic net by breaching disciplinary boundaries. In so doing, he is also forcing us to return to the roots of scholarship, which is ‘reading’, for scholars have no choice but to (re-)read in order to (un)learn, and then to become successful cultural brokers in their own right. Falola compels us to renew our social contract with the values of humanity, community and compassion, which colonial education appears to have edited out of our collective memories. The Hausa captures this colonial ambiguous status of the African educated elite in the descriptive adage: Ɗanboko Mai Ganin Ubanai Wawa ‘lit. the bookman who sees his father as a moron’. It takes a truly incurable optimist to write with such fervor, conviction and hope about Africa, about Africans and about African scholarship. Falola is in good company, and one hopes he would enjoy the conversation with another humanist, Noam Chomsky, who pointed out that optimism is a necessary condition for the future of all of humanity: We have two choices. We can be pessimistic, give up, and help ensure that the worst will happen. Or we can be optimistic, grasp opportunities that surely exist, and may be help make the world a better place. Not much of a choice. (Chomsky, 2017, p. 196)

The core concept of pluriversalism within which Falolaist cultural brokerage is situated concludes this study. Pluriversalism, Falola argues: must disinherit the legacies of European divide-and-conquer strategy and instead to inherit the Pan-Africanist ideas as well as its claim to liberation and unification. Our knowledge bases must be ours. The production of our knowledge must be from the pool of our indigenous thought system, which is as good as any thought system the world has ever known or seen … we should massage and nurture pluriversalism as part of our original thoughts! (Falola, 2016, p. 298)

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References Afolayan, A., & Falola, T. (2017). Urban challenges and survival strategies in Africa. Durham: Carolina Academic Press. Agwulele, A. (2017, September 5). Thank you all. [web log post]. Retrieved from http://[email protected]/2017/9/5. Bangura, A. (2015). Toyin Falola and African epistemologies. New York: Palgrave Macmillan. Bart-Williams, M. (2015). Change your channel about Africa. TEDtalks Berlin. Bhaba, H. K. (1994). The location of culture. London and New York: Routledge. Bhattacharya, K., & Verbelow, S. (2014). Cultural brokers and aliens: Marking and blurring interlocking spaces of difference. Qualitative Inquiry, 20(0), 1157–1168. Buba, M. (2016). Literature, language and the pursuit of knowledge. Kaduna: Whales J Publishers Ltd. Buba, M. (2017a). Discourses of cultural brokerage: An African (Hausa) perspective. Presented at the QS Subject Focus Summit on Language, Literature and Culture, The Westin Chosun, Seoul, Republic of Korea, July 5, 2017. Buba, M. (2017b). Literature as a source of linguistic theorizing: The Hausa novel, Ruwan Bagaja, in focus. Asian Journal of African Studies, 42, 115–137. ISSN 2466-1821. Buba, M. (2017c). ‘Recovering the original’: The national language question revisited. Journal of the Korean Association of African Studies, 51, 177–214. Césaire, A. (1955). Discourse on colonialism (J. Pinkham, Trans.). New York and London: Monthly Review Press. Chomsky, N. [with C. J. Polychroniou] (2017). Optimism over despair: On capitalism, empire and social change. UK: Penguin Random House. Conrad, J. ([1902] 1994). Heart of darkness. London: Penguin Books. Emeagwali, G. (2016). Re: Harvest of 2016. [web log post]. Retrieved from http://[email protected]/2017/3/24. Falola, T. (1999). Yoruba Gurus: Indigenous production of knowledge in Africa. Trenton, NJ: Africa World Press. Falola, T. (2013). A mouth sweeter than salt: An African memoir. Ibadan: Bookcraft. Falola, T. (2014a). Counting the tiger’s teeth: An African teenager’s story. Ann Arbor: University of Michigan Press. Falola, T. (2014b). The Sokoto Manifesto: Repositioning the humanities for peace and national integration in Africa: Keynote address. In First International Conference and Centenary Commemoration, Sokoto State University, Sokoto, 19–21 August 2014. Falola, T. (2016). The humanities in Africa. Austin and Ibadan: Pan-African University Press. Falola, T. (2017a, March 24). Moses Ochonu: The comma before the period. [web log post]. Retrieved from http://www.usaafricadialogue@googlegroups. com/2017/3/24.

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Falola, T. (2017b, September 4). Good news from Augustine. [web log post]. Retrieved from http://[email protected]/2017/ 3/24. Falola, T. (2017c). 2017 Stewardship. Group Email from Toyin Falola to 211 individuals including the author. Fanon, F. (1963 [2001]). The wretched of the Earth. London: Penguin Classics. Garvey, M. (1925). African fundamentalism. The Negro World, New York, June 6, Front Page Editorial. Hall, S. (2016). Cultural studies 1983 (J. D. Slack & L. Grossberg, Ed.). Durham and London: Duke University Press. Kane, O. (2003). Muslim modernity in postcolonial Nigeria. Leiden and Boston: Brill. Kelly, H. (2017, June 22). Mark Zuckerberg explains why he just changed Facebook’s mission. CNN Money. Mbembe, A. (2001). On the postcolony. Berkeley: University of California Press. Ochonu, M. E. (2017, September 11). Falola and the power of mentorship. [web log post]. Retrieved from http://www.usaafricadialogue@googlegroups. com/2017/9/11. Rodney, W. (1989). How Europe underdeveloped Africa. Nairobi, Kenya: Heinemann. Said, E. (1994). Culture and imperialism. London: Vintage. Sen, A. (1999). Development as freedom. Oxford: Oxford University Press. Talata-Mafara, M.  I. (2016). Taskar Daular Usmaniyya: Muhimmancinta da Dacewarta ga Rayuwar Al’ummar Nijeriya ta Yau [The legacy and relevance of the Sokoto Caliphate to contemporary Nigerian society]. Paper delivered at the Inaugural Lecture of the Centre for the Study of the Sokoto Caliphate, Sokoto State University, Sokoto, 28 January 2016. Wa Thiong’o, N. (1986). Decolonising the mind: The politics of the language in African literature. London and Nairobi: James Currey/Heinemann. Wa Thiong’o, N. (2003). Europhone or African memory: The challenge of the Pan-Africanist intellectual in the era of globalization. In Keynote address by Ngugi wa Thiong’o at CODESRIA’s 30th Anniversary Grand Finale Conference and Celebration, 10 December 2003, Dakar, Senegal. Wa Thiong’o, N. (2004). Recovering the original. In W. Lesser (Ed.), The genius of language (pp. 102–110). New York: Anchor Books. Wa Thiong’o, N. (2016). Birth of a dream weaver. London: Harvill Secker. Zalanga, S. (2016). Re: Harvest of 2016. [web log post]. Retrieved from http:// [email protected]/2017/3/24. Zeleza, P. T. (2009). Barack Obama and African diasporas: Dialogues and dissensions. Athens, OH: Ohio University Press. Zeleza, P.  T. (2012). In search of African diaspora: Testimonies and encounters. Durham, NC: Carolina Academic Press. Zeleza, P. T. (2016, December 22). Re: Harvest of 2016. [web log post]. Retrieved from http://[email protected]/2017/3/24.

CHAPTER 3

African Indigenous Knowledge Systems and the Legacy of Africa Gloria Emeagwali

Conceptualizing African Indigenous Knowledge Systems African Indigenous Knowledge Systems constitute a conglomerate of various disciplines and intersecting epistemologies and value systems, by societies that have developed paradigms and ways of existence in ancestral lands. The accumulated knowledges have emerged out of trial and error experimentation as well as tested empirical practices and paradigms related to ecological, geographical, economic, social and other traditions of existence. Indigenous Knowledges have substantial implications for the curriculum, development strategies, employment generation, sustained ­ endogenous growth and social movements. Over the last two decades, scholars of African Indigenous Knowledge Studies (AIK) have examined some of the epistemological, cultural and sociological principles associated with AIK, and related African worldviews and philosophies (Emeagwali &

G. Emeagwali (*) History Department, Central Connecticut State University, New Britain, CT, USA e-mail: [email protected] © The Author(s) 2020 S. O. Oloruntoba et al. (eds.), Indigenous Knowledge Systems and Development in Africa, https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-34304-0_3

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Dei, 2014). Respect for ancestral wisdom, commitment to a holistic and nonlinear cosmological model of reality and respect for orality, orature and oral documentation, as well as written text, constitute important priorities (Emeagwali & Shizha, 2016). George Sefa Dei, one of the pioneers in this field, has argued that because of its historical encounter with various forms of bigotry, and given the context of its evolution, African Indigenous Knowledges must necessarily be anti-colonial, and should interconnect with anti-racist studies, in the quest to decenter Western epistemological hegemonic system and beliefs, in all its ramifications (Dei, 1996, 2005). It may also be argued that the unveiling of Africa’s Indigenous epistemological capabilities, its various ways of knowing, its various forms of understanding the world, and its challenges and triumphs, past and present, are necessary aspects of the post-colonial restorative process, and so, too, the recovery of Africa’s history and its historical consciousness (Dei, Hall, & Rosenberg, 2008). Other variables include: • Environmentalism • Methodological pluralism • Communitarianism • Reciprocity Environmentalism and bias toward nature have been prominent philosophical tendencies in some of the indigenous cosmologies and theological systems that emerged in the continent, although the embrace of monotheistic theologies, during the era of colonial occupation, partly undermined this tendency. Embedded in African indigenous religious systems are nature gods and goddesses, many of whom are associated with the environment. The Goddess of the river, Osun, is a water protector, for example, and religious and nature-inspired cosmologies and practices, such as the protection of sacred groves, emerged in various parts of the continent (Badejo, 1996; Maathai, 2010). Methodological pluralism best reflects the historical trajectory of AIK, collectively, with pragmatism at the center of discourse. In the case of communitarianism and reciprocity, we refer to the strong spirit of shared identity that influenced joint labor projects and networking and interconnected with mutually beneficial programs and activities in partly socialistic modes of existence, in some areas. We shall now briefly focus on aspects of Africa’s legacy in terms of global migration, resources, agronomy and culture. We then reflect on the works of one of the outstanding role models in the expansion, preservation and institutionalization of this legacy. The assumption made in this

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discourse is that the artifacts, innovations, traditions, intellectual ideas, belief systems and activities that occurred in the non-colonial era of Africa’s history are derived primarily from Indigenous Knowledges. Primary Global African Migration Scholars have pointed out that African migrants were crucial in populating the world’s five continents, and that the evidence for these activities lies in the genetic markers of humans around the world (Wells, 2002; Stringer & McKie, 1997). Ancient surviving skeletal remains and body parts have also been cited as evidence for this theory. Indeed, some researchers believe that the first migrants to the Americas were Africans who emigrated around fourteen thousand years ago. Pedra Furada in Brazil has been identified as an entry point by Walter Neves and others, citing the discovery of numerous skeletal remains of people of African ancestry, including the iconic Luzia (Neves & Hubbe, 2005; Rohter, 1999). Earlier migrations to other continents took place between thirty-five and eighty thousand years ago, according to some historians and anthropologists. Human genetics, molecular biology and paleoanthropology continue to provide exciting scientific interpretations about Africa’s legacy in terms of global population, but it is interesting to note that most supporters of the multiregional theory of human origins, and the Out-of-Africa theory, endorse Africa as the initial starting point. So, the first major legacy of Africa is demographic on a global scale (Wells, 2002). Secondary global migration also took place in the context of human trafficking and what Joseph Inikori refers to as forced migration, leading to the legacy of diverse new African populations throughout the globe, accompanied by their ancestral religions, philosophies and ideologies (Inikori, 1982). Resources The African continent consists of fifty five countries. It can conveniently host the United States, China, India and most of Europe within its approximately twelve million square miles. It is a continent rich in resources, having over half of the total world reserves in several important industrial minerals that are crucial to new technologies. Most laptops and mobile phones in the world contain coltan, found largely in northeast Congo and Rwanda, the region that produces about seventy percent global production of this vital resource, a heat-resistant material that holds a high

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e­ lectrical charge and is invaluable for the capacitors crucial to communication systems (Sutherland, 2016). Nigeria, Mauritania, Cote d’Ivoire, Ghana, Equatorial Guinea, Gabon, Uganda, Angola and Libya are endowed with about ten to fifteen percent of global oil, but in the case of the platinum group metals, we are dealing with eighty-eight percent, and they are vital for emission control in vehicles and electronic hardware. Today, most of the world’s supply of the gum from Acacia senegal—used extensively by the Pepsi Cola and Coca Cola companies as well as by confectionery and beverage companies around the world, comes from the Republic of Sudan. Africa also remains the world’s largest producer of cocoa, through Ghana and Cote d’Ivoire, and is therefore central in the confectionery and beverage industries, on a global scale. We note also that vital industrial minerals such as titanium, copper and cobalt, the latter being crucial to the new generation of electrically powered vehicles, are from Africa (Mabrey, 2017). It is true that Africa’s resources have also been a source of conflict. In the nineteenth century, European invaders occupied most of the continent under a wide range of dubious pretexts, primarily to gain access to resources such as gold, diamonds, vegetable oils and rubber. In the contemporary era, local conflicts over the control of diamonds have erupted in Sierra Leone and Liberia, and the battle for the control of coltan continues to unfold in the northeast of the Democratic Republic of Congo (Sutherland, 2016). A major bone of contention for analysts and various schools of thought centers on remuneration and compensation issues, given that the entry of China into the market has elevated commodity prices. We know that African industrial minerals run a sizable segment of the Chinese economy in particular, and the world economy, in general (French, 2014). Political Structures The African continent was associated with three main types of structures and political arrangements before the twentieth century. There were independent and semi-autonomous cities which we may refer to as city states; political entities governed by royal families and their dynasties in terms of kingdoms; and also a somewhat more expansionist type of arrangement, which involved the inclusion of willing and unwilling, neighboring, political entities. The latter were the empires, were prone to generate prisoners of war in periods of strife and rivalry. Across the continent, some of these political units, such as the empires of ancient Nubia, ancient Egypt, and the ancient Aksumite

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Empire of Ethiopia, in northeast Africa, were well known as super powers of the ancient world, consecutively, between 3000 BCE and 1000 CE. In West Africa, the empires of Ghana, Mali and Songhai, and the city states of Hausaland and Yorubaland, were among the leading political powers of the region between 300 CE and 1800 CE. We should note that, in the case of Eastern Nigeria, Igbo speaking peoples created village democracies and political systems that facilitated the management of political power, eventually hijacked by religious and spiritual forces, and networks such as Aro Chukwu in some parts of the region (Asante, 2015). African political systems included democratic village republics without kings, queens and dynasties; constitutional monarchies with dynasties, such as the Keita and Askiya dynasties of the Malian and Songhai empires; city states with constitutional monarchies such as the Yoruba and Hausa city states; and a wide variety of transitional political systems. The various political structures we have described evolved over a long period and were not stationary and static (Ehret, 2016). Even so, there were several common features over time. In most cases, the political value system cherished age, wisdom and experience (Asante, 2015). There were various levels of power and a range of officials responsible for certain duties of state and governance. Symbols of power consisted of beaded crowns, golden thrones, special veils, ostrich feathers or specially designed clothing, to be used exclusively by the aristocrats and political elite. Society was generally hierarchical, stratified, graded and multi-tiered but often communitarian in terms of internal social relations involving local obligations and social activities (Shillington, 2012; Falola, 2005, 2018). We note the existence of gendered, parallel leadership in some parts of the continent. For example, exclusively female councils called Omu, with advisory and executive powers, existed in Eastern Nigeria, and in Nubia, female queens ruled in conjunction with their husbands, or independently, especially during the era when the kingdom of Meroe prevailed. However, the Nubian Kingdoms of Kerma and Napata seem to have been less matriarchal. (Fisher, Lacovara, Ikram, & D’Auria, 2012). Ancient Nubia and Egypt were known for their innovations and inventions (see Tables 3.1 and 3.2). Agronomy A variety of plants now grown around the world were first domesticated in Africa, and these include tef, African rice (Oryza glabberima), coffee, mel-

The first to create reflective mirrors of silver gold and bronze. Image reflection (Gosse, 1923). Experts and pioneers in glass making and enamel (Markowitz & Doxey). Mouse trap. 3000 BCE. Two sticks tied together with a vine that would release after tension was applied. Automation/self-acting gadget. Incense burner, Qustul (Williams, B. 1986) Musical instrument Trumpet, 2000 BCE (Goldron, 1968).

Dress and fashion Cloak, hairnet and beaded leather garments of Kerma; Stone ear studs and penannular earrings of Kerma—later adopted by the Egyptians (Markowitz & Doxey, 2014). Golden Fly ornament and military symbol, also adopted by the Egyptians. Materials and gadgets

Measurement Nilometer. 3200 BC. Graduated pillar serving as a scale to measure the height of the Nile waters.

Architecture, construction materials and tools Drainage, 3700 BCE. Moved sewage from Masonry; central city to a reservoir located out of the Fired bricks pioneered in Kerma. town. Clay tracks (Binford, 1981). 2200 BCE (Bonnet & Valbelle, Toilet: 4100 BCE (?) in a Nubian tomb. 2006); Wooden Seat placed over a large jar and emptied Dais, a platform for throne seen (Williams, 1986, 1987). with Piye in 724 BCE (Kenrick, 1850). Ladder., 2500 BCE. Scaling ladder on wheels for military and construction purposes. (H. Wells). By 2018, 223 Nubian pyramids were discovered. Built at an angle of 69 degrees. Height: Between 100 and 170 feet with underground passages and rooms below the pyramidal structure.

Waste disposal

Navigation Propellers. Devices attached to floating barges; Sail: 3000-year-old Nubian drawing of a sail is the earliest (Adams, 1977). River boat (Asimov, 1989).

Table 3.1  Nubian Inventions and Innovations

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© Gloria Emeagwali (2018)

Cosmetics and jewelry Created cosmetics and cosmetic palettes. The bow ring, initially thumb rings used by archers (Davidson, 1969). Golden fly. Military badge adopted from Nubia by Egypt. (Williams, B. 1986). Source of most of the gold in Egypt from around 3000 BCE (Fisher et al., 2012); Kerma’s blue-glazed rock crystal beads (Markowitz & Doxey). Ceramics Oldest pots in the Nile region (Huysecom et al, 2015). Nubians made translucent glazed quartz Eggshell—Ware pottery (Welsby & Anderson, 2004).

Medicine Anesthetics, use of the mandrake plant. Antibiotics. Tetracycline identified. Forceps around 3200 BCE. Saffron as medication. Scalpel (Bennion, 1979)

Writing systems Originators of hieroglyphics (Diodorus Siculus, 2000); Creator of the Meroitic writing system.

Metallurgy Soldering 2500 BC. Joined gold and other metal sheets together seamlessly (Neuberger, 1930). Creators of elegant gold and silver jewelry with great detail (Williams, 1986; Markowitz & Doxey, 2014).

Agriculture and animal domestication Plough. From digging stick to plough. Egypt ditto. 4000 BCE. Grape Bag Press, 2000 BCE Domestication of cereals such as sorghum (Ehret, 2016). A species of Avocado. 2200 BCE. Animal domestication include species of goats donkeys, cows, camels and sheep.

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Chemistry Distillation—converting liquid into vapor followed by cooling to recondense it—as early as 3110 BCE; Desalination. Removing salt from seawater to make it drinkable. 350 BCE. Open collector bowls used; Fermentation; embalming and mummification; paint; Bottle around 1500 BCE. Insertion of sand-filled bag into melted glass. Sand was removed and the bag disintegrated leaving a glass bottle.

Games/sports Javelin throwing, wrestling, weightlifting, rowing, Long jump, rowing, fishing, athletics, handball, swimming, fencing, tug of war, marathon running, gymnastics, checkers, rowing and bowling. Early games and competition. Some of these games were innovations derived from other African cultures. Art and literature Cosmetics and accessories Comic strip 1500 BC. Figurative story Face creams with scenes and superimposed scripts. Eye shadow Posters featuring festivities, sales, news Lipstick for the public, in both Nubia and Egypt. Perfume 3000 BCE. Wigs Wallpaper, 3200 BCE, decorative and used for insulation.

Food items and beverages Bread Wine as early as 3000 BC Malt Cheese

Mathematics/Astronomy Number theory calculator/abacus; sun dials and other time pieces; water clock or clepsydra, 1500 BCE; astronomical survey; weights; use of Pi; plumbline for measurement; scales; trigonometry.

Music Oboe Harp Sistrum

Engineering Hydraulic dam 2100 BCE. Moved large mechanical devices around 1925 BCE; Obelisks; Shower, around 1350 BCE. Wooden enclosure with a ceramic lining. Bellows around 2000 BC; Air compressor; Wood drill as early as 1000 BC; Quarry; Well; Saw as early as 4000 BCE; Arch. Education materials Pen Ink Papyrus paper Geology textbook

Table 3.2  Pharaonic Egyptian inventions before Greek, Roman & Arab conquest

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Gadgets and household items Burner Brush Fan Wallpaper: 3200 BC, decorative and used for insulation

Metallurgy and navigation Metal plating Pin made of copper. 4000 BC Bellows Razor Rudder, 3000 BCE Balance Various types of boats for “sailing” to the afterlife.

Source: Compiled from Gilchrist, K. (2015). Inventions and Discoveries by People of Color. Illinois: Stallion; Lucas, A., & Harris, J. (1999). Ancient Egyptian Materials and Industries. New York: Dover. www.egyptianolympic.org/Olympism.html

© Gloria Emeagwali (2018)

Materials Use of stone in construction 2500 BCE Cement Natron Beeswax as coating and used as glue on surfaces Concrete

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ons, aloe vera, oil palm and some varieties of cotton. Tef, found in numerous Egyptian tombs, was probably exported to the ancient Egyptians from Ethiopia. Phytochemical and ethno-botanical reports have given us direct and indirect information about the nutritional value, chemical composition and cultural significance of such products (Juliani, Simon, & Ho, 2013). But this legacy must be protected from piracy and the violators of Intellectual Property Rights. The patenting of tef by Health and Performance Food International is instructional, and a wake-up call for the protection of botanical resources through seed banks, legislation and vigilance. Legacies must be protected from GMO companies such as Monsanto and Grace, the company that attempted to patent the Neem plant, known in Nigeria as Dogon Yaro. The battle for seed banks is a real one if we want to preserve biodiversity and maintain control over local seeds (Shiva, 2016). Culture Innumerable instrumentalists, vocalists and performers of classical and postclassical African music emerged across the continent. They have been associated with centuries of innovation, experimentation and improvisation. Jazz, whether in its Ethiopian, South African, Malian, Senegalese or African American format, for example, prevails as a musical genre, and remains one of Africa’s major contributions to world music in the contemporary era. African musical traditions inspired the rumba, samba, tango, salsa, calypso, Fela Kuti’s iconic “afrobeat” and contemporary “afrobeats.” African inventions and innovations include the making of membranophones, aerophones, chordophones and idiophones such as the marimba, the xylophone, the mbira of the southern/east African region, as well as a variety of “rubbed, scraped and stamped” instruments (Kebede, 1995). The membranophones included single-headed or double-headed drums, drums twenty-feet tall, or a few inches in height, and “drums that talk”. West African mastery of harps, lutes and zithers, some plucked and others played with a bow, in instruments such as the twenty-one-stringed Kora, helped to consolidate the international recognition of African musicians and their music. We must work with multidisciplinary teams in d ­ epartments of physics, mathematics, art, history, ethnomusicology and communication to fully discuss and analyze the various facets of this innovative musical legacy (Table 3.3).

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Table 3.3  West African inventions and innovations Boat construction and architecture Africa’s oldest boat dated 6000 BC, Dufuna, Nigeria (Breunig, 1996); Adobe architecture known for insulation features (Bourgeois and Pelos, 1989). Intensive irrigation terraces at Gwoza, northern Nigeria and central Nigeria (Gwimbe, 2014); 10,000 miles of earthen fortification, Benin Iya. Walled enclosures; monoliths (Darling, 2016) Metallurgy

Textiles and Fashion

Communication

Creation of linen, cotton, silk and bark cloth. Invention of textiles such as Kente, Aso-oke, Sanyan, Adire, Adinkra cloth; creation of multiple vegetable dyes and pigments. Innovators of dress styles and fashion. Wigs. communication via textiles (Emeagwali, in, Ochonu ed. 2018). Hair braiding with intricate geometrical patterns.

Invention of membranophones for use in communication, involving tonal and vocal manipulations, and voice simulation (Kebede, 1995).

Scripts and oral epics

Educational institutions 2300 BCE, evidence of Iron As many as a dozen scripts Universities and metallurgy, Northern Nigeria. including Vai, Nsibidi, Ajami, institutions of learning at Methodologies for excavating, Bassa, Mande, Adinkra and Sankore and Timbucktu, mining and processing gold Nko, a color-coded script producing about a and iron ore (Darling, 2012). (Kreamer, 2007); million manuscripts in (Ghana, Mali and Songhay Oral epics including Soninke, the process (Hunwick & exported at least Fulbe, Mande, Songhay, Wolof Boye, 2008). seven million pounds of gold and Yoruba epics (Johnson, before the fifteenth century). Hale, & Belcher, 1997). Independent Cire perdue Didactic fables and narrative innovative method. accounts such as the Anansi narratives. Art Medicine and mathematics Cosmetics and jewelry Innovation of geometrical Plant-based holistic Variety of plant-based and abstract art forms— medication and therapies; a face and hand creams inspirational to Modern Art; range of vermifuges, including shea butter terracotta figurines (Nok, anesthetics and antibiotics. creams (Juliani et al., Mali, etc.) Surgery. Pharmacology. 2013); beaded, iron Bronze masterpieces. Unique vigesimal numeration gold, bronze, ceramics, Masks. system based on intensive stone, shell and glass subtraction in Yoruba maths. innovative jewelry. Board games of strategy. (Verran, 2001).Geometrical interconnections (Gerdes, 1999). Fractals (Eglash, 1999). (continued)

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Table 3.3  (continued) Agro-processing Creation of a variety of pulverized and processed granules from tubers and cereals such as sorghum and millet; wide range of fermented and non-fermented beverages from indigenous cereal including “burukutu”, “zobo” and so on (Okagbue, in Emeagwali 1992), (Zaruwa in Emeagwali and Dei, 2014).

Plant domestication Pearl millet (Pennisetum glaucum); guinea millet (Brachiaria deflexa); Acha (Digitaria exilis); Kram-kram (Cenchrus biflorus);bourgou (Echinochloa stagnina); Rice (Oriyza glabberima), yam; okra (Abelmoschus esculentus); African potatoes (Solenostemon rotundifolius); locust bean (Parkia biglobosa); cow pea (Vigna unguiculata); bambara bean (Vigna subterranean) (Lost Crops of Africa, 2006) (Juliani et al. 2009; Carney, 2001).

Ceramics Second oldest pottery in the world and one of the oldest in Africa found in Ounjougou, Mali (Huysecom, 2014)

© Gloria Emeagwali (2018)

In an attempt to explain the unknown and the unknowable, Africans developed various belief systems. Africans believed that the universe consisted of numerous spiritual entities and divinities which the ancient Egyptians called Neteru, and some in West Africa called Orisa. To believers, the Neteru and Orisa were manifestations of divine consciousness and intelligence that presided over the mountains, seas, rivers and space. The Orisa permeated the universe, controlled the world and facilitated divine action. In central Africa, the meeting point of the living and the dead was symbolized by a cross, a sign that also represented eternity for the Nubians and the Egyptians and was commonly depicted by a cross-shaped ankh (Budge, 1960). The concept of reincarnation was a common African assumption on the religious front. Dead ancestors had the ability to return to everyday life. Spirit possession, invocations, libations and festivals were modes of activities associated with this spiritual worldview (Badejo, 1996). The appearances and forms of the Egyptian and Nubian Neteru or the West African Orisa sometimes changed, but they were generally identified by a range of paraphernalia such as head dress, crowns, animals, symbolic postures and even gestures. In the West African case, Olodumare was the Supreme

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Being, and the Orisa were associated with wisdom, river systems, fertility, war, metallurgy, the ocean, creation and aspects of human life. There are parallels with ancient Egyptian cosmology and religion, and the Neteru such as Tehuti, Auset (Isis), Ausares (Osiris), Apophis, Ra, AmenRa, Amen and others who reigned spiritually, in the arena of wisdom and knowledge, fertility and femininity, the afterlife, eternity and creation itself. Sata, an ancient Egyptian rebel serpent would have negative connotations, however, and symbolized destruction. Auset, renamed Isis by Greek colonizers, was a virgin goddess who gave birth to a son, Heru (Budge, 1994). To the ancient Ethiopian Aksumites, the lion was a protector, a defender and a symbol of political prowess, and this perception persisted even after there was a shift from polytheism to a purely monotheistic religious model. The lion was also important to Nubia and Egypt, and would be venerated in the form of the Lion God, Apedemak and even the Sphinx. The lion also had great significance for Sundiata, founding father of the famed Mali Empire, and has become a factor in popular culture. Today, about one hundred and fifty million followers around the world, in Brazil, the Caribbean and Nigeria, pay homage to the West African Orisas, in religious groups such as the Shouters and Ile Eko Sango Osun Mil’Osa of Trinidad and Tobago, Candomble of Brazil and Santeria of Cuba and Puerto Rico (Falola, 2013; Brandon, 1997). This is reminiscent of an earlier era when, as Budge points out, the worship of the Egyptian and Nubian gods Ausares (Osiris) and Auset(Isis) became widespread in parts of Greece, Italy, Germany, Switzerland, Spain, Portugal and France. (Budge, 1973). Some have argued that the European-based “Black Madonnas” emanate from this historical experience. This too, is part of Africa’s enduring legacy. Northeast Africans are among the earliest recorded pioneers in engineering, building technology and architecture, constructing some of the world’s most enduring structures, in masterpieces such as the Giza pyramid (Ehret, 2016); multistoried obelisks and stelae in Aksum, Ethiopia (Phillipson, 2012). One of the ancient world’s largest stone structure of seven hundred and fifty tons and thirteen storeys lies in Axum, Northern Ethiopia, in the Stelae Park, and can be viewed by local inhabitants and tourists (Connah, 2016). A large part of the world has adopted a variation of the ancient Egyptian calendar, amended by Julius Caesar during the Roman invasion and occupation of Egypt, and, later, by Pope Gregory. The ancient northeast Africans were also a major source of inspiration for Hippocrates and other Greek intellectuals who generously acknowledged their contributions (Aristotle, 2016; Herodotus, 2003; Homer, 1996).

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The enclosures of Great Zimbabwe and the site of the kingdom of Mapungubwe, its predecessor, can still be seen in the confluence region of the Limpopo and Shashe rivers of Southern Africa. The past is still around in the present. The world’s earliest mathematical artifact, the earliest use of chemistry ever and the earliest documented jewelry to date would show up not in northeast Africa but in southern Africa, in places such as Blombos, in the vicinity of the South African Cape region, where indigenous Africans experimented with their world as early as one hundred thousand years ago. The research of scholars such as Henshilwood, d’Errico and others continues to enlighten us on the activities of these early African pioneers (Henshilwood, D’Errico, & Van Niekerk, 2011). But, interestingly enough, the earliest pottery, the oldest navigational artifact and perhaps the oldest metallurgical evidence for the continent lie not in the northeast or the south but in west Africa, given the findings within the last three decades of archeologists such as Huysecom, Breunig, Darling and others (Breunig, 1996; Darling, 2012; Huysecom, 2014). In 2007, the Swiss archeologist Huysecom and his team excavated pottery dated 11,400 years in Mali (Huysecom, 2014). About two decades before, a local Nigerian pastoralist, at a village called Dufuna, alerted authorities about an interesting discovery, a dug-out boat, which was eventually dated to approximately 8000 BCE (Breunig, 1996). Six years ago, in an article entitled “The world’s earliest iron smelting? Its inception, evolution and impact in Northern Nigeria”, Darling pointed to the early date of 2400 BC for iron smelting at Fitola, Northern Nigeria, based on a series of thermo-luminescence dating reports from Durham University, United Kingdom (Darling, 2012). These spectacular discoveries highlight some of the fascinating complexities of Africa’s past.

Preserving Legacies But legacies ought to be created, recognized, nurtured, preserved and passed on for future generations—whether in printed, electronic or oral format, and are equally important for long-term impact, through institution building. Professor Toyin Falola, Holder of the Jacob and Frances Sanger Mossiker Chair at the University of Texas, has proven to be a role model in all of the listed formats and media. Falola holds nine honorary doctorates and over fifty awards, including teaching awards, book awards and career professional awards. He is the Book Series Editor for Cambridge

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University Press, Palgrave Macmillan, University of Rochester and so on, and member of the Advisory Board for Carnegie, and the Scholars Council of the Library of Congress. Falola is universally recognized as one of the most prolific scholars of African descent. Falola has authored, edited and co-edited more than one hundred and fifty books, to date. We identify two models associated with his intellectual activities, namely, the Toyin Falola Knowledge Production Model (TFKP) and the Toyin Falola Institution Building Model (TFIB) (Fig. 3.1). The TFKP and TFIB Models The TFKP model has been associated with three hundred and fifty articles, many of which are not included in the one hundred and sixty books, to date, that he has authored, edited and co-edited. Book reviews, articles in journals, encyclopedia entries and forewords and chapters to books are included in, and associated with the TFKP model. In the case of TFIB, the focus is on institution building and knowledge production. We observe four major activities and processes in this model, namely, the USA Dialogue Series, annual national and international conferences, a Publishing House and a Center for the Study of Africa that is associated with the following (Table 3.4): (a) Distinguished Scholar Program (b) Library outreach (c) Fellowships and grants

TFKP

TFIB

Fig. 3.1  (Source: Gloria Emeagwali, 2018) Table 3.4  Institutional building and knowledge production USA Dialogue Series

Toyin Falola Annual & International Conferences (TOFAC)

Pan-African University Press (PAUP) Thirty Books published by 2017

Toyin Falola Center For the Study of Africa (TFCSA)

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I nstitutional Building and Knowledge Production Embedded in the two models are dedication, tenacity, endurance, commitment, passion; and a sense of history, historical consciousness, embrace of one’s cultural matrix and the recognition of the power of Indigenous Knowledges. Such models are theoretically reproducible. The legacy of Africa is multidisciplinary, multiregional and transcontinental. It spans from antiquity to the present, and is embodied in the wide spectrum of African knowledges. The legacy is a bequest from ancestral wisdom, inspiration, experience and scientific experimentation, but it is a legacy that must be preserved, improved on—where relevant, and sustained in the context of institutional building, archival creation and preservation as well as knowledge protection in the context of intellectual property rights. It is also a legacy that we must build on. Toyin Falola is a role model in that regard, and we celebrate his work, his mission and his accomplishments. We hope that The Falola Institution Building model (TFIB) would be replicated trans-continentally—and that African Indigenous Knowledges and the legacy of Africa will be recognized, sustained and replicated in various formats, for posterity.

References Adams, W. (1977). Nubia, corridor to Africa. London: Allen Lane. Aristotle. (2016). Metaphysics. Indianapolis, IN: Hackett. Asante, M. (2015). The history of Africa. New York, NY: Routledge. Asimov, I. (1989). Asimov’s chronology of science and discovery. New  York, NY: Harper and Row. Badejo, D. (1996). Osun Seegesi: The elegant deity of wealth, power, and femininity. Trenton, NJ: Africa World. Bennion, E. (1979). Antique medical instruments. Berkeley, CA: University of California Press. Binford, L. (1981). Bones: Ancient man and modern myths. New  York, NY: Academic Press. Bonnet, C., & Valbelle, D. (2006). The Nubian pharaohs. American University in Cairo Press. Bourgeois, J., & Pelos, C. (1989). Spectacular vernacular: The adobe tradition. New York, NY: Aperture. Brandon, G. (1997). Santeria from Africa to the new world. Bloomington: Indiana University Press. Breunig, P. (1996). The 8000-year-old dugout canoe from Dufuna (NE Nigeria). In G. Pwiti & R. Soper (Eds.), Aspects of African archaeology (Papers from the

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CHAPTER 4

Removing the Debris Segun Ogungbemi

Introduction Toyin Falola’s knowledge production in my mind attempts to remove the misunderstanding of African cultural discourse and to heal the wounds of colonialism, neocolonialism, and the negative effects of western stereotypes on Africans in the continent and in the diaspora. It has become expedient on the part of contemporary African scholars to write from different perspectives of African cultural heritage and values. As Hook (1965) rightly noted, “Every philosophy of history which recognizes that men can and do make their own history also concerns itself with the conditions under which it is made” (p. xiii). The concept of knowledge production of Toyin Falola re-echoes the clarion call to blow the trumpets of African positive contributions to human civilization, and if African scholars and intellectuals don’t do it, who will do it for them? If Africans don’t rebrand their image that the western mind has denigrated, who do we expect to do it?

S. Ogungbemi (*) Adekunle Ajasin University, Akungba Akoko, Ondo State, Nigeria © The Author(s) 2020 S. O. Oloruntoba et al. (eds.), Indigenous Knowledge Systems and Development in Africa, https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-34304-0_4

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European Mindset of Africa and Africans From the western mind, Africa was a dark continent. But the truth of the matter is that it is the western mind that is dark/black as John Locke, a British empiricist argues that any color or its related perception is not in the object but in the eye (Locke, Berkeley, & Hume, 1960, p.  18). Therefore, the continent was never and is never dark or black. The characterization of Africa as a dark continent and for the envisioned economic benefits to their countries led to European expeditions to the continent. African ancestors who welcomed the European adventurers to their land never envisaged the negative intentions of their guests. If they had known that their ultimate goal was to exploit them, the community leaders would probably not have accommodated them. With the abundance of natural resources in Africa our early ancestors never considered it expedient to venture to Europe neither did they invite the European adventurers to the continent. For Africans, there is nothing wrong in being adventurous when its vision and mission are to expand human knowledge and promote social, political, economic, and cultural exchanges. Contrary to this vision and mission, the primary agenda of Europeans was to exploit human and natural resources of Africa and turn around to denigrate the people. Therefore, any historical narrative of intellectual discourse on the contemporary Africa must take cognizance of where the problem derives its origin. Harris (1998) writes, The history of Africa is relevant to the history of black people throughout the world. This is partly because persons of African ancestry are dispersed throughout the world, and partly because of the general derogatory image Africans and black people everywhere have inherited from western history. A recognition of the magnitude of the problem is the acknowledgement of the heavy burden on the shoulders of the historian who seeks honestly to reconstruct the black historical experience, but who at the same time realizes that even before that task can be fulfilled, a solid historical foundation must be established by confronting and destroying the multitude of myths fashioned by Europeans of yesteryear and transmitted to the contemporary world. (p. 13)

One of the most revered sages of Africa of our time, Chief Obafemi Awolowo corroborated the view expressed by Harris.

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…whilst the Renaissance, the Reformation, and the discovery of the New World were liberating the people of Europe from the spiritual and intellectual bondage of the Middle Ages—and enriching the coffers of European nations, the nobility, and the middle class—these historical events were laying for us the foundation of 300 years of spiritual and mental darkness, of physical barbarity, and human degradation, much darker, more barbarous, and worse degraded than anything previously known in our part of the Dark Continent. (Awolowo, 1968, p. 6)

According to Young (2010) some of the European scholars have argued that Africans have no history. Famously articulated by the great German philosopher Hegel (for whom Africa was the ‘land of childhood), its most notorious expression in recent times was by an eminent Oxford historian Hugh Trevor-Roper who remarked that there was no history in Africa but only ‘the unedifying gyrations of barbarous tribes in picturesque but irrelevant corners of the globe’. (p. 1)

The idea that Africans had no history is an expression of ignorance nurtured by racial prejudice in the western mind because from archaeological evidence Africa has had a great civilization that predated European civilization. Akintoye (2010) argues that archaeologists have shown that African civilization began with the production of iron in about 700 BC. He writes, “Moreover, the earliest date known for the evidence of iron production in West Africa (about 700 BC at Taruga) is considerably earlier than the beginning (about 500 BC) of iron at Meroe, the source from which West Africa is most generally supposed to have received the knowledge of iron production” (Akintoye, 2010, p.  18). Similarly, African geniuses profusely demonstrated their ingenious knowledge expressed in their cultural aesthetics, pottery, sculptures, and so on, which Armstrong (1981) categorizes as “aesthetic of invocation and aesthetic of virtuosity” (p. 10). African aesthetics gives credence to the authentic genius of African expression of their mythologemic-metaphysics and synthetic-­epistemology with its peculiarity of deduction and induction variables. Falola also believes that even before Europeans intruded Africa, the people of the continent have had their own “traditional intellectuals”. According to Falola (2004), the traditional intellectuals:

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comprising priests, kings, chiefs, and merchants who generated knowledge and exercised considerable power and authority. While the knowledge of the ‘traditional elite’ was usually oral, it constituted the foundations of politics, it could be esoteric, and there were specialists who handled the interpretations of complex religious ideas. An indigenous education system, informal and varied, existed partly to reproduce the traditional intellectuals and socialize everybody into the community. Diviners, griots, and priests contributed to the development of society by using their specialized knowledge to interpret reality, produce relevant histories for leaders, mediate in conflicts, and even predict the future. Modern intellectuals have tried to understand the ‘traditional elite’ by studying its member’s knowledge and using the result to show that Africa had sages and a long intellectual tradition before any contact with Europeans. (pp. 3–4)

Apart from Africa’s archaeological, aesthetic and historical relics that are extant in Africa, Europe, America, Japan, and so on, Falola (2003) believes that some of the erroneous assumptions of the western scholars of Africa emanated from lack of understanding of the culture of the people. He explains, The African elite, irrespective of their location and sources of ideas, regard culture as the number one tool in creating a difference between Africans and non-Africans, consolidating national and ethnic identities, addressing most of the issues associated with the European encounter, evaluating the impact of foreign religions and cultures, and seeking enduring answers to contemporary problems of economy and politics. From the discussion on slavery to introduction of new implements to the peasants, Africans emphasize the role of culture in African history and the quest for development. (p. 3)

The European encounter with African culture was not with the intention to study and understand the significant import of cultural differences that Young (2010) considers imperative so as not to make hasty judgment. He believes “that there are important cultural differences about which we can learn but about which we should never, if at all, rush to judgement” (Young, 2010, p. 3). Because the western mind did not initially want to learn from African culture, that was why they did not find any rational justification to respect African values. It became necessary therefore for African scholars and intellectuals to tell their own stories by themselves and clear the debris of European prejudices and demystify their racial superiority. There are two necessary tools African scholars were expected

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to have namely, European education and communication propaganda to combat and defeat erroneous images created in the minds of their people and the world in general. But most importantly, Africans both at home and abroad have to liberate themselves politically, psychologically, and economically. The missionary activities in the areas of education, training, and other social values played a pivotal role for future leadership. But the most liberating drive came from the university and tertiary institutions where intellectuals are made to grow and develop that led to the rebirth of African renaissance and revolutionary minds that produced scholars and intellectuals like Ali A.  Mazrui, Wole Soyinka, Ngugi Wa Thiong’o, Chinua Achebe, Kwasi Wiredu, H. Odera Oruka, J. Olubi Sodipo, Obaro Ikime, Tekena Tamuno, Fela Anikulapo Kuti, and Toyin Falola, the most prolific contemporary African and diaspora historian of our time who we are celebrating today, have been in the vanguard of removing the debris of western mentality. In this heroic task I cannot forget to mention from the home front some African political leaders namely, Kwame Nkrumah, Nnamdi Azikiwe, Obafemi Awolowo, Jomo Kenyatta, Julius Nyerere, Nelson Mandela, and so on, and from the diaspora Marcus Garvey, Martin Luther King Jr., Malcolm X, Walter Rodney, James Cone, Bob Marley, Jimmy Cliff among others whose works and leadership courage added values to African resilience in the face of western aggressions, colonialism, neocolonialism, and capitalism. Western education remains a two-edged sword in the hands of contemporary African intellectuals, political elite, and political class. As African leaders and the educated elite were able to put an end to colonial rule in Africa, they too became a burden of yoke rather than alleviating poverty and infrastructural underdevelopment of the continent. Although there have been some pockets of development here and there in the continent, so also constant political upheavals, conflicts, violence that have destroyed lives and properties with millions of people displaced, while others went to seek asylum in other parts of the world, particularly in western Europe. How will Africa save herself from underdevelopment occasioned by poor leader, social, and political predicaments? What methodology will be used to end political, religious, and ethnic conflicts and violence? Who will remove the debris and rebuild the continent? Africans can find answers to these questions when they embrace a new way of thinking, recognizing the importance of indigenous wisdom with modernity. They should always have a reflective mind and a better future for the new generation, with a reformed education system that is alive to the needs of the people. The key

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to achieving this goal lies in good leadership and good governance because social, economic, political, religious, ethnic integration, and harmony must be used to enhance sustainable development. Mimiko (2017) has identified another leadership deficiency among Africans that is more critical than corruption. He argues, “Africa has, over the years, presented a high level of leadership failure. There is arrant demonstration of lack of capacity and vision: manifesting in governance structures that are non-­ inclusive, corrupt, and called to question, in some instances, the stability of mind of sundry leaders” (Mimiko, 2017, p. 3). Good governance and development of Africa depends on leadership capacity. But the effects of slave trade and colonialism, according to Mimiko (2017), have their negative psychological residue. The general picture of crisis of governance and development, the basis of which goes back several centuries. Indeed, any robust explication of the nature of colonialism, which ravaged the African continent for at least a century, cannot but come to the conclusion that it remains a critical variable in Africa’s post-colonial experience. Making this does not constitute an attempt to absolve subsequent generations of Africans of blame in the governance and development crisis that their continent is. Rather, it is to call attention to the fact that when a people is subjected to the most damning form of exploitation and abuse ever seen in history—400 years of slave trade, and 100 years of colonialism, it is not unimaginable that the era following these experiences would still be largely shaped by them. There is no amount of frustration with the present that can justify a denial of the structure impact of those years on Africa’s present situation. (p. 2)

The historical insight and comment of Mimiko (2017) above cannot be dismissed with a wave of the hand more so with the recent racial slurs of President Donald J.  Trump on immigrants that denigrate Africans. Mimiko’s position resonates the Yoruba adage which says that if a child slips and falls down, he looks forward but when an elder slips and falls down, he looks backward to the cause of his predicament so as to avoid its future repeat. But in the case of African leaders, do they have such reflections? That is another provocative interrogation Mimiko has raised. If Africa is to make appreciative progress in leadership and good governance in the twenty-first century, I believe Nigeria must take the lead because of its strategic importance in the continent.

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Nigerian Political Space and the Challenge of Good Governance I have discussed how European mindset created a negative image of Africans and the need to erase the mental image that undervalued African cultural heritage. From 1960 to date, the political space under the leadership of Nigerian elite and the political class should have rebranded the cultural values through the vehicle of western education and improved the standard of living expected by Nigerians. Just before independence and after the end of British rule in Nigeria, when Festus Okotie-Eboh was the Finance Minister in the Abubakar Tafawa Balewa administration, one of the Yoruba musicians, Adeolu Akinsanya and his Western Topers Band, waxed a record that expressed the yearnings, expectations, hopes, and aspirations of all Nigerians for economic prosperity. I only remember the most remarkable part of the song and I think Professor Ademola Dasylva, the Archive of Yoruba Entertainment Industry will add the missing links. He actually assisted me to get the name of the musician. It goes like this: Okotie-Eboh gbowo titun de x2    Moti n‘roye x2 Pa’ye se n’dara bo wa o e

It was not only the economic prosperity that the musician had in mind but also the political freedom and political leadership attained by Nigerian leaders namely, Dr. Nnamdi Azikiwe, Alhaji Abubakar Tafawa, Chief Obafemi Awolowo, Sir Ahmadu Bello, and so on. Now that Nigerian leaders are at the helm of affairs, Adeolu Akinsanya and his group were optimistic of the “Golden Age” of Nigeria. How I wish the musician and his group were alive today to assess the future of Nigeria they anxiously expected to flourish under the leadership of Nigerian political class and the intellectual nationalists. But the seed of the unrealizable lofty dream, which was unknown to the musician had been sown way before independence. Awolowo (1968) explains, “The so called common Nigerian nationality—which is a complete misnomer, as there is no such thing as a Nigerian nation anyway—is a veneer or façade consciously or unconsciously put up by some Nigerians to cover up what many of their fellow-­ men see quite plainly as rabid nationalism” (p. 237).

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What has taken place in the political and economic arena in Nigeria after the departure of the British administration since 1960 has dashed the hopes and aspirations of the teeming population of youth and the impoverished illiterates. I will deliberate on some of the causes and challenges that have to be surmounted and their debris removed to give way to a reconstruction of another foundation that is solid. Let me begin with the causes. Ethnicity Nigeria has some of the largest ethnic groups in Africa, which makes the integration of its diverse groups a difficult task. Among the heterogeneous groups are the Yoruba in the southwest and parts of Kwara and Kogi States, Hausa/Fulani in the northwest, and a significant number of them in Adamawa, Bauchi, and Gombe States, the Kanuri who are mostly in Borno State in the northeast, and the Igbo in the southeast and some parts of Rivers and Delta States. In the north central we have the Nupe, Jukun, Tiv, Idoma, Igala, Ebira, and so on. These ethnic groups speak different languages, however; Yoruba, Hausa, and Igbo are the most common indigenous languages. During the colonial era, English language was made the official language for communication in schools and offices and since then it remains the official language but has not precluded the use of indigenous languages where and when necessary. But today, the use of Pidgin English is becoming popular among those who do not learn how to speak the English language, particularly, market women and local traders and farmers. During the colonial era, the country was divided into three dominant ethnic groups namely, the Yoruba in the west, Hausa/Fulani in the North, and the Igbo in the East. With this form of arrangement, each ethnic group was and still is conscious of its identity and holds allegiance, loyalty, and patriotism to it. Be that as it may, there is pride and strength in diversity. Falola (2016) reiterates the importance and achievements within ethnic diversity. “Irrespective of its historical origins and the use to which ethnicity is put, these multiple ethnicities give us limitless sources to draw knowledge and wisdom from” (p. 77). It is true that diversity has contributed to the development in Nigeria in the areas of talented individuals and competitive skills, trade, industry, and so on. Falola (2016) is quick to note that “Not all is well with ethnicities in the realm of politics and building a united nation. Of the fundamental problems that beset Nigeria as a

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nation, ethnicity and the politics of ethnic divisions, the deficit of leadership, and underdevelopment rank as the highest” (p. 79). If ethnicity and diversity have been a veritable source of knowledge and wisdom, how come the political class and political officeholders in Nigeria have not enriched their quality of leadership and good governance and ameliorated the suffering of the masses? Why has ethnicity become a cog in the wheel of progress in Nigeria, the most populous African country in the continent? These are critical issues that need proper interrogation if we really want to effectively remove one of the causes of Nigerian political rubbles so as to build a solid unity and sustainable infrastructural development. The Bedrock of Political Rivalries and Instability Falola (2016) reminds us “that the diverse ethnic groups were never at war, that intergroup relations in pre-colonial and colonial periods were generally friendly, and that both the British and members of the political class contributed a lot to the inter-ethnic competition and rivalries” (p. 187). The political structure of regionalism was based on ethnicities, the Yoruba in the west, Hausa in the north, and the Igbo in the east, each pursuing its ethnic political and economic agendas with groups. Falola (2016) explains: The politics of the era were dominated by three political parties: the Northern Peoples’ Congress (NPC), the National Council of Nigeria and the Cameroons (NCNC), and the Action Group (AG). Each political party controlled a region: the NPC in the north, the NCNC in the east, and the AG in the west. These three regions and their leaders (Alhaji Ahmadu Bello, Azikiwe and Awolowo respectively) became the main political focus until the 1960s. (p. 183)

From the foregoing these political leaders welded enormous political influence in each region they controlled, and oftentimes their utterances were misunderstood, misinterpreted, and misconstrued, which have bedeviled the unity of the country. For instance, Awolowo said before the attainment of self-government of each region in the 1950s that given the influence of western civilization, the Yoruba were better prepared than other ethnic nationalities in Nigeria (Falola, 2016, p. 99). Was Awolowo saying that the other ethnic groups were inferior to the Yoruba as a consequence of the influence of western civilization in the region? Or was he

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making an honest statement of fact in terms of the importance of western education for manpower needed at the material time? Was his idea borne out of ethnic arrogance? Several decades after Awolowo made the assertion of the Yoruba educational advantage over all other ethnic nationalities in Nigeria some leaders of the other ethnic groups challenged it. For instance, Azikiwe and Chinua Achebe who were prominent Igbo intellectual and political leaders challenged the claim. Azikiwe argues, “The God of Africa has especially created the Ibo nation to lead the children of Africa from the bondage of the ages…The martial prowess of the Ibo nation at all stages of human history has enabled them not only to conquer others but also to adapt themselves to the role of preserver…The Ibo nation cannot shirk its responsibility” (Falola, 2016, p. 99). Achebe (2012), agrees with Awolowo that “The coastal branches of the Yoruba nation had some of the earliest contact with the European missionaries and explorers as a consequence of their proximity to the shoreline and their own dedication to learning. They led the entire nation in educational attainment from the late nineteenth to the early twentieth centuries” (p. 75). He however, argues: By the time the Church Mission Society and a number of Roman Catholic orders had crossed the Niger River and entered Igbo land, there had been an explosion in the numbers of young Igbo students enrolled in school. The increase was so exponential in such a short time that within three short decades the Igbo had closed the gap and quickly moved ahead as the group with the highest literacy rate, the highest standard of living and the greatest proportion of citizens with postsecondary education in Nigeria. (Achebe, 2012, pp. 7576).

The impact of these utterances from these leaders on contemporary intellectual elite and political leaders is manifested in the difficulty of integrating Nigerian ethnic groups together because of the fear of domination and oppression. It also brought a hot debate mostly between Yoruba and Igbo scholars and intellectuals when it comes to who is the progenitor of Nigerian tribalism? To the Igbo, it was Awolowo and to the Yoruba, it was Azikiwe. Will these two major ethnicities be able to unit together and forge ahead in making the country a nation in spite of their diversity? It seems to me that if the foundation of a structure is not solid, its future collapse is assured consequently. But the foundation of Nigerian

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political structure has never been metaphysically built in the mind of their leaders and followers and predictably as long as the mindset remains unchanged the country will continue to go in a vicious circle. All the political upheavals since and after independence, the military incursion into politics, and different civilian regimes with the attendant surge of corruption, which the present civilian government under President Buhari has sought to fight because according to him, “‘if we don’t kill corruption, corruption will kill Nigeria,” must be reassessed dispassionately. But the question is, are the political class and politicians ready to kill the monster of corruption? Is it possible to kill corruption without dealing with the mindset where it is domiciled? Corruption Corruption is a human deficit phenomenon and when there are no enforcing institutions to arrest its spread, it can become cancerous to human and social development. But corruption does not strive in traditional societies because of their limited resources to wealth and industrial development. Therefore, corruption according to Huntington (1968) is “a product of the distinction between public welfare and private interest which comes with modernization” (p.  61). In the case of Africa, Falola explains, “Corruption established some of its roots during the colonial period. To start with, the political system and the rule of law benefited a handful of people in such a way that power became associated with privileges rather than service” (Falola, 2003, p. 80). Two instruments for corrupt practices in Nigeria are power and free access to resources. And some of the policy makers do indeed believe in the theory that if Nigerians are to reduce poverty the most effective way is to create opportunities to increase the number of rich people. Omotosho (2003) writes: The system that Obasanjo military government left behind for Shagari to work would have benefited a new nationwide upper-middle class of people, especially from the military. This system is premised on the belief that if there are enough rich men in society, the poor would have no problem scraping through life, with the aid of the crumbs from the tables of the affluent… And to become rich men they did not require the system to work. In fact they had to sabotage it. (p. 334)

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Writing on the leadership ills of the country, Allison A. Ayida, one of the seasoned Secretaries to the Government of the Federation from 1975 to 1977 says There is a paradox we tend to lose sight of. When there is a change of government we discover so many ‘bad eggs’ in the public service but the succeeding powers-that be once they can bend the public service to carry out their wishes; once they succeed in installing their friends and classmates in positions of trust, the entire public service is all right until the next change of government. There is something seriously wrong in the approach. (Ayida, 1987, xii)

The above shows the hypocritical nature of Nigerian military governments that promised to eradicate corruption whenever they overthrew civilian administrations to justify their coups. But as soon as they consolidated their power, they became more corrupt than the government they toppled. As a matter of fact, the positive corruption theory of Obasanjo became a legitimate device used for official looting of the national treasury so as to maximize the greater good for the greater number of people. In other words, it is an effort to produce rich men who will in turn help the poor and reduce poverty. The implication of this theory is that it has encouraged laziness, with its attendant social consequences that have now come prevalent in recent times in Nigeria. The positive corruption theory has become negative corruption. This myopic economic theory of empowerment of the poor and total neglect of the middleclass has no vision of creativity, hard work, resourcefulness, and the intellectual drive needed for industry, entrepreneurship, commerce, trade, agriculture, and infrastructural development. Any attempt to eradicate corruption, and the military and the political class are ready to sabotage it. This explains why all the billions of naira spent on the national refineries, energy supply, and construction of road networks, railway lines, and dilapidated educational facilities have yielded no fruitful results. One of the most critical areas where corruption has impeded progress is electricity, which would have energized the economy. Falola (2016) argues, “Without sustainable energy, there can be no sustainable development” (p. 328). The moral paradigm shift of positive and negative corruption encouraged by the political class in Nigeria negates African traditional value that takes pride in dignity of labor and achievements. It is also a clear indication of failed leadership and poor governance.

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Corruption rears its ugly head in the education system in Nigeria largely due to the fact that it has become a national institution. Normally, the university like other tertiary institutions ought to be a place to train and remove the debris of ignorance and all forms of social ills of the society and prepare the youth for good leadership and governance. Unfortunately that is not always the case. At the 7th Convocation Lecture of Adekunle Ajasin University Akungba-Akoko, Ondo State delivered by Falola on December 7, 2017, the issue of corruption at the Ivory Tower in Nigeria was addressed: The involvement of some faculty members in indecorous and predatory practices that make their ethical integrity questionable is perhaps the challenge that has mostly strained teacher-student’s relationships. On these both students and teachers have so many stories to share, some real, some true, some exaggerated. These acts range from lecturers compulsion of students to buy books or course materials written by them, coercive collection of tokens, receiving of bribes and, worst and most menacing of all, sexual exploitation of female students. Faculty members who are found wanting in these acts engage students in them as parts of the measures for grading them. Students who do not ‘cooperate’ therefore fail. (Falola, 2017, p. 34)

There are instances however, that some students induce lecturers to accept bribes. Students are sometimes a concomitant effect of symptomatic corruption. I remember asking the first year students taking a course in Ethics, which was compulsory, that if I have the power to award you a B.A. degree of Philosophy, how many of you would accept it? Surprisingly, more than half of the students who enrolled for the course wanted the offer. And I asked further, for those of you who wanted the degree without going through the rigor of acquiring the knowledge, of what use would the certificate be to you? They simply told me not to bother about it because they knew what to do. If Nigerian university system, which offers degrees based on character and learning has become morally deficient, as seen above, how can they produce good leaders that would be in charge of a country that is in need of sustainable development? I am not oblivious of some steps and measures taken by Nigerian governments since 1999 till date to rescue Nigerian economy from the depravity of corruption. The police and the judiciary are two major institutions saddled to fight graft and all forms of corrupt practices in Nigeria. But the ineptitude of the institutions anchors on their involvement in

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c­orrupt practices as well. It is not likely that corruption will wage war against itself. Under President Olusegun Obasanjo administration 1999–2007, two agencies were inaugurated to fight and eliminate corruption. The first was Independent Corrupt Practices Commission (ICPC) inaugurated on September 29, 2000, and the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) ‘a child of circumstance’ was created in 2003 as a result of the allegation that Nigeria was among the few countries in the world that was not cooperating with other major world economic powers in fighting money laundering. The intentions for establishing these two bodies were good but their fight against corruption has left much to be desired because of ethnicity challenges and the sincerity of people in the government, the political class. President Buhari’s mantra, ‘if we don’t kill corruption, corruption will kill Nigeria’ is conceived by his political rivals as a moral sentiment to win election because there are no politicians in contemporary Nigerian politics who are not beneficiaries of political and economic corruption; either directly or indirectly or both. With this mindset, it appears that only President Buhari is fighting his own perceived national corruption. He is a lone ranger. Fighting corruption collectively in Nigeria by Nigerians, in my own opinion, requires adoption of new methods and strategies driven by truth, justice, and transparency. Religion Religion is as old as man. This seems to suggest that religion is an invention of man because without him there cannot be religion. Idowu (1973) writes, “The suggestion that religion is a mere invention more or less for convenience of man or society has always had its advocates, as here have been ancient-very ancient-as well as modern rationalists” (Idowu, 1973, p. 34). Thus religion is critical to human existence in terms of its spirituality and material benefits. Pojman (2001) further explains, “Religion offers comfort in sorrow, hope in despair and death, courage in danger, and joy in the midst of all life brings. It tells us that the world is not a mere impersonal materialistic conundrum but a friendly home provided for us by our heavenly Father” (p.  2). In spite of the social, economic, and spiritual dynamics that attest to the significance of religion, there is also the impious use of religion which has left its horror and devastation in human history. Idowu (1973) explains, “Anyone who is acquainted with the chequered history of religion with the ‘sanctified’ monstrosity- murder, cheating, lying, theft, and devastations—which have been committed in

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the name of Deity will at least sympathize with the critics…” (p. 30) who cast doubt about religious propositions. Western civilization came to Africa with religious arrogance, intolerance, and particularity. The indigenous religion of Africa was seen as barbaric, primitive, and idolatrous without moral and cultural values. The evangelization of the missionaries was conducted with a biased mind against the traditional civilization of Africa. The new converts had to change their indigenous names to biblical or European names that bear no meaning to their existential and spiritual life. They were introduced to a “civilized religion” that subjected Africans to a traumatized inferiority complex and to not question the justification of myopic white racial superiority. The contemporary charismatic churches in Nigeria have emphasized miracles instead of intellectual and mental reasoning, scientific and technology cutting edge to explain failure in academic, business, and any other human endeavors. They have encouraged mental laziness instead of human dynamic resourcefulness, creativity, and achievements. Instead of hard work, the church emphasizes in their prayers ‘little work with huge rewards’ so that their members would bring fat offerings and tithes. They have subjected their followers to religious bigotry and deceit. Their followers wear the spiritual toga of otherworldly rather than improving human universe to become a paradise of splendor. The teaching of a blissful heaven that their spiritual leaders encourage the followers to hope and prepared for, which they themselves are not ready for, reveals the nature of brainwashing and hypocrisy that none of the church members cares to question. There is an urgent need to rescue the poor masses including their deluded leaders from religious illusion. They should be guided and encouraged to invest their religious resilience and energy to a more sustainable and productive life. There is probably no other time in the history of Nigeria that the vicissitudes of religion have become more pronounced. There have been two notorious Islamic groups that have been behind religious crisis in Nigeria namely, Maitatsine under the leadership of Marwa, and Boko Haram under the initial leadership of Mohammed Yusuf who was killed by Nigerian security forces after which Abubakar Shekau took over. The Maitatsine group wreaked horrendous havoc in several cities in the North before they were overpowered by the military forces in the 1980s while Boko Haram was founded in 2002  in Maiduguri, Borno State in the Northeast. The two Islamic groups have some common instinctual denominators namely; they came from the North and are both violent,

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and threatened the security and unity of the country. The main objective of the Islamic movements in Nigeria is to Islamize the country and impose the Shari’a law. However, this objective is generally limited to the North where their operations have been severely felt. According to Falola (1998) In 1980, a series of major religious riots broke out in Kano and spread to three states over the course of five years. No less than ten thousand people lost their lives as a result. The original riot lasted from 18–29 December 1980 and killed five thousand, although many people remain unaccounted for. Nearly two years later, a related outbreak occurred on 30 October 1992 at Bulunkutu, near Maiduguri, where another four thousand people were killed, almost two thousand were left homeless, and over three million naira worth of property was destroyed. (p. 137)

Let me put in perspective the cost of destruction of property estimated in the above quotation. In the 1980s before the devaluation of the Nigerian currency, the Naira was stronger than the dollar. Therefore, over three million naira was a conservative figure, which at that time was a lot of money. The Boko Haram insurgency in Nigeria, which began as a peaceful movement became the most vicious religious movement in Nigeria till date. The casualty figure from multiple attacks on innocent people in the northeast in Nigeria can only be estimated since no exact and accurate figure is available. The conservative figure for the people killed is 100,000, and the displaced victims are approximately 1 million in number. Today the menace of Boko Haram is being felt because of their sporadic attacks from time to time in the Northeast and some other parts of the country. The colossal sum of money spent to end Boko Haram terrorism is yet to be officially announced since the gruesome destruction of lives and properties appear unstoppable. Is something not wrong with the mindset of these two bloodthirsty Islamic religious groups? Of what existential benefit is it to follow a religious tenet to commit suicide in order to gain entrance to eternal bliss? Why are the Federal and State governments not legislating against religious teaching of hate that could lead to national insecurity? These are critical issues that demand urgent moral and legal answers. From the intellectual scene, how can knowledge production of Falola remove the debris of the negative mindset of these religious groups and turn their

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­estructive energy to empowerment and intellectual resourcefulness? d That is, in my view, an issue to interrogate during this conference.

Knowledge Production of Toyin Falola Each society has its own form of knowledge production for good governance, social justice, and development. For instance, in Africa the “traditional intellectuals” from the perspective of Falola form the ethos of African system of governance, moral and cultural values before the advent of the Europeans. They were the institutions of learning and acquisition of knowledge. Of course, the colonial imperialists and scholars had nothing to do with glorification of historical past in spite of preponderant evidence of Africa’s geniuses in the continent. Knowledge production from the western world is an embodiment of good and evil. It is the good aspect of it that Falola has used to educate the world of the quality and quantity of African aesthetic, epistemic, social, political, linguistic, religious, and cultural values. He has also used the good part of western civilization to remove the debris of prejudiced mindset of the racists who one way or the other have a course to read or relate with Falola’s knowledge production. It is also to assuage Africans wherever they are in the world the injustices of slave trade and colonialism and take pride in African cultural values. It is significant to mention further that not only the number of his publications that have become viral in dissemination the true nature of Africans both at home and in the diaspora, but also in his teaching career in various institutions across the globe. For over a decade now, Falola has successfully convened an annual Africa Conference at the University of Texas at Austin (UT at Austin). The conference has brought students, scholars, and intellectuals together regardless of color, race, and gender to deliberate on diverse topics and critical issues on education, race, values, globalization, war and peace, good governance and development, science and technology that bring a synergy of understanding and peaceful co-existence. During the conference, there is always a cultural Africa exchange to showcase Africa’s rich cultural attires and values. The conference, in my own view, has brought a better understanding of race relationship and bridged the gap between Africans in the continent, African Americans, and Africa in diaspora with the intention to contribute to the development of Africa the cradle of human civilization. The conference serves as a tourist venture that has contributed to the economy of the United States—the visa fees, air tickets,

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hotel accommodation, transportation within the country, shopping, and so on. The educational exchange benefits to conference participants serve to enhance researches, creation of new vision and mission toward leadership role in their countries, and opportunities to break new intellectual grounds with resilience and focus on intuitive and practical knowledge of freedom and self-assertiveness. Knowledge production includes the ability to mentor and generate intellectual discourse among colleagues around the globe. Publications of conference papers by reputable publishers in the United States have encouraged and motivated participants to do more as they enhanced their promotions in their various institutions. Africa Dialogue Series, which has subscription of thousands of scholars, is another manifestation of Falola’s creativity where scholars, intellectuals, entrepreneurs, and so on engage in provocative issues affecting Africa and the global world. Falola is the moderator who reads all submissions posted to the forum. As a leader he never took side on trivial and divisive issues. He is a curious observer and when the debates are getting unsavory, he, like the Leviathan, uses his big stick and redirects the debates. He generates electricity of knowledge production wherever he goes to give public lectures, convocation lectures, and faculty lectures. In recognition of creativity and knowledge production, his friends decided to have a replica of Annual Africa Conference at UT at Austin in Africa, named Toyin Falola Annual Conference (TOFAC), which was inaugurated on July 1, 2011, at the University of Ibadan, Oyo State, under the auspices of Ibadan Cultural Studies Group. The theme of the conference was “Creativity and Cultural Expressions in Africa and the African Diaspora”. The conference was held at Ibadan because that is the hometown of Toyin Falola, African guru of African history and Diaspora Studies. Eminent scholars within and outside Africa came for the conference and for three days that the conference lasted, it was full of various activities—lectures, debates, and tours of one of the biggest cities in Africa. Subsequent conferences were held at Lead City University Ibadan, Oyo State, Sokoto State University, Sokoto State, Redeemer University, Ede, Osun State, Adeyemi College of Education, Ondo, Ondo State, South Africa, and so on, and this year, it would be held in Kenya. All the TOFAC conferences in Africa have addressed basic issues of mismanagement of Africa natural and human resources, corruption, leadership and good governance, poverty, malnutrition, illiteracy, and various forms of social problems-­human trafficking, kidnapping, armed robbery, functional education, unemployment and youth empowerment, gender issues, and the

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role of women in politics and governance, and so on. At the end of the conferences, each university, college of education and participants became richer with book donations and other materials from Falola. And more importantly TOFAC responds to the peculiar needs of each university and tertiary institutions wherever it is held. All these efforts are geared toward removing the debris of social ills in the society and prepare the minds of the intellectuals, scholars, potential leaders and followers for genuine political and economic transformation, and sustainable infrastructural development. From the foregoing, one is made to believe that Falola, like Socrates, the Greek Philosopher is “corrupting the youth” or revolutionizing the minds of his followers who could cause a social movement of disciplined intellectuals, scholars, and vibrant political elite to rise against African politicians and the political class. The intellectual social movements are to topple those who see politics not as service but as means to power and access to economic resources for themselves, families, cronies, and so on, rather than a common good for the general public in order to promote the good image of African cultural values. Falola (2003) makes this view explicit: If poor technology and devastated economies have painted a negative picture of Africa’s powerlessness, one sees something contrary in the cultures where people have shown the capacity to be creative, to be active in seeking alternative solutions to various problems, and to adapt to imported ideas and objects. More importantly, culture has been the main source to construct identity and to reinvent the nation and ethnicities in the face of colonial imposition and the subsequent changes that followed. (p. 2)

Conclusion I began this chapter with a metaphor of natural and human activities when a disaster strikes and people and government begin to remove the debris. There are different forms of debris that I have identified, which are critically in need of removal in the western mind, particularly the particles of ignorance and xenophobic disease that tend to resist curative treatment. This is recently exhibited by President Donald J. Trump’s incendiary “Shithole” characterization of Africans that has caused global outrage even though he denied it. President Trump is notorious when it comes to racial slurs because he was genetically born with it. His father was a racist

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and he raised his son, Donald in the wilderness of racial prejudice. So removing the debris of racial discrimination mindset in the western world by Toyin Falola’s knowledge production is an onerous task because of its concomitant effects on the poor leadership and governance in Africa and particularly Nigeria. From the political scene in Nigeria, I have identified noticeable areas of concern—ethnicity, corruption, and religion where mindset—mentality has become a plaque that is desperately in need of critical treatment and Falola’s works and intellectual leadership have offered a curative treatment to remove the debris of the past and the present, and to recognize that, “The glorious past of the continent cannot be swept under the carpet because that is where African descendants normally would have drawn inspirations for the task of carrying on the unfinished task of their forebears. The unfinished task of the forebears, in this case, is the unity and development of the continent” (Ogungbemi, 2014, pp. 203–204). The pragmatic internalization and critical interrogation of political and social orientations of the British ideologies; and the constitutional frameworks that led to Nigerian independence, and the military imposition of constitutions with federal-unitary system that have engendered disunity among various ethnicities in the country have to be systematically discarded to give way to ideologies and good governance that are relevant and meaningful to African peaceful co-existence. The people who remove the debris are those who become intellectual revolutionary agents of TF, the hero of knowledge production. This ideological framework like that of Karl Marx will change the mindset and produce value chain of transformation in Nigeria and Africa at large. When it happens, as Ali A.  Mazrui previously and rightly predicted, “In the new dawn the poor and the meek of Africa may not inherit the earth but, hopefully, they will finally inherit their own continent” (Mazrui, 1980, p. 89). Toyin Falola’s achievements and attitude toward humanities and humanity have paved the way for Africans to inherit their continent, define themselves as appropriate and share its resources with others who are willing to associate with African cultural values.

References Achebe, C. (2012). There was a country. New York: Penguin Press. Akintoye, S. A. (2010). A history of Yoruba people. Dakar: Amalion Publishing.

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Armstrong, R.  P. (1981). The powers of the presence. Philadelphia: University of Pennsylvania. Awolowo, O. (1968). The people’s republic. Oxford: Oxford University Press. Ayida, A. A. (1987). Reflections on Nigerian development. Ibadan: Malthouse Press and Heinemann Educational Books. Falola, T. (1998). Violence in Nigeria: The crisis of religious politics and secular ideologies. Rochester: Rochester University Press. Falola, T. (2003). The power of African cultures. Rochester: University of Rochester Press. Falola, T. (2004). Nationalism and African intellectuals. Rochester: University of Rochester Press. Falola, T. (2016). Nigerian political modernity and postcolonial predicaments. Austin: Pan-African University Press. Falola, T. (2017). Nigerian universities and youth empowerment. 7th Convocation Lecture, Adekunle Ajasin University Akungba-Akoko, Ondo State, Nigeria, December 7, 2017. Harris, J. E. (1998). Africans and their history. New York: Plume. Hook, S. (1965). The hero in history: Study in limitation and possibility. Boston: Beacon Press. Huntington, S. P. (1968). Political order in changing societies. New Haven: Yale University Press. Idowu, E.  B. (1973). African traditional religion: A definition. Maryknoll: Orbis Books. Locke, J., Berkeley, G., & Hume, D. (1960). The empiricists. New  York: Random House. Mazrui, A. A. (1980). The African condition. London: Heinemann. Mimiko, F. (2017). Leadership and development in Africa: Trends and future outlook. In A keynote address delivered at the 3rd Faculty of Administration International Conference, OAU, Ile-Ife, Nigeria November 27, 2017. Ogungbemi, S. (2014). The spirit of Pan-Africanism and nationalist consciousness. In T. Falola & K. Essien (Eds.), Pan-Africanism and the politics of African citizenship and identity. New York: Routledge. Omotosho, K. (2003). Just before dawn. Ibadan: Spectrum Books. Pojman, L.  P. (2001). Philosophy of religion. Mountain View: Mayfield Publishing Company. Young, T. (2010). Africa a beginner’s guide. Oxford: Oneworld Book.

PART II

The Role of the State and Intellectuals in Knowledge Production in Africa

CHAPTER 5

The Academic and the Crisis of Knowledge Production and Dissemination in Africa C. B. N. Ogbogbo

Falola’s scholarship over the years has undergone a remarkable transformation in the scope of his intellectual engagements, from the confines of history as a discipline to other disciplines in the humanities. His methodology in the course of the epistemological inquiry has also undergone significant fine-tuning. The breadth of his sources which includes what he calls the ‘ritual archives’ are products of deep philosophical thought. In choosing to address the current crisis in the nature of knowledge production, dissemination and consumption in Africa, I am convinced that we can borrow from the vast multidisciplinary corpus from which Falola flavours his writings to point to new directions from which to seek panacea for the cancerous crisis that has inflicted knowledge production in Africa. It is this crisis that is increasingly questioning the relevance of academics.

C. B. N. Ogbogbo (*) University of Ibadan, Ibadan, Nigeria © The Author(s) 2020 S. O. Oloruntoba et al. (eds.), Indigenous Knowledge Systems and Development in Africa, https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-34304-0_5

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The Academic The term ‘academic’ is used to refer to an intellectual that is engaged in an educational or scholarly environment. In contemporary times, it is loosely used to refer to a scholar in the university. The main article of trade of an academic is the production of knowledge through research. Simply put, the business of an academic is the quest for and production of knowledge which is propelled by a desire to discover and explain the world around him/her. An academic goes further to disseminate through various means, the knowledge produced. Apart from writing, he/she seeks to inspire young minds through lectures, into epistemological enquiries. In this venture, the academic engages in the delicate vocation of moulding young minds in such a manner that will enable them to engage in self-discovery and have a better understanding of their environment, with the hope that this will improve their standard of living. Ultimately, this knowledge production is to bring about development to the society. It is this conceptualisation that makes the academic a purveyor of intellectual capital, a critical component in the development matrix. It is therefore in being harbingers of development that they find their relevance. The quality of the ideas they produce is meant to be the necessary engine to spur the development of a society. The critical question to ask is, where in the development praxis does the contemporary academic in Africa fit? As noted earlier, the theatre of the academic is the university. It is a place where, as I have argued elsewhere, the intellectual bastion of the societies is located. Teaching and researching have remained central to its raison d’être, while community service has become part of its objective with the evolution of the university idea. As observed by Adebayo (2005), universities have become recognised as major conduits through which society and humanity advance the frontiers of knowledge. In this mission of the university, academics are central. They are expected to carry out the three aforementioned identified assignments. At the core of an academic’s intellectual engagement is the pursuit of universal truths as a pedestal for focusing on the challenges of the immediate environment. The African academic is therefore expected to produce knowledge that should primarily be geared towards addressing the needs of Africa. It is pertinent to note that while the bulk of the academe is found in the universities, there are yet who are in other tertiary institutions.

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Knowledge Production and Dissemination in Africa Knowledge production in Africa is of great antiquity. However, for our purpose, we will focus on the relatively contemporary times during which period the academic, as is known today, is at the forefront of the k­ nowledge production process. The crisis of knowledge production focused on is as to the extent of the culpability of the African academic. Africa has always had her intellectuals long before the introduction of modern universities to her shores. Apart from the famous Sankore University, which had blossomed into a major centre of learning that attracted scholars from all over the world between the fourteenth and the sixteenth centuries, there existed quite a number of intellectuals in ancient Egypt who contributed significantly to knowledge production and dissemination. Since the colonial enterprise in the nineteenth and twentieth centuries, the universities, as they are known today, have become the main abode of the academic. Apart from the universities, academics are also found in several other higher institutions, as noted earlier. While the first generation of African academics was largely trained by Europeans in European institutions, the latter generations were trained in Western-styled institutions in Africa. It is therefore the case that most of those who parade themselves as African academics were products of a dominantly Western educational system and curriculum. This, it is argued, greatly influenced the nature of knowledge production and ultimately its relevance to the African reality. As would be demonstrated later, in their scholarship, they sought and still seek validation from the Western episteme and so engage in researches that receive accolades from the West, even if they are of no relevance to their immediate African society. Although knowledge production in contemporary Africa is not limited to academics in the university system, they represent a dominant percentage. By the intrinsic nature of Western education, it focuses first and foremost in engaging the realities in the West. African history informs us that the African experiences and realities are somewhat different. However, we acknowledge that as part of humanity, there are points of intersection in the realities of these two groups and indeed other groups of humans. Knowledge production must necessarily sprout from the immediate realities/environs from which the producer is domiciled. The packaging of Western education to Africa essentially reflected the Western experience. It was therefore the case that universities established during and after the colonial eras in Africa were pale reflections of what existed in the West.

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What was more interesting was the nature of their curricula for the various disciplines taught by these institutions. In the first place, the bulk of the academic staff of these institutions established during the colonial period was from the West. These academics, the harbingers of the contemporary African academic, therefore ­transferred from the West their curricula to the African universities. Even the few African academics amongst them were thoroughly Europeanised. The history of the universities of Ibadan, Legon, Makerere and Fourabay best exemplifies the point being made here. For our purpose, I intend to thread along the very familiar path by drawing from the experience of the Ibadan School of History, which, at the peak of her intellectual reputation, had become an acceptable global brand. When the production and dissemination of historical knowledge began at the University of Ibadan, it was to train manpower for the colonial territory called Nigeria and other West African countries. Most of the academic staff were from Europe and, over time, merely spiced by a few Africans. The curriculum was derived from what existed in European universities. As a consequence, the curriculum, in the first five years, was such that all the students (virtually all Africans) in the history programme were taught European and British history. The closest encounter to African history was the history of European activities in Africa. It must be recognised that these academics, then at Ibadan, were merely reflecting and drawing from the Western corpus from which they were trained. They simply gave what they had. Unfortunately, what they had was not enough to address the African realities. African young men and women needed to know about the African experience down the ages and be able to establish a nexus with the contemporary African realities. Kenneth Dike and some of his colleagues at Ibadan provided the tonic with which to quench the thirst of African students and nationalists who needed to study African history from the periscope of Africans. Dike began what has come to be regarded as a revolution with the introduction of African history courses to the Ibadan history curriculum. This was a major feat to pull off in the University of Ibadan of the 1950s, especially at a time when the existence of the discipline of African history was still contentious. The Ibadan scholars persisted, and, over time, the character of the curriculum metamorphosed from the dominant European history bias to mainly one of Africa. The Ibadan model became a major export to other universities within and outside Nigeria. The point in emphasis is that the academics at the Ibadan School of History succeeded, through their intellectual engagements, in becoming

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very relevant to the societal needs of their time. In the struggle for independence, the nationalists digested and utilised the works of these academics as the ideological bastion with which to confront the colonialists. They were recognised globally as producers of knowledge that reflected the African perspective on subject matters that they studied. There was therefore a vibrant relationship between the town and the gown. The relevance of these academics was never in doubt. They were invited to the larger society to occupy various positions in government and in the academia. The fame of the department became global, and her academics attracted students and scholars from within and outside Nigeria. What the academics of Ibadan School of History brought to historical scholarship was focusing their research engagements on African themes by utilising new methodologies. Their efforts in this regard are best exemplified by the titles of their works under the Ibadan History Series, the Journal of the Historical Society of Nigeria and the Tarikh Series. In these works, they brought to bear a unique African perspective to all the subject matters that they interrogated. It was this that endeared them to the larger society and formed the fulcrum of their relevance. It needs to be pointed out that what was true of the academics in the history department was replicated in several other disciplines. The academics in the College of Medicine and in the departments of economics, chemistry, English, religious studies and so forth all blossomed as world-­ class scholars with enormous local relevance. The College of Medicine became a leading global centre of excellence in tropical medicine. As I have noted elsewhere, University of Ibadan attracted world-class scholars, the facility in Ibadan were of such world standard, that it could compete with any in the global arena. What is important is that as a citadel of learning, its achievements within the first twenty-five years of establishment made it a world class centre of excellence. The University’s scholars and graduates were sought after globally. With time, scholars and students thronged the University. This was indeed a testimony to the quality of scholarship that radiated from the famous school. The flame of scholarship did radiate from Ibadan to the global intellectual community. What was true of the academics in the Department of History was replicated in other fields of academe. Economics, Chemistry, English language, Classics and several other disciplines in the University became renowned. Within the first thirty years of its existence, it had produced world beaters in various fields of human endeavour. Amongst these were distinguished alumni such as Ade-Ajayi, Mabel Segun, Chinua

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Achebe, Wole Soyinka, J.P. Clark, Tekena Tamuno, Adiele Afigbo, Obaro Ikime, Bolaji Idowu, Bolanle Awe, Yoloye, Pai Obayan, Okon Uya and a plethora of others in the Sciences and the Social Sciences.

A good number of the first-generation universities in Nigeria followed the Ibadan model and attracted outstanding academics from all over the world. This era has been regarded as a golden one for the academic enterprise. Unfortunately, for several reasons, the successes of the academia never withstood the test of time. In less than three decades, they underwent substantial stresses and strains that undermined the quality of knowledge production and dissemination in the African continent.

Manifestations of the Crisis The crisis that afflicted various aspects of knowledge production in Africa and, by necessary implication, the universities, has received scholarly attention from Emmanuel Ayandele, Femi Osofisan, Niyi Osundare, Aduke Adebayo, CBN Ogbogbo and others. This is traceable to the introduction of Western education into the continent, the external environment, that is, the larger society in which the academia operates, and the internal developments within the universities. As would be shown later, a substantial aspect of the anti-intellectual environment that has adversely affected knowledge production and dissemination is self-inflicted. In concentrating majorly on the academic (the principal producers of knowledge) and the internal dynamics within the universities which represent the modern abode for knowledge production, our intention is to harken to the admonitions of Hountondji (1995) that ‘[i]f we do not go further than this diagnosis, we would be feeding that discourse of recrimination so familiar to Africa, by which we constantly tend to reject onto others the responsibility for all our misfortunes and misdeeds’. Our intention in this section is therefore to interrogate the role of the academic in the generation and the deepening of the crisis that has besieged knowledge production and dissemination in Africa. Without following the particular sequence of the factors that led to the crisis, it is important to note that the crisis began with the effort at indigenisation of the faculties at the wake of political independence. As the not-so-qualified became recruited into the exclusive club of the academe, the standards began to drop. Also, the transition from a colonial-styled

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university to one with local relevance was not achieved by most of the academics. Their works were aimed at being accepted by scholars in the West, and so sought to address concerns defined by the West. In the ­process, they increasingly lost local relevance. This was more evident in the sciences and technology disciplines. Also, with the harsh political and unsavoury economic environment that was aggravated by the incidence of military rule, scholars began to emigrate to other climes outside the African continent. The facilities in universities rapidly deteriorated, and the environment became unconducive for the production of quality knowledge. The degeneration that attended the very few universities was soon replicated in the very many new ones that were subsequently established. Their environment was uninspiring, and most of the academics were unable to produce world-­ class knowledge that would attract students from across the globe. While for the case of Nigeria it is easy to link the decline and crash of the academia to the domination of the political scene by the military, it is also true that the academia took measures that were to eventually undermine the intellectual environment within their universities. The lack of adequate finance meant that there was substantial flight of academics from universities in Africa to other climes. Other academics abandoned the academe to other more financially rewarding sectors of the economy. The point needs to be made that there were attempts to confront this decline and change the fortunes of the academics and the universities in Nigeria, but these were never sustained. The Academic Staff Union of Universities— the umbrella academic organisation from which the struggles to create an enabling university environment for the academic to flourish—over time, began to wobble and fumble. This situation persists. The greatest manifestation of the knowledge crisis within the academe is the fact that the universities ceased to be centres of excellence where merit is upheld as the most important variable in the appointment of members into faculty or administrative positions. As aptly captured by Eghagha (2018), Nigerian universities, and indeed most universities in the African continent, have become ethnic enclaves. The ethnicisation of the universities is very much evident at the level of the management staff, especially the office of the vice chancellor. A worse level of degeneracy is one in which the head of the institution is not just expected to be a citizen of the state where the university is located, but must be from the dominant ethnic group.

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Vacant positions are reserved for indigenes who are expected to be loyal to the authorities rather than the system. To perpetuate their dominance, academics now ensure that the most important criterion for recruitment of staff is the ethnic origin of the applicant rather than his/her intellectual stature cum qualification. This ugliness of ethnocentric considerations is now percolating to other positions such as deans of faculties, directors of centres and heads of departments. Worst still, very few institutions have a semblance of national character in their staff composition and even students’ population. As posited by Osundare (2007), the universe has long departed from the universities. Indeed, for some of the newer ones, the universe was never present in their universities. Thus, the exposure of their academics is largely local, and so is that of their students. The knowledge produced is simply the regurgitation of the ideas of other academics from the West, and these ideas often have limited applicability in the locale of the universities in Africa. Thus far, what seems to have emerged is that in all these distortions of the university environment where intellectual work is expected to flourish, the academic is the most culpable. In contemporary times, the universities have become welfare institutions where the unemployed are rehabilitated and jobless friends and relatives accommodated as administrators and other support staff. This explains why in most public universities the supporting non-academic staff are four times the number of academics. This is not only true of most public universities in Nigeria, but also of other tertiary institutions in the country. In these institutions, the buck stops at the feet of academics, and so they are to be held liable for the internal decay of their institutions. It is true that the academic is poorly motivated, lacks adequate facility to function and is increasingly unappreciated by the lager society. I, however, argue that the challenges are largely self-inflicted, and rather than confront and solve the challenges, the academic often migrates to other and better climes where they can ply their craft. When they remain, rather than join in sanitising the academe by ensuring that the checks instituted by government to guarantee that universities’ standards are maintained and upheld, they are largely culpable in frustrating efforts at accrediting courses and facilities in the universities. The universities, and by extension the academic, are supposed to be producers of the highest level of manpower. Yet, it is inexplicable that these societal eggheads are unable to provide clean water in adequate quantity for their community and the environs. Electricity remains a big challenge in spite of having professors of electrical engineering as mem-

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bers of the community. The professionals amongst the academe are unable to apply their skills directly to solve the problems that confront them as a community. For instance, Nigeria has had the challenge of building ­refineries to produce petroleum by-products. To date, there are no known, even if mere modular, refineries built and owned by universities; yet departments of petroleum engineering are dotted across universities in Africa in general and Nigeria in particular. The universities look up to contractors to carry out the basic maintenance of their facilities, such as street lights, buildings, machineries and roads. There is almost a total lack of the application of the academic’s knowledge and skill to solving problems within his/her university constituency. As Hountondji (1995) has pointed out, ‘virtually all the research equipment of the African academic is produced in the West and so the dependency on the West for knowledge production in the African continent continues’. Another dimension of the crisis is in the avenues through which knowledge generated by the African academic in Africa is disseminated. As noted earlier, a major avenue for knowledge dissemination is through publications in peer-reviewed journals and books. The emerging tendency of regarding publication outlets domiciled in the West as necessarily superior to those in the African continent mirrors another dimension of the crisis. It indicates a total lack of confidence in the integrity and ability of African academics to make objective assessments of the quality of knowledge produced by their colleagues. Indeed, it smacks of the subordination of the African episteme to the validation of the West. Increasingly, the African academic is regarded as a data collector for export to the West where such information will be processed, theorised upon and analysed. This is a manifestation of a symptom of dependency in knowledge production and dissemination in Africa on the West. It can, therefore, be argued that the African academic in Africa has not done much to shake off the Western domination of knowledge production and dissemination. Rather, by virtue of the promotion criteria for academics in the various universities, there seems to be an inadvertent policy of entrenching this domination of and dependency on the West. The more foreign outlets through which one is able to ventilate produced knowledge and the more fellowships and grants from the West that an academic attracts, the more validation his scholarship gets. The point needs to be made that academics occupy the decision-­making positions in the universities. They and their students are the most critical stakeholders in the business of knowledge production and dissemination. So, they are the administrators of the academe. Yet their priorities and

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decisions seem to validate the fact that they are no longer in tune with the essence of the academe. For, how can it be explained that in a system in which universities are underfunded, more resources are spent on acquiring new cars and gallivanting across the globe on flimsy assignments rather than on providing necessary laboratory equipment and funding researches. Instead of employing more academics in order to accommodate diverse research specialties, more messengers, ‘administrators’, drivers, finance officers and typists are employed in the computer age. The influx of European and Asian technicians as experts on roads, bridges, airports and several other construction sites across the continent is indicative of the failure of the kind of knowledge produced and disseminated in Africa. This reinforces the lack of relevance of the academic in the continent. Furthermore, part of how the academia regenerates itself is through the process of mentoring younger colleagues. Unfortunately, mentoring has become an excuse to practically shackle the mentees into slavery. Rather than encourage mentees to focus on their studies and researches, they become errand hands to their mentors. They engage in domestic chores and act as drivers and cooks. This desecration of academic culture has negatively impacted the academic environment where knowledge is produced. Also, in some institutions, there are frequent reports of academics trading off their revered examination scores for money and sex. It is true that this occurs elsewhere as well. However, amongst the academics elsewhere, it is not a rampant phenomenon. All these misdemeanours tend to undermine the African academic, pollute the environment from where he/she produces knowledge and undermine the ability to disseminate that which he/she has acquired through rigorous research. Clearly, the African academic has demonstrated not just an inadequacy, but also inability. They cannot give what they do not have. It is, therefore, not surprising that the larger society never looks up to them as a source of solution to their everyday existential challenges. It is now a case of the larger society influencing and solving the problems of the universities rather than vice versa—the tail wagging the dog.

Concluding Remarks The complicity of the African academic in the crisis of knowledge production and dissemination has not been exhaustively discussed. The crisis is a humongous one. But the academic in Africa and their unions must begin to confront the crisis by embarking on a self-assessment of their role in

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creating or aggravating the problems. The focus on the role of the ­academic in the crisis of knowledge production and dissemination in Africa is borne out of the conviction that there is a nexus between the state of underdevelopment and the knowledge crisis in the continent. It is partly the failure to address the development challenge that explains the frightening dimensions at which young African men and women desperately strive to embark on a second voluntary slavery in Europe through the Sahara Desert. The gory pictures emanating from Libya should send the average academic into researching how to improve the material conditions of their people to stem this phenomenon of suicidal migrations in the erroneous belief of searching for greener pastures. This development reflects the failure of most African states and also the quality of knowledge produced and transmitted by academics to the younger generation of Africans. The culpability of the African academic is in the failure to provide a panacea to the degenerating material conditions of existence in the continent. It is not uncommon to hear academics argue that their duty stops at the generation of ideas for societal development. I regard this position as shallow. In Africa, faced with the huge challenges of development, an academic must necessarily be an activist. She/he must see to the actualisation of his/her ideas. The academic must seek to bring positive change that will impact on, first, the immediate community and then the global space. Being relevant and impacting on society must necessarily go beyond the generation of ideas. Furthermore, the generation of ideas should include how such ideas would be implemented successfully. With regard to the issues of dependency of the African academic on the West, let me hasten to add that I have not advocated for a cut-off from the West, but to have a reassessment of the nature and basis of the relationship. As Irele (1982) has argued, the African academics are co-inheritors of the Western knowledge corpus which, in turn, partly derives from the African corpora. Senior academics must develop capacity to assess their colleagues and recommit themselves to publishing highly rated and globally acceptable journals. This was once achieved by scholars at the Ibadan School of History. The Journal of the Historical Society of Nigeria achieved this height within the first five years of its publication. Its reputation soared to a point that ranked amongst the leading journals of African history in the world. The academic unions need to be able to mobilise their membership to focus on ensuring compliance with the ethics of the academia in such a manner as to create the necessary conducive environment for knowledge production and dissemination in Africa.

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References Adebayo, A. (2005). Revisiting the academic tradition. Ibadan: Ibadan University Press. Eghagha, H. (2018, January 15). Ethnicisation of Nigerian universities. The Guardian. Hountondji, P. J. (1995). Producing knowledge in Africa today. African Studies Review, 38(3), 1–10. Irele, A. (1982). In praise of alienation. An Inaugural Lecture delivered on 22nd November at the University of Ibadan, Ibadan. Osundare, N. (2007). The universe in the university: A scholar-poet’s look from the inside out. Ibadan: Hope Publications.

CHAPTER 6

The Intelligentsia and the Crisis of Knowledge Production and Development in Nigeria Samuel Ojo Oloruntoba

Introduction The crisis of development in Nigeria remains an intractable one as poverty rate remains at an alarming rate of 61 percent (NBS, 2018). The World Bank (2018) notes that Nigeria has displaced India as the country with the highest rate of poverty. Whereas many development strategies have been embarked upon by the political elites over the past fifty-eight years of gaining political independence, the path to development remains as elusive as ever, as the proper meaning of what constitutes development is yet to be understood or correctly conceptualized by African leaders. As Ake (1996) argues, when African leaders talk about development, they do so as if they understand its meaning. Given this contradiction between practices and conceptual understanding, he concludes that development has not been on the agenda of African leaders. What has happened is uncritical

S. O. Oloruntoba (*) Thabo Mbeki African Leadership Institute, University of South Africa, Pretoria, South Africa Institute of African Studies, Carleton University, Ottawa, ON, Canada © The Author(s) 2020 S. O. Oloruntoba et al. (eds.), Indigenous Knowledge Systems and Development in Africa, https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-34304-0_6

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i­mportation of ideologies and strategies from elsewhere from the West. Ki-Zerbo (2005) extends this argument by locating the pursuit of development in Africa within the contradictions of zeal for change and inculcation of democratic values. He notes that many leaders in Africa became authoritarian by demanding that members of opposition follow their adopted strategies of development, by saying: silence, we are developing. In countries that have witnessed one level of development or the other, the role of the intelligentsia as the ‘engine room’ of idea, innovation and strategies for development has usually been clearly spelt out. Beyond such functional roles are other important interventions in the form of professional dissection of public policies, choices and decisions, such as debates, criticisms and offering of alternative models for societal transformation, in which the intellectuals are actively engaged. The intelligentsia, both in its broad sense and its categorizations in the Gramscian terminology, involving a broad section of the enlightened members of the society such as lawyers, doctors, journalists, engineers and members of the academia, was actively involved in the struggle for political independence from the 1920s to the 1960s in Africa. These intellectuals are expected to exercise hegemony through the production of ideas. As Bates (1975, p.  351) would argue, ‘the basic premise of the theory of hegemony is one with which few would disagree: that man is not ruled by force alone, but also by ideas’. They were also actively involved in the search for building a virile post-­ colonial modern society, with some participating in politics and others engaging in other public-spirited activities geared toward the improvement in the living conditions of the people. The writers, including Chinua Achebe, Wole Soyinka and others wrote enduring works such as A Man of the People, The Trouble with Nigeria and The Man Died and so onto explicate the political elites, their style of governance, convoluted values and the general polity. While this paper uses the intelligentsia in a specialized way to refer to the professional academics and their involvement in the development project in Nigeria, the role of other professionals, as mentioned earlier, is not less important. The intellectuals in Nigeria as well as in other countries in Africa were active in the project of nation building at various levels in the early years of independence. As Mkandawire (2005) observes in this regard, ‘progressive thoughts of intellectuals have been generally associated with concern for emancipation of the African continent and from the ravages of foreign domination and the building of a new Africa that would assume its rightful place in the comity of nations’. He further contends that ‘African

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­ ationalist involvement in the nationalist struggle was structurally pron grammed as a dialectic and antagonistic break with the realities, interest and values of the colonial rule’ (Mkandawire, 2005, p. 1). As it was with the aspirations of the nationalists at the continental level, so it was with their aspirations at the national level. The universities in Nigeria from the early 1960s to the 1980s deployed both theoretical and methodological arsenal to challenge, engage and, in certain instances, dismiss the imported epistemology in various disciplines. In this connection, the noted and famous Ibadan School of History, Ahmade Bello University (ABU), Zaria School of History and Ife School critically engaged historicizing the Nigerian condition within the context of the Africanist tradition of locating the peculiar condition of the people within the structural and functional factors that brought them into existence. These scholars dedicated their time to scholarly debate and interrogation of received notion and paradigms of development, especially those that are coming from Europe, which are usually laden with ethnic coloration. And as Jinadu (2002) contends, various scholars use their professional associations such as the Nigeria Political Science Association and Nigeria Economic Society to discuss burning issues of the day, engaging the authorities and proffering solutions to the intractable problems confronting the nation. But times have changed. Owing to what Zeleza (2002) refers to as a combination of external and internal forces, the intelligentsia as a social category has, with few exceptions, become increasingly endangered, marginalized, maligned, neglected, spurned and undermined in the development project in Nigeria. The cultural violence and the debasement of the value system, under which materialism and its hot pursuit has replaced appreciation of knowledge as an asset, have stripped the intelligentsia of its previous recognition respect and relevance. Against the backdrop of the increasing pre-­eminence of knowledge economy, which is one of the distinctive characteristics of the current era of globalization, what does this neglect of such a critical and otherwise essential organ of social change portend for the imperative of addressing the intractable crisis of development in Nigeria? Why has the intelligentsia become marginalized in policy-making in the country? What is responsible for the declining relevance of the intelligentsia in engagement with public issues? Given this stark reality and the danger that it portends, how far can Nigeria achieve her development potentials? This chapter examines these questions within the context of the crisis of development in Nigeria. It interrogates the nature and the character of the

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Nigerian state and the link between its peculiarity and the receding role of the intelligentsia in the country. After this introduction, Section ‘Conceptualizing the Intelligentsia’ explores the literature on the conceptual and functional meaning of the intelligentsia, broadly and specifically defined within the context of ideological and social differentiations—development and its attendant crisis in Nigeria. Section ‘External Factors and the Intellectuals in Nigeria’ examines the factors that have militated against the intelligentsia as a social category and how these factors have undermined their relevance, leading to what Ninalowo calls the ‘rupture’ in the ‘possibilities’ that the intellectuals hold for social change and societal transformation in Nigeria. Section ‘Agenda for the Intellectuals in the Development Project in Nigeria’ sets an agenda for the intellectuals to rediscover themselves, set in motion the process of restoring the lost relevance of the group, mobilize popular support and reengage the state as a complementary co-actor in the project of development, through effective communication of research outcomes, follow-up and monitoring. Despite the long, symbolic and declaratory stance of the state as an anti-intellectual establishment, this chapter contends that the current democratic space provides a unique opportunity for the intelligentsia to renew itself through selfaudit and develop a sense of appreciation of the enormous responsibility that is beholding to it as a privileged group, whose distinction is custodian of knowledge that can bring about solution to the multifarious problems of the Nigerian society. Section ‘Conclusion’ concludes with recommendations.

Conceptualizing the Intelligentsia The intelligentsia is made up of the crop of educated elites in any given society, ‘whose professional roles essentially embrace cerebral functions, e.g academics, lawyers, physicians, research scientists, etcetera’. This chapter focuses on the first mentioned category, the academics. These are people whose vocations are to conduct research, impart knowledge through teaching and engage in community service in the form of social, economic and political advocacy, geared toward the betterment of the society. This group of people is found in research institutes, universities and other institutions of higher learning. Beyond the conduct of their professional duties, intellectuals are also sometimes appointed by the state to act as advisers or consultants. Sometimes, they are also found in international organiza-

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tions. At the conceptual level, Anthonio Gramsci made a distinction between traditional and organic intellectuals, where the first category is regarded as superstructural functionaries who serve as the direct agent of the ruling elites (Gramsci, 1971). The second category, the organic intellectuals, includes those members of the intellectual social category, who, on account of ideological persuasion and orientation, align interests with those of the peasants and the poor masses of the people. As Abdel-Malek (1981) explains, organic intellectuals are ‘those groups in the society who accept the structural, organic, constitutive link between the needs and aims of different units in the real world (civilization, cultures, nations, classes, ideologies, philosophical schools, states, international movements) and are thus in a position to relate their findings and hypotheses in both science and moral philosophy to those needs and aims, for it is they who have primacy’. In his sociological analysis of the intellectuals as ideologically and class-­oriented driven elites, Agugua (2006, p. 317) sees the intellectuals as a ‘group, who by virtue of their profession or training and social position, tries to form an image of society, which transcends the ordinary day-today traditional approach, and therefore has a certain hypothetical task in their critique of the existing society and heralds a better one’. Indeed, as Tettey and Puplampu (2000) argue, universities in Africa have a great deal of intellectual capital which can be leveraged upon for the development of the continent. They contend that ‘like their counterparts elsewhere, the universities provide the repository for some of the best minds in individual countries’ (Tettey and Puplampu 2000, p. 82). However, the full utilization of this intellectual capital in the development project is a function of how the internal dynamics within the academia itself are managed, and how the academia conceptualize the problem of development, formulate research questions, employ appropriate methodology and communicate their research output to the political elites in the country. Academics occupy a central position which enables them to shape the culture of the civil society. As elites, the intelligentsia acts as the bearer of dynamism and social change in the society. However, their ability to effectively act as agents of change has been affected by the fluidity, incoherence and conflicts of their interests. As Mannheim (1956) argues, the intellectuals have undermined their status, recognition and importance in the modern society because of their inability to forge a common interest. At various times, academics have been found on different sides of the power

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elite, either serving to bring a positive change to the society or aiding and supporting despotic and authoritarian rulers. Development is the transition from one stage of low quality of life to a higher stage of existence in terms of material conditions, social relevance, access to justice and freedom to express oneself without fear of being molested. It connotes security and enhancement of capability in terms of income and freedom from poverty (Sen, 2001). The crisis of development in Nigeria manifests in various forms. It shows in the failure of institutions, leadership, massive poverty, inequality, conflicts and political instability. The hope that the average Nigerian had at the time of independence in 1960 has become forlorn, as what they hoped for remains largely unmet (Ihornvbere, 1993). Despite the huge revenue inflows from oil, Nigeria remains one of the low development countries in the world (UNDP, 2017). Increasingly, there are concerns that the quality of education is fast declining. But the most critical problem of development, which is the concern of this paper, is the lack of freedom or lack of adequate social consciousness among the intelligentsia to pursue their manifest destiny which involves, among other things, setting agenda for development in the country and having the courage to, as it were, speak truth to power. As Jinadu (2013) laments, there has been a gradual and consistent decline in academic culture, part of which is speaking truth to power. The feeling of absence of the positive influence of intellectuals in the political arena was so strong that, in 2009, the following question was asked, rather whimsically, by one of the leading lights of Nigerian scholars in the diaspora that ‘Where are the Yaradu’a intellectuals?’ Perhaps, one can say, with some conjectures that the absence of critical intellectuals in the arena of public policy has contributed to the crisis of development in the country. Although it can be argued that over the years, Nigeria has had sprinkles of intellectuals appointed as ministers, advisers and heads of various institutions in the country, and with very few exceptions, the performance of such intellectuals has not been particularly inspiring because of deformed societal values that have made it difficult, if not impossible, to act in consonance with the creed of their profession. Most times, they end up disappointing the academic constituency, which they represent, through acquiescence to the culture of primitive accumulation and subservience to the pressures of satisfying primordial interests. While it may be necessary to differentiate between traditional and organic intellectuals, given the Gramscian typology mentioned earlier, our

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major concern is the extent to which the intelligentsia have been able to define their mission of being the vanguard of change in the society. The intelligentsia exists in the society, and they are affected in one way or the other by the internal contradictions within the society. For instance, the introduction of the structural adjustment program of the 1980s, and the disarticulations that it caused in the economy led to the mass exodus of members of the academic community. In the years that follow, a combination of factors, which range from preoccupation with survival, fear and the need to be politically correct, has kept many otherwise vibrant academics from engaging in public discourse. In what follows, the factors that have led to the systematic decimation of the intellectuals in Nigeria, as elsewhere in Africa, are put into analytical perspectives. While scholars such as Zeleza (2002) and Mkandawire (2005) dwell so much on the external factors that more or less emasculated the intellectuals in Africa, this paper will reverse this order by first examining the internal factors, that is, the internal contradictions in the academia, which manifest in lack of coherent interests and values, deliberate acquiescence to societal malaise such as maladministration, high-­handedness, corruption, sexual abuse, fear, loss of dignity as evidenced in mental genuflection to the powers that be (for pecuniary gains), sheer laziness or indifference to knowledge production, which results in waiting for ideas or theories of development to be introduced by the academics in the global north before reacting and other vices. The need to examine the internal factors that have hindered and still hinder the intellectuals in Nigeria from making meaningful contributions to tackling the crisis of development is underscored very vividly in the words of Mannheim (1956, p. 102): ‘the pundit’s faith in his own mission however, lasts only so long as he holds the key to the secrets of the universe, so long as he is the thinking organ of other strata’. Consequently, to the extent that the intellectuals in Nigeria lack an appreciation of the role that has been bequeathed on them by the reason of the vast knowledge that they have acquired through many years of study, to the extent that their thoughts have not been properly and forcefully communicated to the political elites, to the extent to which they uncritically legitimize through adoption of knowledge produced elsewhere, to such extent is the current level of rebuff and scorn to which they are being subjected.

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Intellectuals in Nigeria and the Problems Within The intellectuals in Nigeria have contributed to the factors that have gradually forced them into oblivion and irrelevance over the past few years. Apart from their inability to forge a common front to advance their collective interest, as argued by Mannheim (1956), they have allowed various avoidable in-fighting, ethnic considerations in appointment, promotion and dispensing of patronage to undermine their professional dignity. As Zeleza (2002, p. 9) argues academics themselves shoulder some of the blame for the erosion of academic freedom. Besotted by opportunism, careerism, parochialism, factionalism and ideological intolerance, academics have often weakened their collective defence against state assault and by defining academics in a narrow and elitist term as a professional right unencumbered by social responsibility, they forfeit popular support.

Besides, many of the people that are regarded as intellectuals today are, at best, misfits whose only allegiance to the academia is the economic survival it provides. Lacking in passion and ability for research, such category of academics indulges in all manner of frivolities in the name of academic endeavors. While the recruitment process of academics has, in many instances, been severely compromised, because of tribalism and patron-­ client relationship, senior academics in position of authority such as heads of departments, deans, provosts and vice chancellors have perfected the art of subverting extant rules for promotion. In certain instances, qualified and competent staffs are left without being promoted, while those people with less than average credentials are promoted. What matters to many of those who hold position of power in the universities is not the intellectual outputs of staff, in terms of rigorous research, but the ability to pay homage and run errands. In this regard, the governance structure has been grossly affected by institutional weaknesses. Authoritarian tendencies that are pre-eminent characteristic of the state also manifest in the universities, as academic administrators are usually high-handed, without entertaining dissenting voices. Mismanagement of resources, which bordered on corruption, is also not uncommon in tertiary institutions in Nigeria. The once cherished culture of debate and ideological disagreements among academics, from which innovative ideas for social change can emerge, is fast being replaced by monotonous and pulpit-like dissemination of information, to which everyone must comply. Given the high stake of e­ conomic

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interests and power that are involved, it appears that it is the only safe way to go. Another internal factor that has undermined the influence and the relevance of the intellectuals in Nigeria today is fear. While some old guards among the academics still maintain their radical bent by speaking truth to power both at the university and national levels, the prevailing atmosphere, even among colleagues, especially between the old and junior ones, is that of paralyzing fear akin to military formations. To paraphrase Wole Soyinka’s (1988) classic memoir, The Man Died, the manhood of many have died in majority of today’s generation of intellectuals, as they have patently failed in their responsibility to speak up against oppression and injustice. The influence of the society in terms of crass pursuit for materialism, ostentation and vaunting display of wealth looms large in the academia. Contrary to the symbolic Spartan lifestyles of older generations of academics, which of course gave them clarity of voice, many academics of today are vigorously competing with the blue-eyed business elites in the town on the choice of cars that they ride. The need to meet up with such societal expectations has also made private consultancy a priority and constant pursuit of an average academic in Nigeria. The extent to which this affects their commitment to the core component of their vocation that is teaching, research and community service, is better left unsaid. Although consulting can be regarded as a form of community engagement, it becomes problematic when this takes more attention and the time of the academic concerned. The relevance of the academics then can only be resuscitated when they heed that timeless admonition: ‘Physician, heal thyself’.

External Factors and the Intellectuals in Nigeria It has been established by scholars that the noble aspiration that informed the nationalist movements was soon replaced by personal ambition of the post-independence political elites in Africa (Ake, 1996; Mkandawire, 2005). The need to accelerate the development project was seen as a justification for one-party states. While some African leaders joined forces with the intellectuals to wrest power from the colonialists, they became suspicious of the intellectuals when they acquired political power. The state, especially under the military rule, became excessively authoritarian and oppressive. Many of the governments in Nigeria, especially during the military regime of Olusegun Obasanjo, waged a war against the radical

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elements in the nations’ ivory towers. As Joseph (1978) argues, many academics lost their jobs for holding radical and anti-government views during the Obasanjo military regime in 1978. Apart from taking such drastic measures, successful governments also starved the educational sector of funds, especially at the tertiary level, as budgetary allocation became lower on a successive basis. Many bright academics who could not bear the deliberate hardship inflicted on them, coupled with incessant threats to their lives by the state apparatus of repression, left the country in droves, thereby creating huge capacity problems in terms of original research, supervision and transfer of the culture of the academia to the younger ones. The brain drain in this important sector remains a sore point even today (Gopalkrishna & Oloruntoba, 2013). As a post-colonial state, Nigeria continues to spend a fortune on the so-called experts from the West, especially from the Bretton Wood Institutions, while neglecting the intellectuals at home. Where local intellectuals are consulted at all, their ideas on how to move the country forward never get implemented. The political elites prefer to listen and adopt the so-called expert advice from consultants and academics from the global north. Those advices are often bereft of knowledge of the local realities of the people, who will be affected by the advice. As Agugua (2006) quips, Nigerian leaders tune their ears when ‘experts’ from the global north talk, while paying scant, if any, attention to even more sound and relevant advice by intellectuals at home. The virulent attack of the World Bank against universities in Nigeria is another major external factor that undermines the intellectuals in the country. The World Bank’s position is that university education is not the priority of the country. Rather, efforts should be focused on primary education, which, according to this institution, has more direct bearing on development. The effects of this on the educational sector were captured in Mamdani’s book, Scholars in the Market Place (Mamdani, 2007). With the particular situation in Uganda, the author lamented the destruction of the values of intellectualism, while making room for commercialization of academic programs. The failure of the government to provide enough funding for research created a unique opportunity for the World Bank to occupy the academic space through donation of ideologically laden books and provision of grants for research. Most times, they determine the outcomes of such research, thereby making them unsuitable for policy in the local environment.

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Agenda for the Intellectuals in the Development Project in Nigeria In setting agenda for the intelligentsia in the development project in Nigeria, it is pertinent to restate Ake’s position on the pre-eminence of indigenous knowledge production. He contends thus, ‘It is becoming increasingly clear that we cannot overcome our underdevelopment and dependence unless we try to understand the imperialist character of Western social science and to exorcise the attitudes of mind, which it inculcates’ (Ake, 1979). Ake’s argument that our political elites neither understand development nor has agenda for one (Ake, 1996), should stir the intelligentsia to urgently seek a solution to the intractable problem of development in the country. The starting point for tackling the problem of development at the intellectual level in Africa is through decolonization of knowledge production in Africa, and Nigeria in particular (Oloruntoba, 2014, 2015). The academia has a sacred responsibility to now initiate a process that identifies, develops and adapts indigenous knowledge to the task of development. Such decolonization process will involve epistemological and methodological deconstruction. Secondly, African intellectuals must purge themselves of the current internal contradictions that define their existence, some of which have been mentioned earlier. Having done this, a virile project of knowledge production that is centered on meeting the needs of the people must be embarked upon. Even though such knowledge may not be consistent with the dominant orthodox ideas, to the extent that they are relevant to our environment, they should be pursued. As Mafeje (2000) argues, all knowledge is first local, but if that knowledge is authentic, its relevance will not be lost on the world; see also (Adesina, 2008). Thirdly, academics in Nigeria, as in much of Africa, have been reactive, rather than responsive, to the global politics of knowledge production. Rather than wait and allow Africanists from the global north to throw theories and ideas to intellectuals in Africa, the latter must now anticipate and preempt such and develop or build on existing, indigenous epistemology of development on the continent. Fourthly, research outcomes must be communicated to the leaders in the language that they can understand and in symbols that they can relate to. In this regard, the previous failure of the academics to capture the minds of the political leaders was vividly narrated by Zeleza (1997, p. 17):

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A lot of academic writing today, with its convoluted jargons, amount to secret chants comprehensible only to members of the disciplinary or thematic cult: it is often inspired not by burning social and political questions of the day but by scholastic squabbles of self-indulgent intellectual angst…. academics who talk only to and about themselves should not be surprised if the public suddenly find them irrelevant and withdraw its pecuniary and political support.

The import of this statement is that to be relevant in addressing the problems of development, academics must carry out research that is useful and understandable to the end users, in this case, the government. Fifth, it is also the duty of the intellectuals to raise the political and social consciousness of the people, especially the students. The current state of inertia, ignorance, passivity and distractions from the students in higher institutions is worrisome. Unlike in the 1980s and the mid-1990s, student union activism has been unduly circumscribed by university administrators. Although they have done this to ensure a crisis-free academic program, the damage that they are doing to the students in terms of denial of opportunity to develop their leadership potential and imbibe political culture through political socialization is incalculable. Lastly, the Academic Staff Union of Nigerian Universities (ASUU) has a role to play in restoring the values of academic rigor among the intellectuals in Nigeria. Since 1978, the Union has been at the vanguard of forcing the government to pay more attention to the higher education sector through funding. The Union has succeeded to some level, in getting more shares of the national resources to its members. However, the Union needs to do more to put in place policies that will ensure that the ongoing contradictions within the rank and files of its members are resolved in the interests of adding more value to the country. A sifting system must be put in place to ensure that only the best minds are hired to teach and conduct research in Nigerian universities. The Union also needs to play more constructive roles in the appointment of university administrators, especially the vice chancellors. The politicization of appointments of vice chancellors has done more harm than good in the Nigerian university system. The ASUU should also play more critical roles in ensuring inbreeding, in which recruitment of lecturers is mainly done based on catchment areas, ethnicity and former students.

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Contemporary Intelligentsia and the Challenge from Old Nationalists Professor Toyin Falola, the guest speaker for the 2012 Obafemi Awolowo Foundation lecture, made a statement to the end that Chief Obafemi Awolowo wrote more books on Nigerian politics than the professors of political science in the country. Nationalists like Nnamdi Azikiwe also articulated ideas for development. This should be a challenge to the academics in the country. There are issues that are pertinent and burning enough to attract scholarly attention in the country. Like Awolowo and other nationalists did, intellectuals in Nigeria should fashion out workable political and economic ideologies that are conversant with the peculiar situation of the country rather than always copying from political systems, whose history in terms of state formation, institutions and cultures is markedly different. This is very important against the backdrop of the type of political parties, which are operating without any clear-cut ideology today. If Awolowo was a political cum intellectual activist, Nigeria needs more scholar activists in the likes of Wole Soyinka, Sam Aluko, Eskor Toyo, Dipo Fashina, Mahmud Turkur, Eme Awa and others, who will put the powers that be on their toes, pointing out their weaknesses and providing them with alternative strategies to development.

Conclusion The chapter has examined the intelligentsia and the crisis of development in Nigeria. It is premised on the argument that the intelligentsia consists of a broad section of the elites in the country and that they all have a role to play in rescuing Nigeria from the current developmental challenges—a role that they have not played well over the years. The analysis was based on the professional intellectuals, who work in the academia, who on account of their broad and specialized knowledge ought to set the agenda for development. They should bear the light of knowledge through generation of ideas that could lead to the transformation of the country. While the intellectuals played some salutary roles in the period after independence, they have been emasculated due to internal and external forces. As the search for a workable development model continues, academics have both moral and professional duties to deconstruct and decolonize the current model of knowledge production, taking into cognizance the local peculiarities of the country. It is also expedient for them to engage

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the state and its agents in debates that can bring about ideas for development. The Academic Staff Union of Universities (ASUU) has a role to play in stemming the rot in the academia by ensuring that erring academic staff is dealt with according to extant laws. This association should also engage in setting research agenda for its members and engage the state constructively on issues that hinder the development of the country. Rather than engaging in unholy alliances with the managements of the various universities in the country, they should ensure that universities are run according to rules, which are regular, standard and consistent with the desire for academic excellence. The current trend in some universities of changing the rules of promotion at-will should be resisted, and in its place, predictable criteria for promotion should be set. Lastly, as other countries such as Ghana and South Africa, Nigerian universities should form partnership with the country’s academia in the diaspora to help build capacity for research and learning.

References Abdel-Malek, A. (1981). Social dialectics nation and revolution. New  York: New York Press. Adesina, J. (2008). Archie Mafeje and the pursuit of endogeny: Against alterity and extroversion. Africa Development, XXX111(4), 133–152. Agugua, A. (2006). Receding academia and implications for national development. In F. Oyekanmi & N. Nwabueze (Eds.), Education and regeneration of traditional values in Nigeria (pp. 312–333). Lagos: Printserve Limited. Ake, C. (1979). Social science as imperialism. The theory of political development. Ibadan: Ibadan University Press. Ake, C. (1996). Democracy and development in Africa. Dakar, Senegal: CODESRIA. Bates, T. (1975, April–June). Gramsci and the theory of hegemony. Journal of the History of Ideas, 36(2), 351–366. Gopalkrishna S., & Oloruntoba, S.  O (2013). The political economy of forced migration in the millennium. Pattern, problems and prospects. Irinkerindo Journal of Migration. Central University of New York, USA. Gramsci, A. (1971). Selections from the prison notebooks (H. Quitin, & G. I. Smith, Ed.). New York: International Press. Ihornvbere, J. (1993). Economic crisis, structural adjustment and social crisis in Nigeria. World Development, 21(1), 141–153. Jinadu, L. J. (2002). AAPS: African political science and globalisation: Which way forward. African Journal of Political Science, 2, 1–10. Jinadu, A. (2013). Intellectuals and national development. Distinguished Personality Lecture organized by the Department of Sociology, University of Lagos, 18 June.

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Joseph, R. (1978). Political parties and ideology in Nigeria. The Review of African Political Economy, 5(13), 78–90. Ki-Zerbo, J. (2005). Pan Africanism and intellectuals: Rise, decline and revival. In T.  Mkandawire (Ed.), Africa in the new millennium. Dakar, Senegal: CODESRIA, in association with Zed Books, London. Mafeje, A. (2000). Africanity: A combative ontology. CODESRIA Bulletin, 1 , 66–71. Mamdani, M. (2007). Scholars in market place. The dilemma of neo-liberal reform at Makerere University: 1989–2005. Dakar: CODESRIA. Mannheim, K. (1956). Essays on the sociology of culture. London: Routledge and Kegan Paul Ltd. Mkandawire, T. (2005). African Intellectuals: Rethinking politics, language, gender and development. In T. Mkandawire (Ed.), Africa in the new millennium. Dakar, Senegal: CODESRIA, in association with Zed Books, London. National Bureau of Statistics (NBS). (2018). Poverty in Nigeria. Abuja: National Bureau of Statistics. Oloruntoba, S.  O. (2014). Social science as dependency: State apathy and the crisis of knowledge production in Nigerian Universities. Social Dynamics, 40(3), 338–352. Oloruntoba, S. (2015). Pan Africanism, knowledge production and the third liberation of Africa. International Journal of African Renaissance Studies, 10, 7–24. Sen, A. (2001). Development as freedom. Oxford: Oxford University Press. Soyinka, W. (1988). The man died: The prison notes of Wole Soyinka. London: Noonday Press. Tettey, W., & Puplampu, K. (2000). Social science research and the Africanist: The need for intellectual and attitudinal reconfiguration. African Studies Review, 43(3), 81–102. United Nations Development Programme. (2017). Human development report. New York: UNDP. World Bank. (2018). World Development Report. Washington DC: World Bank. Zeleza, P. (1997). Academic freedom in the North and South: An African perspective. Academe, 83(6), 16–21. Zeleza, P. (2002). The politics of historical and social science research in Africa. Journal of Southern African Studies, 28, 9–23.

CHAPTER 7

Pan-African Doctoral Schools and Knowledge Production in Africa: Experiences, Issues, and Testimonials of Participants Blessing Nonye Onyima

Introduction This discourse is about knowledge production in Africa and/or African knowledge production; there is need to bring to fore the role of often underrepresented, unnoticed, and marginal actors and contributors to the African knowledge economy. These actors are doctoral academies and summer schools; they have, over time, built the capacity of participants through intermittent but intensive knowledge creation and management programs which they organize biannually. They also play remedial, complementary, supplementary, and career advancement roles and have shown to have significant beneficial effects on the educational progress of participants (Cooper, Charlton, Valentine, & Mulenbruck, 2000). Knowledge production and management is a multidimensional concept (Alavi & Leidner, 1999). It therefore can be conceptualized for the purpose of this

B. N. Onyima (*) Nnamdi Azikiwe University, Awka, Nigeria e-mail: [email protected] © The Author(s) 2020 S. O. Oloruntoba et al. (eds.), Indigenous Knowledge Systems and Development in Africa, https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-34304-0_7

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chapter as all that can be known, information in the mind, creation and transmission of information, general and specific information, and learning through experience or study, and its sustenance for efficient and effective utilization. Knowledge management is defined as a process of applying a systematic approach to the capture, structure, and dissemination of knowledge in order to perform faster, reuse best practices, and reduce cost (Dalkir, 2005). Knowledge management is a deliberate and systematic coordination which is achieved through creating, sharing, and applying knowledge. It has attracted a lot of scholarly attention and perspectives from different fields, and existing concerns among numerous others revolve around the challenges of knowledge production in the social sciences (Arowosegbe, 2008b; Starbuck, 2006): theories of knowledge (Dicker, 2004; Ghassib, 2012; Gunter, 2013), models of knowledge and people-focused management (Wiig, 1993, 2004; Wiley & Hedlund, 2010), and states of knowledge (Jasanoff, 2004). Others who are culturally oriented like in anthropology have critically examined issues surrounding indigenous knowledge production and its transformation, decolonizing knowledge (Arowosegbe, 2008a; Diversi & Moreira, 2009; Ellen & Harris, 2005; Jacobs-huey, 2010; Musharbash & Barber, 2011), among so many others. Why should an anthropologist like this author be interested in knowledge production, particularly tacit knowledge? The critical role of tacit knowledge is important for anthropologists to understand for some reasons. ‘First, Anthropology is characteristically occupied with the tacit—that which we reveal and render explicit through critical inquiry and ethnography, (Elyachar, 2012, p. 77). Second, ethnography remains one of the ways to extract and elicit detailed and in-depth knowledge about anything in the world. Africans are therefore showing concern about knowledge production within the continent, its contents, and quality of the kinds of knowledge produced and who produces it. Knowledge is critical for creating intellectual competitiveness within the global research economy. However, the mode of production, management and pattern of updating knowledge in Africa is essential for sustained competitiveness. It also goes a long way in shaping and determining the status of countries in different continents, like Africa, in the global knowledge economy. Universities play an important role in the upstream generation, transformation, and dissemination of knowledge (Sijde & Groen in Oakey, Groen, Cook, & Sijde, 2009); doctoral academies and summer schools, on the other hand, play a complementary or supporting role in the downstream exploitation of knowledge, acquisition, and application.

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There are few existing doctoral academies or summer schools in Africa engaged in knowledge production. These doctoral academies operate intermittently but very intensive doctoral academies and summer schools in Africa. These academies are an attempt by their organizers to tap into the experiential tacit knowledge of established scholars and research experts as well as into concretized (explicit) knowledge to benefit emerging next generation of African scholars. They do this by creating platforms and providing up-to-date knowledge and skills, particularly in non-traditional areas of research. However, it is pertinent to note that some African universities ‘lack the capacity’ and paraphernalia to constantly update tacit knowledge of scholars. Many also lack the capacity to improve some redundant and decrepit curriculum with emerging or smart innovative knowledge in order to empower doctoral candidates and their supervisors. This should be to ensure they use some globally existing contemporary non-traditional research techniques. This redundancy also affects some lecturers, supervisors, institutions, and residents in Africa who, for many reasons, lack the requisite up-to-date expertise, skills, and technology for competitiveness. The struggle between supervisors and students related to uncertainty and confusion has often been reported (Malfroy, 2005, 2007). They as such may not also be up-to-date on the constantly emerging modern contemporary research techniques, skills, and technologies necessary for smart researches. For instance, ‘widespread international attention has recently been given to the development of technologies to facilitate new ways of doing science or smart research’ (Hine, 2006, p. viii). Those with these current research technologies and skills are few in the continent and, in some cases, often unavailable, inaccessible, and unaffordable to so many lecturers/researchers, institutions, and universities in Africa. These and more are reasons for the emergence of summer schools and pan-African doctoral academies, which exist to fill this gap. Some of these doctoral summer schools have also incorporated ‘training the trainers’ programs as part of their focus, while some others concentrate on empowering doctoral candidates with the right contemporary research skills and capacity. The few existing doctoral academies and summer schools in Africa have risen to the challenge in order to fill this gap of providing support and capacity-building through the use of established scholars and research experts. Following from this, neophyte researchers, early-career scholars, and doctoral candidates need more awareness about their existence and role in order to tap the capacity-building that the doctoral academies’ programs

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provide. However, the reality is that these academies are expensive and unaffordable to target participants. One cannot, however, choose ignorance because knowledge is expensive. The way out of the quagmire may be for organizers and participants to search for sponsors, scholarship, grants, or volunteer experts who are ready to offer knowledge for free. Stakeholders are expected to do this, if not for anything, at least for the joy of sharing knowledge; however, some scholars have asked the question: what if there is no knowledge to share (Britz, 2007)? Dalkir (2005), however, earlier observed that knowledge is abundant, the use of knowledge does not consume it, transferal of knowledge does not result in losing it, but that the ability to use it is scarce. This chapter, therefore, employs a case study approach in selecting a few doctoral academies and summer schools to explore their roles in knowledge production from the perspectives of participants. The most prominent existing ones within the African continent were examined here as case studies. These academies come in diverse nomenclature such as the University of Ghana Pan-African Doctoral Academy (UGPADA, also known as PADA) and the African Doctoral Academy University of Stellenbosch (ADA). It is important to point out that both academies were initiated by their host universities and both are sponsored by Carnegie Corporation. Participation in these intensive research trainings is partly or fully self-funded by individual doctoral candidates and participants. This chapter, therefore, focuses on highlighting the role and contributions of these two purposively selected academies in supporting knowledge production in Africa via increasing the number and the quality of doctoral graduates, mainly in southern Africa, western Africa, and elsewhere in the continent. The author being one of the participants aims to achieve this by focusing on the experiences, issues, and testimonials from participants and alumni of these summer and winter schools. It is important to note that these academies are similar in scope, content, target participants, time for training, sponsors, mission, and focus; however, they differ in a few ways, particularly in  location, anchor persons, regional coverage, quality of accommodation, and participation costs, as discussed in the following sections.

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The African Doctoral Academy University of Stellenbosch The African Doctoral Academy (ADA) began in 2009, and it is situated at the Africa Centre for Scholarship at Stellenbosch University, South Africa. It coordinates and strengthens excellence in doctoral education and higher education and research at Stellenbosch University (SU) and across the African continent through bilateral and multilateral partnership and maintenance of academic networks. The ADA is a biannual, two-week-long doctoral school, which offers courses every year in summer (January) and in winter (June–July) and it focuses on high-impact research and methodology training. Participants attend these schools from all over South Africa and Africa. The academy is open to doctoral candidates and their supervisors and researchers in general. The multidisciplinary training courses focus on broad preparatory steps and concepts, introductory and advanced research designs and methods, and analytical techniques and practical applications (using SPSS, R and ATLAS.ti). Other areas of concentration include preparing for a research career, publishing articles, and training in doctoral supervision. Each of the two weeks offers a number of workshops occurring concurrently and offers an intense and concentrated training opportunity by experts in different fields. ADA collaborates with other universities in Africa in the form of joint doctoral schools at Makerere University (Uganda), the University of Malawi, the University of Namibia, and the University of Ghana, with funding from the Carnegie Corporation of New York since 2016. However, participation in ADA is self-funded through tuition fees and course material paid by participants, ranging from R970 for a one-day course to R7600 for all courses, excluding accommodation and transportation. The fee per week includes the workshop tuition and class materials (ranging from R350–R600), Wi-Fi Internet, refreshments (no lunch), conference pack, free access to the extracurricular courses, and the social evening braai. Participants are advised to try for funding from their home institutions if they need a scholarship to attend, because there is limited funding. This is a critical issue that needs serious attention if their complementary roles as critical academies and summer schools are to be sustained to continue in knowledge production in Africa. This is almost the same in the Pan-African Doctoral Academy (PADA).

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The Pan-African Doctoral Academy University of Ghana The Pan-African Doctoral Academy (PADA) began in 2015, with the author as one of the pioneer participants; it is located at the University of Ghana. The two-week intensive academy supports doctoral students and early-career faculties with training, mentoring, career guidance, and scholarship. PADA schools take place in January and June–July and are accessible to registered PhD students from the University of Ghana and other African universities. The goal of PADA is to expand the quality of PhD education in West Africa through the provision of complementary skills that are significant for the career progression of doctoral students and new PhD holders. PADA offers targeted courses on specialized topics and interdisciplinary and cross-cultural learning. PADA schools combine lectures that are interactive in nature with practical sessions, facilitated by experienced experts. Since its inception, PADA has trained over 600 alumni from 15 institutions and 7 countries. The PADA training modules also take a multidisciplinary approach involving the following: communicating research results, innovative thinking in teaching and learning, managing the PhD process, including literature review, quantitative techniques using SPSS, leadership skills and career development for the emerging scholar, presentation skills, qualitative research methodology and use of NVivo for data management, statistics for social sciences, and use of selected computer packages for research data analysis—‘R’ among others. To participate, one needs to pay around hundred dollars, which includes accommodation and lunch. Following from the aforementioned, these academies produce non-­ traditional knowledge, but knowledge creation and management within the African continent require conscientious efforts and attention of established scholars, corporate organizations, among others, if Africa must confront its research and developmental challenges appropriately. Again, the production of knowledge that is relevant to the social and economic needs of the African continent is dependent on the approaches employed by the continent in building, holding, and applying both tacit and explicit knowledge, as espoused by Wiig (1993).

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Analytical Framework Wiig’s Knowledge Production and Management Model Wiig’s (1993) framework is one of the major approaches to knowledge production and management, and it provides the trajectories to building, holding, pooling, and applying valuable knowledge asset. Knowledge skills exist within the ‘human knowers’ (tacit knowledge) and in tangible/ concretized forms (explicit knowledge) which can be tapped individually or collectively for working smart. Engaging in smarter researches implies that one must approach one’s research responsibilities with greater expertise, and this can only be possible with the acquisition of relevant and high-quality knowledge which one can apply in different ways (Dalkir, 2005). However, how can one acquire high-quality knowledge if the platforms for such acquisitions do not exist? In Africa, only a few doctoral academies and summer schools exist to fill this gap, particularly with focus on updating scholars with emerging research skills and on non-traditional areas of knowledge often absent in university curriculum. Wiig’s KM schemata address how knowledge is built and used in individuals or in institutions through four major steps: 1. 2. 3. 4.

Building knowledge Holding knowledge Pooling knowledge Applying knowledge

These steps are presented independently and sequentially but can be performed in parallel with earlier stages and can also be repeated in a cyclic mode (Dalkir, 2005). This implies that renewal, updating, and reconstruction of existing knowledge are possible. Building knowledge entails obtaining, analyzing, reconstructing, codifying, or assembling knowledge in a coherent manner and organizing knowledge in usable categories. Knowledge can be built from personal experience, formal education or training, peers, and intelligence from all sources. Knowledge creation may take place through innovations by individuals to improve the way they perform their tasks, experimentation, reasoning with existing knowledge, and hiring of new people (K. Wiig, 1993). Knowledge may also be created through knowledge importation—eliciting knowledge from experts and by observing the real world. Dalkir (2005, p.  41) asserts that holding

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knowledge entails remembering, accumulating knowledge in repositories, embedding knowledge in repositories, and archiving knowledge which are often in form of tacit knowledge or intellectual property. Pooling knowledge involves team work or focus groups interested in coordinating, assembling, and accessing and retrieving knowledge. This essentially is what pan-African doctoral academies are currently doing. They are currently pooling together tacit knowledge from research experts all over the world, with a target to building and imparting PhD candidates and early-­ career scholars for future next-generation African scholars. Finally, knowledge can be applied for routine and standard research tasks, and this is shown in improved journal article publications, writing skills, presentation skills, and smart utilization of contemporary research tools and data processing software.

Methods This chapter employs the case study approach and purposive sampling in selecting two doctoral academies for in-depth analysis of the experiences of the participants. Following informed consent obtained from twenty-­ one participants who agreed to participate in the study after assuring them confidentiality and anonymity, the author collected the data from alumni and former participants/colleagues who were participants in 2015 and 2016 for the Pan-African Doctoral Academy (PADA). The chapter explores the experiences, issues, and testimonials from PADA (West Africa) and from other similar doctoral academies elsewhere (South Africa). A search on the Internet revealed another prominent and vibrant African Doctoral Academy (ADA) hosted by University of Stellenbosch. It met the criteria for its similar target for PhD candidates and early-career scholars and its focus on complementary ‘high impact research design and methodology training, as well as options in academic preparedness and career development’. The participants from UGPADA were contacted via the two PADA WhatsApp groups for 2015 and 2016 (mainly the leadership group) to which the author belongs to. On the other hand, consent was sought from ADA via their email contact to use the few testimonials from their participants available on their website. Majority of the PADA WhatsApp group members indicated interest to participate in the study when contacted individually, but opted out because they were busy; only eleven gave the interview. Similarly, ten testimonials were extracted from the ADA website involving eight participants and two resource persons. Data collection lasted from June 2017 to January 2018.

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Interviews and Data Analysis Thematic data analysis guided by Wiig’s knowledge management model as analytical frame was executed with this corpus of interview data after adequate coding to ensure anonymity of study participants. Based on social constructionist perspectives which enunciate that knowledge is negotiated and meanings are shared through communication (Silverman, 2013), twenty-one interview data were elicited from nineteen doctoral candidates and early-career scholars (ten females and nine males), while two were resource persons or experts (a male and a female). After obtaining consent, participants were sent messages through WhatsApp (chat group) and emails. Participants were asked to respond on the following: how they learned about the doctoral academies? Describe and narrate their experiences in the doctoral academies. What issues and challenges were they confronted with while participating in the intensive trainings? What testimonials and what impressions or recommendations do they have from these doctoral academies? For many, it took two or three days, and for some several weeks, for them to respond; some others, who were online when the messages were sent, responded immediately. After initial responses from participants, preliminary analysis (Clarke & Braun, 2013; Teddlie & Tashakkori, 2003) commenced immediately to ascertain if there is need for further probes, and when confirmed, probes were sent for clarity on what some of them have written. Later, these responses were extracted and stored in word documents. The interviews were read reiteratively to enable the identification of tentative codes (Braun & Clarke, 2006) and patterns of meanings. Finally, thematic analysis was employed to categorize the initial codes and subthemes into broad themes based on the research objectives following Wiig’s 1993 KM as analytical framework.

Findings Building Knowledge from Participants’ Experiences Using Wiig’s analytical framework, the findings were presented under four themes to show the experiences, issues, and testimonials of the participants in this study. Some participants described the challenges of doing a PhD in Africa before they encountered doctoral summer schools, with

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themes such as ‘insufficient finance’, ‘limited structural resources’, ­‘limited access to journals’, ‘few seasoned scholars and experts’, among others, as hampering knowledge production across African universities. As captured here, one of the female participants described her pre-encounter experience: As a doctoral student studying in Sub-Saharan Africa, …more often than not, the African doctoral student is forced to grapple with various challenges such as acquiring sufficient financial resources as well as limited structural resources ranging from limited or no access to academic journals, and seasoned scholars, among others. (Participant 3)

In building knowledge, our analysis captures some nuances regarding experiences of participants in the selected case studies (pan-African doctoral academies and summer schools) and their contributions to knowledge production among doctoral newbies. Most PhD freshmen see these academies as ‘preparatory platforms for doctoral students, timely intervention, and providers of up-to-date knowledge on research methods, builders of writing skills, providers of theoretical and practical skills’, as shown below: The high quality of the courses and presenters really stood out for me, it was truly a world-class experience, and a great way to launch a PhD. I received a thorough update on … methods in … Sciences, and was able to make the necessary changes to update my proposal. (Participant 1)

The aforementioned shows the quality of impression and the impact made on participants by the facilitators, experts, and faculty selected by the organizers of these academies. Knowledge produced seems to be a lasting one, and the knowledge built within these doctoral sophomores may continue to be relevant for a lifetime of their career. The freedom to choose modules and courses of preference also gave the participants the leverage to select relevant and appropriate knowledge required for each individual participant. Flexibility, non-rigidity, and less conservativeness were primary to building knowledge in these academies. This is a strategic way of producing relevant knowledge by the organizers of these pan-­ African doctoral academies, as shown below:

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Participant 3: I was particularly excited about the two courses I’ve selected: Preparing for the PhD, as well as designing a mixed methods research study. These courses are extremely timely for me, and equipped me with much needed theoretical and practical skills in readiness to write a well-researched and thorough dissertation. Participant 4: The programme “Preparing for the PhD” was the first time that I truly felt I knew exactly what was expected of me, not only at a proposal writing stage, but at every step along the way, right up to completion, submission, and examination and even in terms of publishing.

This implies that the knowledge acquired from these doctoral schools is not only for beginners but relevant for all stages of the PhD program. On the other hand, PhD finalists and those in their penultimate years describe the role of these pan-African doctoral academies in building knowledge as ‘enablers for quality publications, bridging the gap in research knowledge, platforms for integrating theory and praxis’ (because of the “hands-on research tools” available in these summer schools), as expressed by some of the advanced PhD candidates: “This was a timely opportunity in my journey to finalize my doctoral research. I particularly found the course on publishing from a PhD an enabler to submit research papers to Journals of international repute (Participant 2)”. One participant particularly experienced these doctoral academies as ‘knowledge expansion platforms’, as reflected in this statement: ‘the courses expanded my knowledge on research methods in the social sciences. The teaching materials, techniques of teaching, course coordination and assessments method are excellent’ (Participant 12). Participant 6: The courses offered empowerment to students by helping us to identify and bridge the knowledge gap in our research. I would like to recommend the… doctoral schools to all neophytes, specifically to attend before they pursue their PhD journeys. I only come to realize the importance of early integration of theory into practice after attending these courses.

Apart from being platforms for linking theory and praxis, facilitators in doctoral summer schools employ ample time and efforts in a bid to instill critical thinking skills in participants. Participant 7: My time at the … was phenomenal… it was amazing to see the time and effort that the presenter put into the course (…Research

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Methods). This was clearly seen through the high quality of knowledge … shared and how … encouraged critical and creative thinking.

Other strategies employed by the pan-African doctoral schools in their efforts in building knowledge in the continent are encouraging ‘hands-on’ (practical), critical and creative thinking/writing, inculcating independent research skills, advanced data analysis, and how to use data processing software, among others, as shown here: ‘These courses assisted me tremendously in conducting independent research. The Introduction to SPSS course assisted me in doing my own basic data analysis and it made me comfortable and confident to self-study more advanced data analysis techniques.’ Holding Knowledge Further analysis shows that the pan-African doctoral academies provide smarter ways of holding knowledge in such a way that participants could recall built-in or acquired knowledge. This entails remembering, accumulating knowledge in repositories, embedding knowledge in repositories, and archiving knowledge. Participants view these academies as being highly impactful and imparting, as they acquired and hold lifelong lasting knowledge. Again, since holding knowledge entails remembering and accumulating knowledge in repositories, most participants reflect on the lessons learned, as shown here: I have learnt two things from the course I attended: (a) the beauty of science is that, it always seems impossible until it’s done. Once, what is impossible is done, it makes so much possible. (b) There is always a better way to do anything and the key to finding “that better way” is, to use what is available as a stepping stone. (Female, participant 7)

Indeed, doctoral academies provided better and smarter ways of doing research in Africa. The aforementioned quote also shows that these biannual two-week intensive academies utilize the few available experts by inviting them from wherever they are located, not minding the distance and cost to ensure that their goal of producing competitive next-­generation scholars is achieved. Holding and sustaining knowledge require conscious planning, recruitment of relevant experts (not square pegs in round wholes), and investment in human and financial resources. All are targeted

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toward ‘tapping’ into explicit and tacit knowledge. Also, doctoral summer schools expunge or chase away the fears associated with doing PhD, reduce pains of conducting research, encourage aspiration and curiosity, and keep doctoral candidates motivated and inspired. In this way, they help sustain and hold knowledge intact in doctoral candidates, as expressed by some of the participants: It was really worthwhile to stay two weeks in … I also learned that peer review and networking is rewarding and reduces the pain and fear of the PhD voyage. I am motivated to come and attended other courses in the future, most importantly, doctoral supervision, how to write and publish an article, use SPSS and ATLAS.ti for data analysis. (Participant 6)

Again, structuring, adequate organization and coordination of personnel, course content, and other extra-curricular activities in the academies ensured confidence among participants and provided a receptive environment for learning, as opined by Participant 7: ‘Everything was carefully thought out and it was so inspiring. It actually encourages one to aspire to be more and to be curious because there is so much to learn.’ These academies, from the perspectives of participants, inculcate expertise and precision while conducting research, as shown here: Research involves scientific writing which has precision as its hallmark; to get this right is to go to an institution that has the manpower and expertise to show and lead you into research with ease—that is what… is doing. (Participant 20)

Pooling Knowledge Doctoral summer schools pool research experts, knowledge, and technology together in their bid to produce knowledge. Pooling necessitates networking among participants. Participants in pan-African doctoral schools observed that these academies are platforms for pooling scholars together to synthesize knowledge and networking, as expressed by some of the resource persons: I appreciated the care with which our… collaborative course, the … scholar, was taken up and supported by the …! From inception to delivery we felt guided and also challenged to provide a curriculum and learning experience that will add value to participants in the … Summer School. My experience

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working with my … colleague, …, to design and develop the course was an enriching professional learning experience and shows how such an inter-­ university collaboration can have very positive outcomes for all involved. Thank you for the opportunity to be part of the excellent offering of the… summer School. (Resource person 1)

These lines show the efforts expended by the organizers of doctoral academies in ensuring that both tacit knowledge and explicit knowledge were all pooled together. Course development, digitizing, training the trainer, and ensuring that experts in different fields and disciplines networked within the pan-African doctoral academy are all efforts targeted toward coordinating, assembling, and accessing and retrieving knowledge. Applying Knowledge The modules and content of the knowledge produced are seen as relevant and applicable in all stages of the doctoral program, and also take on a multidisciplinary posture in terms of application, as expressed by Participant 4: Participant 4 said: the Summer School was an absolutely invaluable experience, one that I would highly recommend to all doctoral students. The courses are well structured, relevant and address the needs of all students, regardless of the discipline in question. I feel that have learnt skills and acquired knowledge that will assist me, not only in the early stages of my PhD, but also (applicable) at a later stage in the process.

Apart from the multidisciplinary applicability of the knowledge acquired, these academies strengthened the areas of weakness and empowered doctoral candidates to apply knowledge for personal research and also equip others in the continent. One participant already described himself as an ‘SPSS Consultant’ because he is already applying the knowledge acquired: Although I had used some SPSS before, this training made me realize that I did not know SPSS at all. Data analysis has always been one of challenges in as far as publishing is concerned. As for my PhD research, I absolutely believe that data analysis and interpretation will not be one of my huddles. In fact, I have started being a “consultant” in SPSS to my colleagues. Interestingly, the facilitators gave us training manuals for SPSS which are

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simple and have all the procedures for data analysis in SPSS. Indeed I call these materials my bible for SPSS. (Participant 5)

This shows that participants not only gained new knowledge or research skills but got existing skills updated and refined in doctoral summer schools. Participants also acquire analytical skills, publishing capacities, and the ability to conduct proper literature review, as shown here: I am now able to analyze articles much better than before and during the … after the course two of my articles were accepted at accredited journals with data that I analyzed myself using SPSS. The ATLAS.ti course opened my eyes to the world of qualitative data analysis. The programme also assisted me greatly in my literature review for my PhD. I can’t wait to work with it once I am done with my fieldwork. (Participant 13)

Clarity on the trajectories of doing research provided by these doctoral academies formed the basis for doing a more focused research, and this is one capacity which doctoral summer schools add to the career of participants. These schools provide the pedestal for conducting painless research, as expressed by Participant 10: For my research, these courses gave me a clearer understanding of what research was all about. They laid the foundation for me; now I can do research knowing the steps I should take. Professionally I have become a point of reference in terms of research, doing evaluations, baseline studies and other methods I have acquired through the …Now I know that I do not have to read volumes of literature aimlessly because i am doing a literature review; I am able to do focus search in an organized manner thus saving time. NOW I enjoy research; before it seemed boring and fearful—NOT any more. (Participant 10)

Issues with Pan-African Doctoral Academies Finally, having explored the experiences and testimonials of some of the participants in doctoral summer schools, some issues were also raised by a few participants. The challenges observed by participants range from ‘self-­ funding to accommodation issues, clash of the summer school periods with religious issues (such as Islamic fasting calendar clashes with the June–July session) to feeding issues, especially non-inclusive food menu, among others’. Participant 21 had this to say: ‘consideration of other

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countries’ type of food was not in the menu’. Another participant raised the religious or time-clash challenge with the academy; he wanted to attend both (fasting and also be part of the academy): The only issue I had was fixing the programme to tally with Muslim month of fasting and it was obvious there was no consideration or special provision to cater for our challenges as a fasting Muslim attending a program in a foreign land. (Participant 20)

There is also the clash of chosen modules and courses as a participant may chose two courses that run concurrently, as expressed by Participant 18: ‘The main issue I had was the parallel pairing of the courses. This is because one may choose to do two modules at separate times but they may run concurrently.’ There were challenges of self-funding, partial funding, from transportation to tuition payment, as some participants opined: ‘I received partial funding from the Carnegie foundation and paid the rest by myself’ (Participant, 19). ‘I had challenges sourcing dollars in … to make payment for the schools’ (Participant 18). However, one move by one of the academies in this case study is quite commendable here, and that is their capacity to grant scholarship to pioneer participants, as expressed by some participants: Officials of … came to market the programme in my school, University of … Incidentally, it fell on the day of our induction as a first year PhD candidate. It was a perfect timing and they made a pledge of free scholarship to attend for the first 5 qualified candidates. Luckily, I was one of the 5 and that was how I got the scholarship. (Participant 19)

Considering the funding issues highlighted by the participants, it is crucial at this point to encourage African knowledge-producing institutions to begin home-grown funded doctoral academies and summer schools and scholarships for attendees to these doctoral academies because of the crucial role of updating research knowledge among African next-­ generation scholars. Since the current discourse among African scholars is ‘knowledge production in African and/or African knowledge production’, doctoral academies should therefore attract more established scholars and seasoned research experts (Africans and non-Africans) to these doctoral summer schools. Knowledge production and management are not limited to particular geographical location, group, or persons because

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knowledge is a global phenomenon. More volunteer financiers and established scholars like Toyin Falola should think of ways to sustain these highly imparting and impactful doctoral schools, since, from the ­perspectives of participants, these summer schools have reinvigorated the emerging next-generation scholars in Africa.

Discussion This chapter examined the role of the few existing intensive biannual doctoral summer schools in knowledge production in Africa. These academies, from the experiences and testimonials of participants, are platforms for updating research skills and knowledge production. Arguably, ‘with improved knowledge we know better what to do and how to do it’ (Dalkir, 2005, p. 38). Participants, after encountering doctoral summer schools, now know better and are equipped with smart research skills. Also, these African-managed doctoral academies are foreign-sponsored. The issue of self-funding by participants remains a huge impediment to participation in these doctoral academies. If unchecked, it may lead to the closure of these doctoral programs and summer schools or to tasking of the students to self-fund themselves upon expiration of the funding-period agreement, as currently being done. Also, these African-managed doctoral academies and summer schools build, hold, apply, and pool competencies (Wiig, 1993, 2004). Competencies provide competitive advantage. This implies that empowered candidates can now conduct researches smartly with great expertise, and this is an outcome of high-quality knowledge production and acquisition. The testimonials and experiences exposed the lapses and weaknesses of some existing African universities, as most participants before encountering doctoral academies were incompetent. These doctoral academies therefore equipped graduate students, particularly doctoral candidates, with the three levels of intellectual capital: Levels of intellectual capital 1.  Competence—the skills necessary to achieve a certain (high) level of performance. 2. Capability—strategic skills necessary to integrate and apply competencies. 3.  Technologies—tools and methods required to produce certain physical results. (Dalkir, 2005, p. 17)

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Improved competencies aid in doing more research works and doing it faster. With impact and impartation from the knowledge gathered from doctoral academies, especially with the exposure to data-processing ­software, they could thereafter conduct research in a smarter manner with smart technologies. Mentoring is also central in knowledge production and management. Tacit knowledge from established scholars and research experts is required for coaching and mentoring in order to transfer experiential knowledge on a one-to-one, face-to-face basis (Dalkir, 2005, p. 8). In Africa, the argument in some quarters has always been that of de-­ westernizing research output, journal publications, and decolonizing African universities (Arowosegbe, 2008a; Diversi & Moreira, 2009; Lynsey Chutel, 2017), among others. All these cannot be possible if we don’t embark on improved competences of the future African scholars. In contemporary knowledge economy, the capacity (manpower and skill) and the process of knowledge production (creation) are also very crucial to their applicability to ensure productivity and confrontation of developmental issues in Africa and as such demand conscious efforts. This is because the production and dissemination of knowledge has become essential in competitiveness (Dalkir, 2005). This could be seen in the testimonials of the participants that the organizers produced strategic knowledge through the use of appropriate experts who are willing to commit time, energy, and experience in imparting participants. Again, the idea of choice in these academies eliminated imposition of courses or modules and fast-tracked the production of relevant and strategic knowledge. This requires that information be turned into actionable knowledge made available in useable form for its applicability. Proper knowledge management system also serves as a repository. Wiig (1993 cited by Dalkir, 2005) observed that knowledge assets that must be applied, nurtured, preserved, and used to the largest extent possible (by both individuals and organizations, and knowledge-related processes to create, build, compile, organize, transform, transfer, pool, apply, and safeguard knowledge) must be carefully and explicitly managed in all affected areas. There is need to prepare a cadre of knowledge professionals with a blend of expertise that we have not previously seen (Wiig, 1993 in Dalkir, 2005). Form this study, we have seen that knowledge management is a mix of strategies, tools, and techniques, peer-to-peer mentoring, and learning from mistakes made by professionals. Dalkir (2005) noted that KM has the ability to address knowledge in all of its forms, notably, tacit knowledge and explicit knowledge. As shown in this chapter, there are therefore two forms of knowledge—tacit and explicit knowledge. Doctoral schools

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provide a good platform for candidates and participants to tap into both forms of knowledge. Tacit knowledge resides within the heads of the ‘knowers’/experts, while explicit knowledge is knowledge that has been concretized. In the words of Dalkir (2005, p. 8),‘tacit knowledge is difficult to articulate and also difficult to put into words, text, or drawings’. In contrast, explicit knowledge represents content that has been captured in some tangible form such as words, audio recordings, or images. Moreover, tacit knowledge tends to reside ‘within the heads of knowers’, whereas explicit knowledge is usually contained within tangible or concrete media (Dalkir, 2005). In sum, the basic attribute of knowledge production and management involves producing or generating new knowledge, accessing valuable knowledge from inside and outside sources, and using accessible knowledge (Dalkir, 2005). This is what the doctoral summer schools have been doing in Africa, and they must be commended for it. However, their activities seem to be restricted within southern and western Africa; therefore, for holistic inclusiveness, their activities should be extended to northern, eastern, and central African regions.

Conclusion Knowledge is the principal force that determines and drives the ability to act and execute things intelligently and smartly. Attendees to doctoral academies return to their universities better equipped and empowered to smartly complete their dissertations and, by extension, begin to contribute to the global research and knowledge economy. In sum, we are saying that ‘with improved knowledge, we know better what to do and how to do it’ (Dalkir, 2005, p. 38). The chapter establishes that these doctoral academies portend the capacity of making Africa one of the most competitive and dynamic knowledge-based society in the world if greater awareness is created, more established scholars and experts like Toyin Falola are used as resource persons, and internally grown funding corporations are harnessed.

References Alavi, M., & Leidner, D. E. (1999). Knowledge management and knowledge management systems: Conceptual foundations and research issues. Fontainebleau: INSEAD. Arowosegbe, J.  O. (2008a). Decolonising the social sciences in the global South: Claude Ake and the praxis of knowledge production in Africa. ASC Working Paper No. 79/2008.

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Arowosegbe, J.  O. (2008b). The social sciences and knowledge production in Africa: The contribution of Claude Ake. Afrika Spectrum, 3, 333–351. Retrieved from http://nbn-resolving.de/urn:nbn:de:0168-ssoar-353022 Braun, V., & Clarke, V. (2006). Using thematic analysis in psychology. Qualitative Research in Psychology, 3(2), 77–101. https://doi.org/10.1191/14780 88706qp063oa Britz, J. (2007). The joy of sharing knowledge: But what if there is no knowledge to share? A critical reflection on human capacity building in Africa. International Review of Information Ethics, 7(9), 18–28. Clarke, V., & Braun, V. (2013). Teaching thematic analysis: Overcoming challenges and developing strategies for effective learning. The Psychologist, 26, 120–123. Cooper, H., Charlton, K., Valentine, J., & Mulenbruck, L. (2000). Making the most of summer schools: A meta-analytic and narrative review. Monograph of the Society for Child Development, 65(1), 1–118. Dalkir, K. (2005). Knowledge management in theory and practice. Amsterdam: Elsevier Butterworth Heinemann. Dicker, G. (2004). Kant’s theory of knowledge: An analytical introduction. Oxford University Press. Diversi, M., & Moreira, C. (2009). Between talk: Decolonizing knowledge production, pedagogy & praxis (N. K. Denzin & Y. S. Lincoln, Eds.). California: Left Coast Press. Ellen, R., & Harris, H. (2005). Indigenous environmental knowledge and its transformations: Critical anthropological perspectives (R. Ellen, P. Parkes, & A. Bicker, Eds.). Taylor and Francis. Elyachar, J. (2012). Before (and after) neoliberalism: Tacit knowledge, secrets of the trade, and the public sector in Egypt. Cultural Anthropology, 27(1), 76–96. https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1548-1360.2012.01127.x Ghassib, H. (2012). A theory of the knowledge industry. International Studies in the Philosophy of Science, 26(4), 447–456. https://doi.org/10.1080/0269859 5.2012.748499 Gunter, H. M. (2013). Knowledge production and theory development: The case of educational administration. Helen M Gunter Paper presented to the Political Studies Association Conference, Cardiff, March 2013, pp. 0–24. Hine, C. (2006). New infrastructures for knowledge production: Understanding E-Science. Hershey: Information Science Publishing. https://doi. org/10.4018/978-1-59140-717-1 Jacobs-huey, L. (2010). The production of ethnographic knowledge exchange across difference: And problematics talking of among. American Anthropologist, 104(3), 791–804. Jasanoff, S. (2004). States of knowledge. https://doi.org/10.4324/ 9780203413845

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Lynsey Chutel, (2017). Decolonizing the mind: Ngũgı̃ Wa Thiong’o’s lessons for South African students fell on deaf ears. Retrieved from https://qz.com/ africa/925234/ngugiwa-thiongos-lessons-for-south-african-students-fellon-deaf-ears/ Malfroy, J. (2005). Doctoral supervision, workplace research and changing pedagogic practices. Higher Education Research & Development, 24(2), 165–178. https://doi.org/10.1080/07294360500062961 Malfroy, J. (2007). Doctoral supervision, workplace research and changing pedagogic practices. Higher Education Research & Development, 4360(July), 165–178. https://doi.org/10.1080/07294360500062961 Musharbash, Y., & Barber, M. (2011). Ethnography and the production of anthropological knowledge: Essays in honour of Nicolas Peterson. Retrieved from http:// books.google.pl/books?id=osK8Vvo59IkC Oakey, R., Groen, A., Cook, G., & Sijde, P. v. D. (Eds.). (2009). New technology-­ based firms in the new millennium: Volume VII: The production and distribution of knowledge. Bingley, UK: Emerald Group Publishing Limited. Silverman, D. (2013). Doing qualitative research (4th ed.). Los Angeles: Sage Publications. Starbuck, W. H. (2006). The production of knowledge: The challenges of social science research. Oxford: Oxford University Press. Teddlie, C., & Tashakkori, A. (2003). Handbook of mixed methods in social and behavioural research. Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage. Wiig, K. (1993). Knowledge management foundations: Thinking about thinking. How people and organizations create, represent and use knowledge. Arlington, TX: Schema Press. Wiig, K. (2004). People-focused knowledge management: How effective management leads to corporate success. Amsterdam: Elsevier Butterworth Heinemann. Wiley, J., & Hedlund, G. (2010). A model of knowledge management and the n-form corporation. Strategic Management Journal, 15, 73–90.

CHAPTER 8

Re-empowering African Indigenous Peacemaking Approaches: Identifying the Enabling Possibilities from Decolonization and Indigenization Discourses Peter Genger

Introduction Despite its dominance since the colonial era and its reformation in Boutros-­ Ghali’s (1992) Agenda for Peace, the Western liberal peace-building paradigm, also known as international peace-building (Richmond & Tellidis, 2014), has not given Africa the required, desired, and anticipated “positive peace” (Galtung, 1967)—a peace typology that typifies no physical  war, no attitudinal harms and no  structural violence. Consequently, increasing criticisms are emerging against the liberal peace-building order in relation to its provenance, ideology, actors, principles, goals, and activi-

P. Genger (*) Center for Research in African Indigenous Knowledge and Peacemaking Approaches (CRAIKPA), Makurdi, Nigeria e-mail: [email protected] © The Author(s) 2020 S. O. Oloruntoba et al. (eds.), Indigenous Knowledge Systems and Development in Africa, https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-34304-0_8

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ties in Africa, a development that Chandler (2015) captures as resistance against the liberal peace model by non-Western societies. In the light of the persistent criticisms and resistance, many strong scholarly (Amisi, 2008; Mac Ginty, 2013; Mac Ginty & Richmond, 2013; Murithi, 2006; Richmond, 2015), practice (Davidheiser, 2006; Lederach, 1995), and policy (Gelot, 2012; Sesay & Omotosho, 2011) positions are consistently made for the return to the local (Mac Ginty & Richmond, 2013; Malik, 2014) and recourse  to the indigenous  traditions of peacemaking (Ani, 2017; Byrne & Senehi, 2009; Malan, 1997; Matyok, Senehi, & Byrne, 2011; Tuso, 2011). Tuso (2011) and Malan (1997) made very sturdy arguments for the reality, viability, and usage of the African indigenous peacemaking approaches by outlining their intrinsic features, principles, and goals. The two scholars in their separate works regret the marginalization of the indigenous approaches by the Western liberal peace-building architecture. Issifu and Asante (2016) and Brettle (2012) make a rendition of the efficacy of the indigenous approaches, while Murithi (2006) and Amisi (2008) demonstrate their practicality. Agrawal (2014), Boege (2011), Nader (2001), and Paffenholz (2015) acknowledge that African indigenous knowledge and peacemaking wisdom have some limitations, and thus “have a long way to go” in terms of efficiency (Hauschildt, 2012, p. 21). However, in the abstract of their edited work: Indilinga African Journal of Indigenous Knowledge Systems—An examination of Afrocentric approaches to contemporary conflict transformation—research, Ferim and Kaya (2018) reconcile the paradox of viability and limitation by arguing that, “in spite of these challenges, African indigenous approaches should form the basis for the sustainable resolution of conflicts as they are more culturally relevant than Eurocentric ones”. In corroboration, Morris (2002) vehemently states that given the required support like focused research and policy interventions, indigenous approaches can overcome their limitations and address the conflicts confronting their communities. Shortly after the end of the Cold War and because of the Rwandan genocide, numerous emerging voices questioned the liberal peacemaking system and advocated for the return to local peacemaking initiatives and mechanisms, by implication, African indigenous peacemaking approaches (Gelot, 2012; Mays, 2003). Aware of how African indigenous approaches are tenaciously upheld by Africans, and how they have been demonstrated as viable resources for addressing Africa’s conflicts, Afigbo (1986) strongly challenged African researchers and practitioners to move from ferreting on

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their nature or the intrinsic elements, principles, legitimacy, and viability to promoting research on how to mainstream them. In other words, to move from the current level of repetitive description of the indigenous methods to discourses that will enable their being made the mainstream. Despite this cogency of Afigbo’s assertion, existing literatures have not discussed or enumerated in detail the enabling factors that will facilitate the mainstreaming process. This chapter attempts to fill the loophole by conferring with decolonization and indigenization theoretical discourses and expounding several steps, processes, and actors that researchers, practitioners, and policymakers can harness for this purpose.

Decolonization and Indigenization Theories Decolonization entered the general lexicon and became an academic concept in 1932 (Betts, 1998; Klose, 1991). Moritz Julius Bonn, a German economist, “established the term as an academic concept—in his entry on Imperialism for the Encyclopaedia of the Social Sciences” (Klose, 1991, p. 1). With reference to the European colonization of the other four continents, Bonn explicitly describes decolonization as the process and “period of countercolonization” by preinvasion communities. Decolonization therefore implies the  mobilization of the peoplehood of autochthonous communities, their rejection of the European imperial dictation of their daily lives, and their stance for autonomy and self-­ expression by using their autochthonous power and wisdom (Klose, 1991). Decolonization also denotes a clutch of activities and events which facilitate its actualization (Betts, 1998). Among the indigenous peoples who are under settler governments, decolonization is an intensified and diversified struggle to end the power differential and domination, and to attain emancipation and self-assertion (Smith, 1999). Decolonization does not abhor Western or liberal wisdom, but wants to decentralize it for indigenous worldviews in indigenous communities. Kovach (2013, p.  21) observes that the Enlightenment era of the West came with the inherent self-belief that it is meant to be a universal truth which should be applicable to all peoples and cultures. The emergence of Western modernity in the early 1920s with its imposing universalist mantra of Western knowledge calculatedly expunged indigenous knowledge by privileging itself over anything indigenous. Decolonization and indigenization therefore seek to counter this fallacy of “epistemic privilege” and to recover, develop, and institutionalize the marginalized indigenous epistemological forms (Kovach, 2013).

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Zartman (1976) had regretted that fifteen years after the end of the settler governments in Africa, the continent was yet to decolonize from European control. He blamed this on the persistent European imperial interferences, which made Africa dependent on Europe virtually for everything. It looks as if Africa lacks its own indigenous capacities to assert itself, address its own problems or conflicts, and evolve its own developmental thread, but for constraints from international gimmicks and subtle schemes that coerce, cajole, and co-opt African leaders into modeling the future of the continent in accordance with Western forms and habits. Decolonization therefore implies ending this European dictatorship of the colonies. Thirty-four years later, Zartman (2008) reemerges and argues vehemently for the mainstreaming of the African traditional [indigenous] “cures”, and “African conflict medicine” to efficiently address the continent’s conflicts. Generally, there have been increasing arguments for the decolonization of the field of Peace and Conflict Studies (PACS). For example, Lederach (1995) and Walker (2004) argue that due to the flaw of unsuitability and failure, and the culpability of violating indigenous wisdom and processes, peacemaking in indigenous communities should be divested of the dominant Western liberal parameters, and indigenous peace processes be elicited, developed, and used, in this case for Africa’s peace. According to Dei (2013), it behooves indigenous scholars and practitioners to embark on developing and indigenizing peace-building, for “the days of Non-­ Indigenous peoples becoming ‘experts’ on Indigenous peoples are long over” (p. 29). The imperative now is for the African scholars, practitioners, and policymakers to facilitate the decolonization of knowledge, peacemaking, and social forms in Africa. On the other hand, Smith (1999, p. 127) conceives indigenization as an ancillary step for actualizing decolonization, and it is one of the “25 different projects currently being pursued by Indigenous communities” across the globe, toward decolonization. Indigenization is conceptualized as the process of resistance and mobilization (Nettheim, 1995). By resistance, it repulses the dominance of colonialism or colonial processes such as the liberal peace, and any foreign interference in indigenous contexts. Indigenization also denotes grassroots mobilization for the recovery and mainstreaming of indigenous cultural wisdom, systems, social organization, and autonomy. With regards to the indigenization of African processes, Adedeji (1983) encourages Africans to recover and retain the ownership, control, and

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inventions of their social enterprises which are currently determined by colonial mechanisms. On his part, Doe (2009) assures Africans that indigenization has many advantages for Africans; they should therefore not be skeptical about it. According to Doe (2009), indigenization is the process of introspecting upon African precolonial beliefs, practices, and institutions concerning social organization and conflict resolution, and increasing efforts at restoring African knowledge. Generally, the goals of decolonization and indigenization are emancipation and empowerment, and the development of the processes that will ensure their realization. In relation to African indigenous peacemaking approaches, the theories of decolonization and indigenization provide useful insights on how to mainstream them for peace in Africa. What does mainstreaming imply?

Mainstreaming: Meaning, Risks, and Benefits Maaka and Flera (2009) state that the mainstreaming of indigeneity is no longer an option. According to them, mainstreaming means incorporating indigenous concerns and realities and centralizing indigenous heritages into the construction, implementation, monitoring, and evaluation systems of the  social policies, processes, and practices in the postcolonial  states. The mainstreaming of indigenous elements thus means the migrating of indigenous peoples’ needs, wisdom, and aspirations from the margins to the center. Without mainstreaming, Maaka and Flera (2009) fear there will be no force to challenge, resist, and transform the persisting colonial harms and to rescue the indigenous peoples from perishing. Picciotto (2002) argues that the mainstreaming process can break long-­ standing traditions and systems, as well as disrupt alliances, loyalties, and bonds, and undermine the existing skewed system. It can also excite public hue, approval, and support, and bring about emancipatory changes. As a strategy for social change, the mainstreaming process also has its own risks and threats, which can be overcome with the enthusiasm that is associated with it (Picciotto, 2002). To mainstream African indigenous wisdom such as the  peacemaking approaches therefore means to achieve emancipation from the dominant liberal peace paradigm, that has been critically described as alien, harmful, and less successful in advancing peace in the region (Issifu & Asante, 2016; Lederach, 1995; Mac Ginty, 2006). It is worth stating here also that the inevitable challenges associated with the mainstreaming of African indig-

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enous peacemaking approaches are equally surmountable courtesy of the hope that the mainstreaming project offers for the freedom and empowerment to the African community. The hope for a better future that mainstreaming offers serves as  the inner power that sustains and propels it (Coates, 2004; Morris, 2002). Regarding Africanization, Mazrui (2005) appreciates the fact  that romantic primitivism and romantic gloriana—the two most prominent pan-Africanist attitudes—are proper for the counteraction of Western imperialism. Romantic primitivism means the celebration of Africa’s simple strides, while romantic gloriana represents that of its past and present great feats and complex achievements. Mazrui however cautions against Afro-optimism, which denotes the thinking that it has been all perfect and always smooth for Africa. He also warns against Afro-pessimism, arguing that Africa does not lack glorious moments and transformative potentials such that it cannot be trusted. Africa has the possibilities and grandeur which can solve the continent’s problems. With these two cautionary statements in mind, Mazrui passionately encourages Africans to tap from their past and present and reinvent themselves and their future without fear of making mistakes or confronting risks. On his part, Soyinka (2012, p. 29) challenges Africans against being “Children of Herodotus” who wait to be told of who they are and must be, as well as what they should fear, and how to avoid risks and keep safe. Africans ought to live up to the truth that Africa is obviously in existence first and foremost for Africans before all others. Soyinka’s position may be nationalistic, but before Maaka and Flera (2009) and Smith (1999), it is justifiable because it negates colonial victimhood and upholds the struggle for self-determination. Africa had always depended on the West to address its conflicts in the periods before, during, and shortly after the Cold War (Mays, 2003). The West’s discontinuation to further commit resources to address Africa’s conflicts after the fall of the Berlin Wall became more manifested in its attitude of indifference  in African wars, especially in Angola, Somalia, and Rwanda, in the early 1990s (Gelot, 2012). It is not improbable for  the dependency to experience donor fatigue as a result of the mistreatment and neglect it suffers at the hands of the donor. This is the negative  attitude that the West showed against Africa during those dark sepulchral days. Provoked by this neglect, African leaders decided “to take responsibility for the continent’s many conflicts” and the peace of the continent into their hands (Soderberg, 2005, p.  1). Thus, they transformed the regional body from the Organisation of African Unity (OAU), which was very dependent, to the

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African Union (AU), to represent regional self-responsibility. Taking recoursing in Africa’s rich heritage, past and present, the AU made two important declarations for addressing Africa’s conflicts, namely “Try Africa First” (Gelot, 2012) and “African Solution for African Problems” (Sesay & Omotosho, 2011). These assertions denote that there is hope of successfully mainstreaming the African indigenous peacemaking approaches and the impetus to overcome existing risks and challenges. Similarly, Malan (1997, p. 8) strengthens Africans and others against Afro-pessimism, chauvinism, and associated mental weariness in relation to the possibility of mainstreaming African indigenous peacemaking approaches; “to put such a conviction into practice is obviously no simple matter. Anyone, or any organisation, undertaking such a project may be criticized for presumptuously tackling an impossible task—But those of us who feel challenged by the relevancy and urgency of this responsibility, may just as well make some contributions without being deterred by the overwhelmingness and riskiness of the task”. In other words, this task is not to be undermined because it “deserves to be taken seriously” (Malan, 1997, p. 8). Continuously emerging literature representing research, practice, and diplomatic declarations on peace-building in Africa is very strongly, on the one hand, questioning the dominance and impacts of liberal peace-­ building paradigm in non-Western cultures such as Africa (Lederach, 1995; Mac Ginty, 2006, 2010, 2014; Richmond & Mitchell, 2011). On the other, it is calling for the decolonization of peace-building in Africa and the return  to local indigenous approaches (Byrne & Senehi, 2009; Leonardsson & Rudd, 2015; Malan, 1997; Malik, 2014; Tuso, 2011; Tuso & Flaherty, 2016), describing their nature, defending their efficacy, positing for their re-empowerment to address Africa’s conflict context (Ani, 2017; Issifu & Asante, 2016; Balafoutas, 2011; Lobakeng, 2017; Malan, 2010; Zondi, 2016) and demonstrating their practicability (Amisi, 2008; Carvalho, Coning, & Connolly, 2014; Doe, 2009; Murithi, 2006). Despite the great argument in favor of re-empowering African indigenous peacemaking wisdom for Africa’s peace, existing literatures have not dwelt on evolving the catalytic step for achieving the key goal of the argument. The literatures have not enumerated or described the enabling preconditions and processes that can be used to mobilize Africa, researchers, practitioners, and policymakers toward re-empowering, centralizing, institutionalizing, or mainstreaming African indigenous peacemaking

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approaches, a loophole that this chapter seeks to address by supplying useful theoretical insights. Cognizance is given to Mazrui’s (2005) caution against the romantic gloriana and romantic  primitivism, that is, the presenting of Africa’s indigenous past and present as though they have no limitations  and strengths. In the same vein, Boege (2011) acknowledges and outlines some limitations of (African) indigenous peacemaking systems. In response, Morris (2002) asserts that (African) indigenous restorative justice and peacemaking systems are not finished works; because of the dynamism and changing patterns of time and space, they are a work in progress, like the Western liberal justice and peace paradigm which is still undergoing reformation to suit its Western context. What is very imperative now is to give the required institutional support and to develop the key innovative strategies to advance the mainstreaming of the indigenous restorative peacemaking system. In rendition, Walker (2004, p. 528) says it is time to end the ongoing “ontological violence” against the indigenous people and their peacemaking possibilities, and to dedicate future research and policy development to recover, decolonize, and empower, and centralize them for the indigenous communities.

Guidelines for Mainstreaming African Indigenous Peacemaking Approaches—Enabling Actors, Steps, and Processes Doe (2009) observes that mainstreaming African indigenous process requires designing, integrating, and sustaining a policymaking system, a governance structure, and a political process that think together in the same direction. Since mainstreaming requires a reference point, the following preconditions will significantly facilitate the goal. Drawing from existing theoretical works on decolonization and indigenization methods, this chapter articulates the following enabling steps, processes, and actors for the mainstreaming of African indigenous peacemaking approaches (AIPA). Taking the Responsibility—Even though Klose (1991) recommends this step with regards to decolonization, it can also significantly facilitate the mainstreaming of the African indigenous peacemaking approaches. According to Klose (1991), to decolonize means to mainstream the indigenous cultural capital, and it demands the communities to rise and take

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the responsibility of fighting for their voice, identity, wisdom, and practices. The colonialized community will not get the needful emancipation and empowerment on the platter of gold because the colonial power is unwilling to lose its imperial power. Thus, Klose (1991) argues that the responsibility for autonomy must be taken up by the indigenous community in the many ways it is able to create. This implies, to return the local for Africa’s peace, the African institutions must as a collective body think alike and take the responsibility to restore their indigenous powers and empower them for effective peace intervention in their communities. Advisory and Consultation Committee—Adedeji (1983) identifies the importance of establishing an advisory and consultation committee to generate and analyze information and, therefrom, advise the community on whether (and how) or not to mainstream the African indigenous economic system. In the same vein, Zartman (1976) encourages indigenous communities, especially Africans of different walks of life to form themselves into  consultative and advisory figures on this matter. They can also make personal and material donations to advance the cause that seeks to end Western colonialism and to ensure the recovery and mainstreaming of African indigenous powers. The Canadian advisory and consultation committee on seeking justice for the First Nations community, known as the Canadian Truth and Reconciliation Committee (TRC), is a good example for quick reference for this aspiration. Tasks of the Academic Community—In the struggle to decolonize and indigenize, indigenous scholars are particularly called upon to take the task of decolonization and indigenization as their primary telos and central point of reference because of their indigenous identity and struggles (Dei, 2013; Smith, 1999). Their fundamental duty is to develop convincing academic debates so that institutions and policymakers will comply to the demands for decolonization peace processes and the centralization of indigenous knowledge and practices (Betts, 1998). It is indigenous scholars, and not non-indigenous ones, that must take ownership of the task to produce knowledge and mobilize for its the empowerment (Dei, 2013). The process of decolonization and the mainstreaming of the indigenous must be coherent and well-coordinated. In this light, Kovach (2013) defends the necessity to control the consumption of colonial knowledge, and states that sole reliance on colonial knowledge will stale and disrupt the struggle. Smith (1999) adds that indigenous scholars and their allies must consistently use indigenous pedagogies and make reference to precolonial history. She states this approach will efficiently facilitate

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­ ecolonization and mainstreaming. For Thiong’o (2004), indigenous and d non-­indigenous scholars must not only decolonize education, research, and pedagogy, but, above all, decolonize the mind by entrenching the use of mother tongue and the indigenous worldviews in the educational and social sectors  of their societies. Fontan (2012) and Chilisa (2012) state that successful mainstreaming is possible with the increased development of an African indigenous peace research methodology, which “writes to transgress” the colonial and install the indigenous, to counter the conventional order of peace-building and facilitate the centralization of the indigenous approaches. Naming and Ideology—Betts (1998) argues that indigenization and mainstreaming are possible, but another fundamental thing to do is to clearly name it as the problem and conceptualize a supporting ideology for it. The Cold War powers named their ideologies, which were clearly conceptualized and institutionalized in Moscow and Washington. Despite the end of Cold War, their respective ideologies are still referenced in diplomatic and academic conversations. Decolonizing and indigenizing communities need to clearly name and ideologize their demands. In the case of an Africa indigenous political system, Muiu and Martin (2009) argue that Ubuntu, which perfectly captures the African ideology of humanism, should be conceptualized and fronted in every scholarly and diplomatic discourse as Africa’s political ideology. Bringing this argument to peace-­ building, Murithi (2006) demonstrates that Ubuntu is a perfect idea that can unite Africans for the common struggle to indigenize peace-building because every African community believes and practices the same elements of Ubuntu. In another instance, Genger (2018) articulates the appropriateness of Ubuntu to all of Africa, and how Africa can harness it as a common ideological force to curb the violence of corruption in the continent. Community and Mass Mobilization—Indigenous community populations, scholars, and policymakers as well as their allies need to be mobilized and their consciousness raised on the importance of indigenous epistemology and identity, and the necessity to restore them (Freire, 2000). Of course, this must focus on restoring the lost values, self-­ confidence, and communicative power of the indigenous peoples (Run, 2013; Smith, 1999). Smith (1999) explains that successful mobilization is reliant on the formation of social movements whose concern is to educate on colonial violence and resist it, and promote the centralization of indigenous values and processes.

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In the case of Africa’s decolonization, Zartman (1976) and Carvalho et al. (2014) call on African policymakers, political leaders, and scholars to mobilize into different research and public campaign groups, bearing the singular aim of decolonizing the communities and resisting further Euro-­ African bonds that perpetuate Africa’s subjugation. Many Euro-African bonds such as diplomatic relations, bilateral trade agreements and peace-­ building interventions are replete with subtle strings intended to perpetuate Africa’s dependency syndrome and warrant colonial control. Unless Africa mobilizes in this manner, it cannot decolonize from these ill-fated relationships and mainstream its peacemaking wisdom. Allies and Their Roles—Zartman (1976) had challenged Euro-American peace-builders and governments to make sincere commitments to end predatory colonial bonds with Africa and to support Africa’s awakening for indigenization. In a later period, Zartman (2008) lauds the UN’s appraisal of Africa’s culture of “collective security”, which it injected into its Security Council structuring and advocacy programs. This demonstrates that Africa can solve its problems and offer its indigenous peace wisdom to the world. Carvalho et al. (2014) make “recommendations for external actors and entities” to contribute to  the decolonization of  peace-building in Africa. External actors are tasked to stimulate the development of [indigenous] social institutions, desist from developing and implementing peace-building program projects that merely replace local or indigenous capacities and initiatives, and to  be humble and less self-imposing, thus “raise awareness of the importance of utilizing [indigenous] and context specific approaches” in Africa for Africa’s conflicts (p. 7). The failure of external peace actors and donors to adopt this recommendation will put their integrity and activities to serious disrepute and discredit. The decolonization and indigenization theories explored in this chapter provide supportive arguments and a few enabling possibilities on how  to successfully  facilitate the  mainstreaming of African indigenous peacemaking traditions. They also provide useful insights on how further practice, research, and diplomatic efforts in this direction will take the discourse forward. Three observations must be made at this point. First, the deeply internalized colonialism by Africans and how their leaders are committed in entrenching colonial structures using the hegemonic forces of military blitz and democratic coercion are pathological, a situation that is  described as the “pathology of colonialism” (Editor, 2015; Hogan, 2000; Konyari, 2013; Kortright, 2003). Africans must be significantly

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made aware of and massively mobilized against this regrettable condition.  Second, in the above light, African policymakers must be on the same page with the cause to mainstream African indigenous capacities, by being convinced of the legitimacy and viability of the struggle, and being bold, innovative, and courageous to embark on it. They must also develop the required skills to overcome the hurdles that will come in the way of the struggle. Third, it is pertinent to develop creative ideas that African policymaking communities—the AU, the Regional Economic Communities (REC), and national leaderships—can harness. The fundamental roles of African policymakers and leaders are akin to the hypostatic duty to serve and protect the lives of their people. It is thus behooving on African policymaking communities to listen to and collaborate with the different sectors of their populations, that is, the epistemic communities, so that together they can strive to mainstream the viable indigenous wisdom of the people and thereby address Africa’s persisting conflicts, among which is the pathology of colonialism.  The role of African policymaking communities in mainstreaming African indigenous epistemologies of peacemaking cannot be underestimated and ignored. Policymakers inevitably need the support of African epistemic communities—researchers and practitioners—to flourish in this regard. The epistemic support should be able to impel the required conviction, pep up the gallant disposition, and spur the resilient mental condition of the policymakers for this purpose. It should also enable them to welcome and  appreciate the suggestions and the  efforts the epistemic communities are consistently making to achieve the mainstreaming project and the accruing benefits.  

Policymaking Interventions for Mainstreaming African Indigenous Peacemaking Approaches To be impactful in the mainstreaming process, the African policymaking communities need to transcend the laudable regional declarations for “Try Africa First”, “African Solution for African Problems” (Sesay & Omotosho, 2011), “Silencing the Guns, Owning the Future” (ACCORD, 2016),  and the “Agenda 2063: The Africa We Want” (African Union Commission, 2015). Prominent African figures have continued to make strong public statements and presentations, which are useful in the realization of these regional declarations. For example, the  former AU

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chairman President Paul Kagame  did not only declare namely “The Imperative to Strengthen Our Union with Institutional Reforms” (Kagame, 2017), but  he also  made  many other powerful positions on Africa’s identity and autonomy. Kagame consistently shared with the public innovative decolonial statements such as “Africa Is Finally Uniting” (Editor, 2018), “Africa Needs the Correct Mindset” (Mwai, 2018), “Africa’s Solutions Are Within” (Mwai, 2018), “Stop Begging the West” (Kagire, 2018), “The Africa We Want” (Mwai, 2018) and so on. Even though some critics have described him as African Lenin (Mailafia, 2018) because of his domestic leadership of Rwanda,  his commitment toward the autonomy and transformation of Africa as a strong agency has been interesting and worthy of emulation.  Another prominent African figure is  Patrick Lumumba, the Kenyan lawyer and anti-corruption crusade leader.  He  represents the epistemic community. His popular and viral speeches on decolonizing and mainstreaming African indigenous identity and wisdom include: Africa on the Dinner Table as the Piecemeal for Superpowers (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wrohW9lhhI8&t=4s);  Africa in Need of Political Ingredient or the Magufulification of Africa (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XPV5ZViSC0o);  Corruption the Monster Destroying Africa (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v= 4cbEuwqKKqE); and so forth. Another African epistemic figure worthy of mention is Dr. Arikana  Chihombori-Quao. Despite her controversial removal as the AU’s Ambassador, the US has not distorted her mobilization of Africans at home and in the diaspora for the redemption of Africa from colonial claws, and the recovery and reassertion of the identity and agency of the continent (Okeregbe, 2020). While one is impressed by the regional declarations, which are being reiterated by the public struggles of the prominent African figures, it is intriguing to notice the obvious lack of a strong assertion for the mainstreaming of African indigenous knowledge and social principles.  It is therefore  necessary for African policymakers to consider and adopt this catalytic venture: the mainstreaming of African processes and values in all their deliberations for the agency and security of the continent. African policymakers are obliged to make this catalytic factor an African ideology  for identity reclamation and social change, thus  the central point of reference for all  discourses and programs on Africa, just as the West is thriving on its liberal ideology and peace-building paradigm. It is worth stating that the present African Peace and Security Apparatus (APSA) does not represent the argument being made for the mainstream-

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ing of African indigenous peacemaking approaches. APSA has been largely assessed as an underperformer (Brosig & Sempijja, 2017), a subject of international funders (Alexander et al., 2003), a structure of imbalances (Karock, 2014), “a design without builders”, the place for “those who make their living from it” (Olaf, 2014), and a failed liberal peace-building structure with an African name and garb (Masabo, 2013). APSA therefore does not represent the indigeneity of Africans (Arrieta, 2011; Berhe & Waal, 2015; Obengo, 2015); in this light, it is significantly suggested that “the AU should boldly articulate its own doctrine and strategy and − not succumb to external pressures to meet others’ priorities” (Berhe & Waal, 2015, p. 1). In other words, the AU may be bold to replace or overhaul the structural design, ideological focus, and operational systems of APSA into one that represents African indigenous beliefs and culture. The task of collaborating with African research and practice think tank in mainstreaming African indigenous thought forms and peacemaking wisdom becomes more compelling. The question about how the African policymaking communities will offer its impactful contributions has once become evident. On this note, this chapter makes the following suggestions. The Listening Power—This step requires African leaders and policymakers to develop the attitude of listening to what the epistemic community is saying. Foucault (1970) defines epistemic resources as the institutions, experts, or the network of knowledge producers with tested capacity and methods, which can address prevailing issues: spiritual or social. Haas (2004) states that the relationship between the epistemic community and policymaking communities (leadership and law makers) is inevitable and important; “in aggregate, social learning and human betterment emerge when the experts have been able to develop usable knowledge, and the decision-makers feel compelled to apply it” (Haas, 2004, p. 576). In other words, epistemic communities are constructing strong scientific arguments for the return to African indigenous peacemaking approaches, and it is necessary for African leaders and policymakers to constructively listen and give support. Understanding and Appreciating—African policymakers need to listen informationally to the epistemic communities by considering and appreciating their arguments and suggestions, and not relationally with a stale courtesy that pretends to give credence to their contributions, as has been the case. Smith (1999) regrets that policymakers dread listening to clamors for the mainstreaming of new ideas. However, for the sake of Africa’s peaceful existence and development, African policymakers must listen to

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the scientific positions of the  knowledge-producing communities, ­especially as they are positing in this case, for the mainstreaming of African indigenous peacemaking wisdom. Public Education and Knowledge Production Forums—Seminars, workshops, conferences, research reports and so forth should be included in the policymaking processes of the African regional body and national governments. These  formation activities  can become the essential parts of what can emerge as the African peace educational programs. Murithi and Mwaura (2010) observe that existing epistemic communities such as traditional institutions, the academic community, the media household, the science society, and so on can be invited and stimulated to assist the AU to develop and institutionalize the African indigenous peace educational system, which has been a crucial need for the continent. Indigenization and Education—For African epistemic communities like the academia to evolve the African educational system, as argued earlier, there must be a  strong policy support. African  Indigeneity implies African worldviews, principles, practices, and resources that predate colonialism and its Westphalia state organization. Centralizing African indigenous processes will enable Africans “to reflect upon their own practices, identify their own resources, and cultivate their own sources of power to heal themselves, reconcile their society, and build new institutions or transform the old ones so that they respond to their new challenges and needs” (Doe, 2009, p. 8). This is what indigenization implies, especially for Africa. The pressing reasons for the mainstreaming of African indigenous peacemaking approaches are the persistent complex conflicts in Africa that defy the dominant international peace-building paradigm because it is alien, unsuitable, and flawed with violence (Lederach, 1997; Mac Ginty, 2010); the mounting influences of African renaissance to decolonize and centralize African processes and wisdom (Louw, 2000; Mbeki, 1998); and the increasing policy declarations for Africanization or indigenization of peace-building in the region (Ani, 2019;  Sesay & Omotosho, 2011). It is behooving to respect the validity of these reasons and to embark on educational programs that will develop and promote the mainstreaming project.  More frustrating is the fact that African indigenous wisdom is no longer imparted and bequeathed to younger generations because of Westernization in the guises of globalization, internalization, democratization, and urbanization. Mikander (2016, p. 70) describes these trends as “continuing colonialism”. According to Thiong’o (2004), in all of  these  trending interactions, Africans are left

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worse off. However, by indigenizing the education in Africa, these adverse interactions  will be significantly checked and  addressed.  It is  also very  frightening as we see  the older generation—the custodians—and the repertoires of African indigenous approaches disappear through death or Westernization, thus not bequeathing African traditional heritages to the younger ones. Mac Ginty (2010) also regrets that African indigenous structures are “severely eroded by conflict. Respect for village elders in rural African context, for example, may have been reduced by the dislocation of conflict, rural-urban migration, and dissipation of moral authority caused by long-term social change” (p. 402). In another way, Africa also stands the risk of losing her epistemological sovereignty and cultural identity (Chandler, 2004). These frightening developments can also be taken care of with the indigenization of the educational institutions in Africa. Mac Ginty (2010) is sanguine that the “local ecology may survive and hold local legitimacy” (p. 402), but only if African local actors rise, resist, and create structures and programs that will rescue the disappearing traditions. The indigenization of African educational programs and curriculum will rescue and mainstream African peacemaking wisdom and serve as means of imparting it to later generations. Run (2013) rightly argues that Africa’s formal and informal educational systems must be indigenized at all the levels to restore the lost self-confidence in Africans and enable them to appreciate their local wisdom. African indigenous definitions, conceptualizations, and positions on war, peace, conflict, gender, arts and architecture, and other social forms, which are relevant and comprehensible to Africans more than alien ones, and be recovered, revived, and re-­ entrenched in Africans through a well-planned educational program  (Amisi, 2008). According to Murithi (2006), the restoration of African indigenous definitions and conceptualizations is well contained in the African philosophy of Ubuntu, and reforming the educational system with the inclusion of Ubuntu in the academic syllabi is inarguably appropriate. With regards to the lack of commitment for indigenous peacemaking education, Okoro (2010) demonstrates clearly that “African Traditional Education [is] a viable alternative for peace building process in modern Africa” (p.  136), and goes on to indict Africans, saying their “modern experience of wars and violent conflicts is predicated on the total neglect and rejection of the traditional education” (p.  154). Due to consistent adoption of the Western liberal educational system, Africans are regrettably trained in adversarial justice, argumentative intellectualism, solipsistic individualism, predatory capitalism, competitive  and exploitative ideals

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and in ways of power, might and domination. According to Okoro (2010), this form of training has generated “class system, greed, corruption and oppression, war and violent conflicts—if Africa must know peace, she must incorporate her traditional moral values with certain modification into the contemporary educational system” (p.  154).  African traditional values consist of restorative justice, relationality between people and nature, co-­ responsibility and mutual support, cooperative engagement and communal  harmony, communal  economy, and partnership, as well as respect, remorse, and reconciliation. With a tone of vehemence for the indigenization of education in Africa, Vambe and Zegeye (2008) cite Cabral for arguing that the indigenization of African educational system is a relevant strategy for liberation and Africanity in the ongoing African renaissance. Thus with regards to the mainstreaming project, we must “go beyond rarefied jargon…and dwell instead on the concrete levels of African people’s lived experiences” which include their learning processes (p. 188). AU Commission on Mainstreaming African Indigenous Peacemaking Approaches—The AU needs an additional department, namely, a commission for the development, coordination, and implementation of the African indigenous solutions for Africa’s problems. This commission should always remind and guide both local and international peace operations in the continent, of Africans’ indigenous definition of peace, operational peacemaking systems, and their peacemaking principles and goals. This regional policy strategy is akin to the Canadian Royal Commission on Aboriginal Peoples, which basically researches, consults, and recommends on the matters and agitations of the Canadian First Nations or indigenous peoples.  The  African Union Commission is also expected to be established and to be as impactful.

National Indigenous Peacemaking Commission Another policy support or action for mainstreaming African indigenous peacemaking approaches is the formation of the  National Indigenous Peacemaking Commission (NIPC) in all AU states. During the fiftieth anniversary of the OAU/AU, the Assembly of African Heads of State made two important declarations that have clear implications for the creation of this national commission. In the declaration on  “Silencing the Guns, Owning the Future: Realising a Conflict-Free Africa”, the AU reasserted the need for the full  development of  African solutions and

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active  engagement by its nation states to achieve  this dream by 2020 (ACCORD, 2016). The Assembly acknowledged and “stressed the need for coordinated efforts at regional, continental and international levels and mobilizing available resources for this goal” (ISS, 2014, p. 10). With its Vision 2063, the AU indicated clearly its position to adopt regional and national strategies that will harness its cultural and indigenous wisdom to produce “The Africa We Want”. The AU assured that “Pan Africanism will be fully entrenched” as well as the “The African Renaissance”, the “diversity in culture” and the  “tangible and intangible heritage” of Africa (African Union Commission, 2015, p. 41). These policy and visionary dispositions are laudable. They also imply harnessing national resources for the achievement of the set goals. To effectively do this,  the  AU must release a policy paper that will direct its member states to  establish the National Indigenous Peacemaking Commission (NIPC) whose tasks will be to mobilize the production, development, and use of African indigenous peacemaking approaches on African conflicts. The commission will also ensure the entrenchment of these indigenous visions and elements in national social institutions. The use of African indigenous peacemaking methods, such as Ubuntu in South Africa (Masina, 2008), Bashingantahe in Burundi (Naniwe-Kaburahe, 2009), Gacaca in Rwanda (Mutisi, 2009), Guurti or Akhyaar in Somalia (Menkhaus, 2008), to address complex conflicts is an appreciable prototype of NIPC. It is in respect of these developments that Afigbo (1986) calls on African epistemic and policymaking communities to move from ferreting about the indigenous approaches to mainstreaming them. The observation by Hauschildt (2012) that “there is still a long way to go” to empowering African solutions can be significantly influenced toward the contrary with the creation of this national commission. The former AU president Paul Kagame launched the institutional reform of the AU for a  more realistic political stability and economic development. Regrettably, there is lack of evident emphasis on the empowerment of African indigenous wisdom, thus ignoring or defying the position that the peace and development of Africa depend largely on its commitment to reinvent itself, decolonize its current political processes, and mainstream its indigenous  wisdom and institutions (Mazrui, 2005; Zartman, 1976). Kagame’s AU reforms should seriously take into cognizance this important argument and put forward a strong recommendation for the formation of the national commission. Once again, the success of the AU reformation no doubt depends not on further neglect or r­ elegation

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of African indigenous wisdom and  identity, but making them  mainstream matters.

Conclusion Contemporary African conflicts have defied the dominant liberal peace apparatus. The failure and inherent violence of this alien peace apparatus against African indigenous communities and values have necessitated the recovery and entrenchment  of the people’s indigenous wisdom.  What remains paramount at this point is not continuation of the repetitive discourses on the viability and efficacy of the indigenous forms  but mainstreaming them. This challenge must be undertaken by the African people (Mazrui, 2005), continually researched by African epistemic communities (Dei, 2013), well backed up by African power holders and policymakers (Haas, 2004) and fully supported through the collaboration of the international community (Carvalho et al., 2014). The mainstreaming of African indigenous peacemaking approaches is truly huge, challenging, tortuous, threatening, and countercultural, but must not be allowed to appear prosaic and impossible to materialize. It may be spurned by rejectionism, a reactionary attitude, which John Burton trails the introduction of a new change or an alternative paradigm (Burton, 1954; Dunn, 1995, 2004). However, because this is a worthwhile paradigmatic venture, African and the international communities must remain dauntless in supporting it. Those who frustrate the promotion of human rights and peace are described by Ishay (2004, p. 4) as “reactionary forces” and as peace “spoilers” by Stedman (1997, p, 65). In relation to these and other restraining hurdles in the way of mainstreaming African indigenous peacemaking approaches, the exhortation by Malan (1997) is very important: [T]o put such a conviction into practice is obviously no simple matter. Anyone, or any organisation, undertaking such a project may be criticized for presumptuously tackling an impossible task—But those of us who feel challenged by the relevancy and urgency of this responsibility, may just as well make some contribution without being deterred by the overwhelmingness and riskiness of the task—our conviction is that Africa’s practical and relational wisdom, both in its tremendous diversity and its elemental commonality, deserves to be taken seriously. (p. 8)

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This chapter has outlined strategies that can be used by African policy and epistemic communities to mainstream AIPA. This chapter has also argued that this is the time to take the task of mainstreaming very seriously. Thus, African policymakers, knowledge producers, political power holders, community members, and community  leaders  must listen very constructively to each other and collaborate with one another on this crucial matter which is the hope for Africa’s true liberation, empowerment, agency, peace, and development, namely, the mainstreaming of African indigenous peacemaking approaches and worldviews. 

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CHAPTER 9

Back to the Future: Rethinking Alternatives to External Intervention in African Conflicts Isaac Olawale Albert

Introduction The first challenge in this paper is to define what is meant by “external intervention” in African conflicts and state the context within which such an exercise takes place. Answering this question would require that we start by defining the term “intervention”. It simply refers to interference in the affairs of others. In the book Diplomatic interventions, Fierke identified seven types of interventions that are relevant for locating the focus of the present study and defining how we want “intervention” to be understood. The seven types are moral, legal, military, economic, cultural, therapeutic and critical interventions.1 The focus of the present study is on legal and military interventions. Legal intervention has to do with the invocation of legal processes against those threatening international law and order, and the particular focus of the present paper is on how the International Criminal Court goes after erring African leaders. Both involve the use of force. This is not surprising given the position of Rosenau that most of those that have written on intervention focused

I. O. Albert (*) Institute for Peace and Strategic Studies, University of Ibadan, Ibadan, Nigeria © The Author(s) 2020 S. O. Oloruntoba et al. (eds.), Indigenous Knowledge Systems and Development in Africa, https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-34304-0_9

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their works on “military interventions, propaganda interventions, ­economic interventions, diplomatic interventions, and ideological intervention” in addition to “custom interventions and other highly specific actions through which one state experiences the impact of another”.2 To Fierke, intervention refers to “an act undertaken by states, usually involving some kind of coercion, that impacts on the territorial integrity or political independence of another state”.3 Oppenheim considers it to be a dictatorial interference in the affairs of other states.4 The implication of this is that every paper dealing with this issue must neatly define its boundaries. The focus of this paper makes the definition provided by Regan most appealing. It presents intervention as “convention-breaking military and/ or economic activities in the internal affairs of a foreign country targeted at the authority structures of the government with the aim of affecting the balance of power between the government and opposition forces”.5 External intervention in African conflicts simply refers to the involvement of the international community in the management of violent conflicts, most especially between governments and opposition forces in Africa. This kind of political decision is taken in the context of the fact that in highly escalated conflicts, belligerents often find it difficult to control their destructive actions until a third party comes into the fray.6 Such a third party intrusion into the conflict comes in two possible ways: non-coercive or coercive. Non-coercive intervention has to do with the use of joint problem solving strategies such as negotiation, mediation and conciliation by diplomats to facilitate a peaceful settlement of the problem. On the other hand, coercive intervention has to do with the application of legal (judicial processes) or military force on one or all of the conflict parties to end the conflict situation. To the extent that sovereignty and non-intervention are the central rules of the international system, foreign intervention in the affairs of other nations is considered to be something abnormal. But proponents of such interventions, including the United Nations (UN), argue that it is necessary for ending emotionally laden violent conflicts with complex humanitarian implications. The understanding here is that left to themselves, parties to a violent conflict would fight endlessly until a third party intervenes. Those opposed to a third party intervention argue that such a decision could impact negatively on the outcomes of the conflict situation. It is argued that some conflicts are aimed at national rebirths, and when halted as a result of intervention, the people are prevented from forging a nation of their dream. Taking this argument into consideration, Crocker suggests that in general, “we probably should avoid military entanglement

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in nationalist revolutions and civil wars pitting whole groups and classes against one another”.7 Some scholars focus their own work on the timing of the intervention. There are two arguments here: too early and too late interventions. Those against early intervention are of the opinion that it is better to allow conflict parties to exhaust their energies before interventions are organized. As each of them pursues and expects a win/lose outcome, they might come to a point when their hope of winning becomes dim and they begin to look forward to any third party intervener. On the other hand, there are arguments in support of early intervention. This would prevent the parties from crossing a threshold of violence that could result in heavy loss on both sides.8 When an intervention takes place is as important a question as to why it takes place in the first place. Whereas supranational bodies such as the UN and African Union (AU) base their interventions on ethical considerations, Kohut and Toth have argued that the mass public and nations of the world base the necessity of intervention on two selfish considerations: relevance to national interests, and perceived moral responsibility. The most problematic is when nations organize third party interventions to protect their national interest rather than the interest of the nation supposedly benefitting from such an intervention. This point was clearly underscored by Meadwell in some of his works. He observed that political leaders see interventions as an opportunity to promote their domestic interests, most especially the security and power of the ruling elite.9 Kohut and Toth provided an interesting example in their own work to illustrate the nature of this issue. They argue that the factors taken into consideration by the US in recent years for intervening in violent conflicts around the world include protection of energy sources, preventing nuclear weapons proliferation, stopping illegal drug trade and international terrorism.10 In the process of dealing with each of these indicators of national interest, an external intervention could be more for protecting the interests of the intervener than those of the conflict parties. This is where the problem lies in some cases. It is one of the reasons why, in recent years, Africans are complaining that many of the external interventions in African conflicts work more against the continent than help reduce tensions in the continent. The present paper takes up this issue in a development-­ relevant manner.

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The Nature of African Conflicts The conflicts covered by this paper are limited to those that occurred since the end of the Cold war in the late 1980s. The problems witnessed during this period started in the early 1980s, with the glut in global market. This reduced the foreign exchange earnings of many African countries. To deal with this problem, the International Monetary Fund (IMF) and the World Bank introduced Africa to the Structural Adjustment Programme (SAP) which turned out to be a bitter pill for the continent. The goal of this programme was to help African states rebuild their foreign reserves, promote exports, achieve economic self-reliance and arrive at realistic foreign exchange rates. In practice, SAP had to do with the trade liberalization, privatization of some government parastatals or large scale government monopolies, withdrawal of government subsidies from some social services, devaluation of currencies, reduction of employment in the public sector and so on. These had very biting effects on the African countries and led to violent riots and public demonstrations11 around the continent. What followed included the construction and manipulation of ethnic and religious identities, violent competition for control of natural resources12 and cross-border support for troublemaking by African leaders and foreign powers. All of these led to a breakdown in the legitimacy of political authority around the continent. The post-Cold War conflicts in Africa were largely championed by non-­ state actors: private armies, warlords, criminal gangs, organized communal groups and terrorist or guerrilla organizations rather than governments, professional soldiers or conscripts. This experience which is global in nature demystified the popular position of Charles Tilly that “States make war”.13 The methods used by the insurgents are also new, often including terror and guerrilla tactics and deliberate targeting of civilians and unconventional methods of conflict financing that is difficult to monitor and stop. Hence, the conflicts are prolonged and costly in terms of damage to lives and property. Examples of such violent conflicts include the crisis in West Africa starting from the late 1980s (armed conflict in Liberia, Sierra Leone) and the experiences in the “tormented triangle” of Sudan, Chad and the Central African Republic14 since the 1990s. The problem in this particular region is defined not only by its porous borders, but more significantly by the multiple ethnic groups, languages, traditions and beliefs that tie the people together to the extent that a problem in one part becomes the problem of all. The situation is compounded by the vast and

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diverse topography of the region that makes it easy for rebel groups to easily cross the borders as they like. The most recent of the crises in the continent include the Arab Spring in North Africa and the ongoing religious terrorism in the Western Sahel, the most significant of which are the problems in Mali and the Boko Haram crisis in Nigeria. Each of these crises attracts external interventions.

Normative Framework for External Interventions Four broad normative frameworks for external intervention in African conflicts can be identified. The first and most global is Article 1 of the United Nation’s Charter which saddles the supranational body with the responsibility “to maintain international peace and security, …to take effective collective measures for the prevention and removal of threats to peace, and for the suppression of acts of aggression or other breaches of the peace”. With this article, the UN has the power to intervene in conflicts in any part of the world. All member states of the UN are expected to benefit from and participate in realizing this objective. The second normative framework is the global Responsibility to Protect (R2P) doctrine, which is one of the latest norms to prevent and stop genocide, war crimes, ethnic cleansing and crimes against humanity in any part of the world. The doctrine came into being in 2005 for preventing a recurrence of the crimes against humanity in Cambodia, Rwanda, the former Yugoslavia, East Timor and Darfur (Sudan). Framed in the context of preventive diplomacy, R2P has three pillars: the obligation of states to protect their populations from genocide, war crimes, crimes against humanity and ethnic cleansing; the responsibility of the international community to assist other nations in upholding this responsibility; and the responsibility of the international community to use the appropriate diplomatic, humanitarian, peaceful means to protect vulnerable populations.15 The third normative framework for international intervention in African conflicts includes the letters of the many treaties and conventions that African states have signed. Such an agreement could be bilateral or multilateral. The most relevant to the focus of this paper is the official commitment of African states to the Charter establishing the International Criminal Court (ICC). The Court was officially established as a permanent tribunal on March 11, 2003, to prosecute individuals for genocide, crimes against humanity, war crimes and the crime of aggression. It traces its roots to the International Military Tribunal at Nuremberg that tried

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Nazi war criminals after World War II. The enabling law of ICC gives it the permission to arrest and prosecute anybody from member states found to be involved in crimes against humanity. Thirty-four African states are parties to the laws establishing the Court,16 thus making Africa the most heavily represented region in the Court’s membership. The fourth framework for intervention in African conflicts by the international community is the 2005 “Ezulwini Consensus” of the African Union which recognized the authority of the UN Security to use force in situations of genocide, crimes against humanity, war crimes and ethnic cleansing in Africa. The Constitutive Act of the African Union which came into being in 2000 provided the background to this commitment. The Act commits the people of the continent to the global peace architecture and confers the right on the AU to intervene in any conflict occurring within the African continent, whether unilaterally or in league with the UN. It would be recalled that the African Union was formed in 2000 partly as a result of the inability of its predecessor, the Organisation of African Unity (OAU), to deal with past African conflicts constructively. Following its emergence in 2000, the AU established a policy of “non-­ indifference” to African conflict as opposed to OAU’s stance of “non-­ interference”. In this respect, AU can be said to have started practising the doctrine of R2P even before it was adopted globally. The following Articles of the Constitutive Act of the organization are important in this respect: • Art. 3(b) states that a core objective of AU is to “defend sovereignty, territorial integrity, and independence its Member States”; • Art. 4(h) stipulates that the “Union has the right to intervene in a Member State (MS) pursuant to a decision of the Assembly in respect of grave circumstances namely, war crimes and crimes against humanity”; • Art. 4(j) indicates that a MS has the right to request intervention from the Union for the restoration of peace and security. Under the “Ezulwini Consensus”, AU formally acknowledged the right of the UN Security Council to use force in Africa, but observed that “this should not be used as a pretext to undermine the sovereignty, independence and territorial integrity of states”.17 In particular, the Consensus raised issues with the legality of the use of force by the UN, and thus said that:

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With regard to the use of force, it is important to comply scrupulously with the provisions of Article 51 of the UN Charter, which authorise the use of force only in cases of legitimate self-defence. In addition, the Constitutive Act of the African Union, in its Article 4 (h), authorises intervention in grave circumstances such as genocide, war crimes and crimes against humanity. Consequently, any recourse to force outside the framework of Article 51 of the UN Charter and Article 4 (h) of the AU Constitutive Act, should be prohibited. Furthermore, it is important to define the notion of “collective danger” which would justify collective action.18

The African Union does not believe that recent interventions in African conflicts by the developed world meet the standards prescribed earlier. This is why the organization is seeking alternatives to these external interventions.

Africa’s Peace Architecture A cliché that regularly speaks to AU’s readiness to solve African problems internally is popularly known as “African solutions to African problems”. A Google search for the phrase by Bjorn Moller of the Danish Institute for International Studies in April 2009 produced almost 10,000 hits.19 I carried out a similar task on July 2, 2016, and I got over 1.5 million hits in less than 2 seconds. This readily shows that more and more scholars and policy makers within and outside Africa are making reference to the phrase. Yet, there is no universal interpretation of the phrase or evidence that African leaders are truly committed to the mantra. To some people, it is a clarion call on African leaders to take a leading role in solving African problems and stop depending on the intervention of outsiders. Some African leaders use the phrase to ward off external intervention in some of the problems they create for their subjects. Yet to some Africans, the phrase is used by the developed world when they seek to evade providing support for solving some of the social, political and economic problems they had created for Africa, whether during the colonial period in the history of Africa or during the postcolonial period. Left or right, the “African solutions to African problems” phrase is a call on Africans to rethink how African problems are managed and to be more forward-looking on this issue.20 The mantra can be applied to all aspects of African development. However, it is more about African politics, and most particularly conflict

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management. The African problems to which the mantra is connected include the desire of African leaders to find internal solutions to the problem of gross human rights violations, the inability to organize free and fair elections, armed conflicts, economic crises, financial corruption, wasteful spending, famine, diseases and poverty, all of which have become a terminal problem of African development. Two particular problems forced Africa to become more committed to the “African solutions” mantra. The first was the humiliation suffered by the US and some other world powers involved in the UN peacekeeping operation in Somalia in 1993. Some US rangers were killed in Mogadishu, and the country was consequently allowed to slide into the status of a failed state as the UN mission was withdrawn, and warlords took over. The second was the failure of the international community in the 1990s to intervene decisively to prevent the 1994 genocide of Tutsi by Hutus in Rwanda.21 The genocide in Rwanda happened under the shadow of the Somali experience. The UN was not interested in intervening; the US had no strategic interest to protect in the country; and France, which had interests to protect, played a partisan role in the crisis.22 Concerns about these two problems provided the rationale for the transition of OAU, which was inaugurated in 1963, to AU whose Constitutive Act was adopted in 2000. One of the main tasks before the AU since then is actionable integration of the African continent in a manner that would enable the peoples to pool their resources together in dealing with the numerous problems that confront them. Within this framework, AU had to drop OAU’s notion of “non-interference” for that of “non-indifference” in the affairs of member states. As part of the strategies for empowering “African solutions to African problems”, the African Union now has formal peace architecture known as the “African Peace and Security Architecture” (APSA). This strengthens the Article 4 of the AU Constitutive Act, allowing AU intervention “in grave circumstances, namely war crimes, genocide and crimes against humanity”. The key components of the peace architecture of APSA consist of a Peace and Security Council, an African Standby Force, a Continental Early Warning System and a Panel of the Wise. For effectiveness, the peace architecture is reliant on cooperation between the African Union and the regional economic communities (RECs) on the continent. The latter are expected to provide support for the works of the Peace and Security Council (PSC) and be critical stakeholders in the continent.

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It is unfortunate that despite the foregoing, most of the violent conflicts in Africa are left for outsiders to manage. The African Union and RECs play the role of bystanders most of the time, as the rest of the world organizes to deal with African problems. The first indicator of this problem is the number of UN Security Council Resolutions passed on Africa compared to the number of such Resolutions passed on the rest of the world. These UN Security Council Resolutions on African conflicts since 2005 are: • Resolution 1674 (2006) and 1894 (2009) on the protection of civilians in armed conflict; • Resolution 1706 on the situation in Darfur (2007); • Resolutions 1970 and 1973 on the situation in Libya (2011); • Resolution 1975 on the situation in Cote d’Ivoire (2011); • Resolution 1996 on the situation in South Sudan (2011); • Resolution 2085 on the situation in Mali (2012). The only UN Resolution outside Africa during this period was Resolution 2014, passed on the situation in Yemen (2011). The second indicator of the problem is the number of peacekeeping operations in Africa compared to those in the rest of the world. More than fifty percent of the peacekeeping missions around the world are in Africa.23 All of these show clearly that APSA has not been able to prevent or effectively manage African conflicts. There is a plethora of reasons for the failure of APSA. The first is that not all African leaders are committed to the implementation of the peace agenda. First and foremost, some of these African leaders are a party to the violent conflicts that the AU is expected to be solving. It is either that the conflict is between them and the rebel groups within the countries, or that they are providing support to rebels in neighbouring states. In the first instance, where the conflict is between a regime and a rebel movement, it is common for such African leaders to reject the intervention of fellow African leaders. It is common for these leaders to believe they can always wipe out the rebels. In the process of trying to achieve this goal, such African leaders end up committing crimes against humanity, and the international community is forced to come in under the guise of R2P. This was the situation in Cote d’Ivoire, Sudan and Libya. In some cases, African leaders provide cross-border support for armed rebellion, and this makes it difficult for them to support AU’s peace

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­ rocesses. It would be recalled that the former president of Liberia, Charles p G.  Taylor, was convicted by an international tribunal in April 2012 for arming, supporting and guiding a brutal rebel movement that committed mass atrocities in Sierra Leone during its civil war in the 1990s. He is the first head of state to be convicted by an international court since the Nuremberg trials after World War II.24 In his life time, Muammar Gaddafi of Libya backed rebels in Liberia, Sierra Leone and Mali, creating an atmosphere conducive for crimes against humanity. He called for a jihad by Congolese Muslims against the regime of Mobutu Sese Seko and advocated for the partition of Nigeria. This was one of the reasons for Nigeria’s support for the UN Security Council Resolution 1973 that brought NATO to Libya in 2011. On the other hand, Sudan played a pivotal role in the Libyan crisis in 2011, and this had a significant impact on the process of change that took place in Libya during that period, which brought radical changes in the equation of governance in the country.25 However, the best case for illustrating the nature of cross-border support for rebellion in Africa is how the activities of some rebels in Chad fed into the crisis in Sudan and some neighbouring states today. It all started in February 2008 when about 4000 rebels from Eastern Chad attacked the capital, N’Djamena, with a view to overthrowing the government of President Idriss Déby. In the initial stage, it all looked like a local problem, but within a short time, the larger picture of a complicated regional problem started to emerge. The trucks and weapons used for the operation were found to have come from the Sudanese government in Khartoum. The rebels were readied for the insurgency from western Darfur and northeastern Central African Republic (CAR). These regions also supplied the mercenaries for the operation. The mission failed because the leaders of the main groups attacking N’Djamena—the Union des forces pour la démocratie et le développement and the Rassemblement des forces pour le changement—could not reach agreement over which of them should succeed Déby. As the rebels were bogged down with competition for power and ran out of ammunition, Déby got support from France, a long-­ standing ally, which allowed weapons provided by Libya to reach the Chadian capital. The Justice and Equality Movement (JEM), a rebel group from western Sudan, whose leadership hails from the same tribe as Déby— the Zaghawa—also provided him military support. This development today connects the narratives of the crises in Darfur, eastern Chad and northeastern CAR.26

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In some cases, AU lacked the requisite institutional credibility to intervene successfully in African conflicts. The worst-case scenario for illustrating the nature of this problem is the compromising relationship that existed between President Muammar Gaddafi of Libya and the AU before the Libyan crisis of 2011. Gaddafi was a significant benefactor and ally to the cash-strapped regional body. Commenting on the impact of this on the freedom of AU to sanction him when the Libyan crisis started, Elhag said “African states’ response was late because of their association with the Gaddafi regime, and as a result of finance given by Gaddafi to the African Union. This explains the refusal of the African Union summit held in the capital of Equatorial Guinea (Malabo) in July 2011 to intervene in the matter of Libya”.27 The compromising relationship between Gaddafi and AU explains why Libyans do not have any serious respect for the regional body. Hence, when AU intervened in the Libyan crisis in April 2011, only Gaddafi saw any credibility in the move. Threatened by the imminent intervention of the international community, Gaddafi accepted the AU plan of having a government of national unity in Libya, but the Libyan rebels promptly rejected it on the ground that it did not capture their quest for Gaddafi to step down from power immediately.28 The AU became powerless after this moment, thus revealing how weak AU’s Panel of the Wise is. Even when the mass atrocities committed by Gaddafi against his people had reached an epidemic proportion calling for military intervention, the AU could not intervene. The political will was just not there. The other problem was that the “Standby Force” that the regional body claimed to be working on was not there on the ground. Taking these into consideration, Kimenyi observed that: the role of the African Union has been disappointing to say the least. Its failure to take a firm position on the atrocities being committed in Libya has revealed the organization’s lack of a coherent strategy to implement its core objectives of ensuring peace and upholding human rights in the continent. The organization appears to be slowly gravitating toward fecklessness in the same manner of its predecessor, the Organization of African Unity (OAU)… In Libya, the AU held a rather inconsequential meeting that called for reconciliation after the crisis had deteriorated.29

The delay in or refusal of the AU to intervene in Libyan crisis created a huge humanitarian crisis that provided the opportunity for NATO to step

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into the problem. The process was facilitated by the U.S., France and Britain but the UN Security Council Resolution 1973 that eventually brought NATO to Libya had the unanimous votes of the three African countries on the Security Council (Gabon, Nigeria and South Africa). If just one of them had abstained, the resolution would not have passed.30 None of them did. The lesson from this is that the position of the leadership of the AU on the management of the Libyan crisis was at variance with that of some of its member states. This is a recurrent problem in the regional body.

Problems with External Interventions What actually is the problem with external intervention in African conflicts? The first answer to this question is taken from a paper published in the Harvard International Review by Professor George Ayittey, a distinguished Ghanaian Economist at American University and the president of Free Africa Foundation in Washington, DC, where he tried to answer this question. He observed that “though noble and well-intentioned, foreign solutions often do not fit Africa’s unique political and socio-cultural topography and have thus failed. Furthermore, foreign solutions often prove financially costly and take a great deal of time to implement” (emphasis mine).31 Though rightly focused on why African leaders should invest more in “African solutions to African problems”, Ayittey’s position contains some seeds for its criticism. First and foremost, not many Africans would agree with him that external interventions in African problems are necessarily noble and well intentioned. Many of these interventions are meant to serve the interest of those organizing them. NATO’s intervention in Libya is one of such interventions. This peacekeeping operation is only noble in terms of the letters of the UN Security Council Resolution authorizing it. It was framed in the context of R2P, but in practice, NATO went to Libya to effect regime change. That kind of operation cannot be said to have been well intentioned; it is not a good example of how to conduct a Chap. 7 “no fly zone” mandate under the UN Charter. What NATO did was to use its airpower to disable the Libyan military, collect intelligence for and supply arms to the Libyan rebels until Gaddafi was killed. This threw the country into a big political turmoil that the western world has not shown any serious sign of helping to solve. Libya is today on the path of becoming a failed state, like Somalia. The African Union is also unable to do

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anything about the problem, because it is beyond its capacity. Not even the Arab League is showing any serious interest in helping to manage the problem. To this extent, the case of Libya could be cited as an example of how external intervention compounds African problems. The ongoing conflict between African leaders and the International Criminal Court (ICC) supports the position of Ayittey that sometimes “foreign solutions often do not fit Africa’s unique political and socio-­ cultural topography”. The main focus of African conflict management system is reconciliation. Hence, a popular Yoruba adage says that “no harm in quarrels but the hallmark of human responsibility is to fight and be willing to be reconciled”. In Kenya, the parties to the 2011 crisis were dragged to ICC but now that they have reconciled, the ICC is still insisting on trying them. In September 2013, the African Union (AU) wrote to the ICC, asking that local courts should be allowed to handle the case against the Kenyan leaders, noting that Kenyan constitutional reforms from 2010 were sufficient “to allow for a national mechanism to investigate and prosecute the cases”. The AU called attention to the newly reformed judiciary as a justification to bring the cases back to Kenya in order to avoid the ICC trials. The ICC refused to grant this request. In October, the AU held an emergency summit to discuss a Kenyan motion that called for mass withdrawal of African countries from ICC on the grounds that “The ICC has been reduced into a painfully farcical pantomime, a travesty that adds insult to the injury of victims…It stopped being the home of justice the day it became the toy of declining imperial powers”. The controversy reached a new high in February 2014 when the African Union (AU) urged its fiftyfour members to condemn the ICC indictments of sitting presidents, with Botswana as the only dissenting country. The AU has approached the UN with another petition on the matter claiming that the ICC trial is preventing Kenyan leaders from focusing on critical governance issues including the terrorism of the Somali militant group Al-Shabab. The U.N. Security Council has also not been able to get enough votes to help Africa on the matter. This does not sit with African traditions, and therefore creates more problems than the global body claims to be solving. The present stance of ICC is that of an organization that does not recognize the role of reconciliation in peacebuilding. Yet, the Western conflict management system provides for “out of court settlement”, and it provides for granting of amnesty to those who have committed crimes against humanity where this is considered necessary for post-conflict social reconstruction.

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The present is an era of restricted external intervention in African conflicts. The US, most particularly, now has a “no boots on the ground” military policy toward Africa. This policy is a logical outcome of its general “boots on the ground” policy. The latter is a standard analytical framework for determining the number of troops to be committed to a counterinsurgency operation per population for the success of the military operation. In other words, the Americans, like any other military formation, do not just send out their soldiers for a military operation by fiat. The problem to be solved and the environment determine the number. It is based on the understanding that there is a strong correlation between force levels and success in a military operation. Kolzeka did an extensive study of this military strategy and came up with five interesting conclusions. These are that (1) the numbers of troop deployed to a military mission do matter in the success of the operation; (2) the size of the US Army will limit its flexibility in future operations; (3) an overseas military operation works better where the host national forces are incorporated into the mission early in operations; (4) strategies will change during operations; and (5) the military alone is insufficient to succeed in a Common Operator Inferface for Navy (COIN) environment (Kolzeka, 2008, p. iii). Trying to hazard a guess of the size of troops that could make a significant impact on a COIN environment, he observed that: Although each situation is unique and a fixed ratio will not guarantee success, there is a strong correlative relationship between force levels and success. This is because in COIN, numbers do matter. The COIN force must have adequate strength to establish and maintain widespread security to protect the population against insurgent violence and intimidation. The case studies show that the closer force levels approach the ratio of 20 security forces per 1000 population, the greater the possibility the COIN force will reach the tipping point to success. When the nature of the war being fought is COIN, the strategy and force size must be nested with providing security for the people. (Kolzeka, 2008, p. iii)

The background to the “no boots on the ground policy” of the US in Africa is the outcome of the botched intervention by the UN Mission in Somalia (UNISOM) in 1992–1993 in which the US played a leading role. It was a complete failure as the U.S. forces in the mission, only authorized to protect humanitarian aid deliveries, were trapped in a 24-hour battle with Fara Adeed, a leader of one of the armed warlords in Mogadishu, in

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October 1993. In the process, eighteen U.S. soldiers were killed. This humiliating experience for the U.S. military in modern times soured the U.S. mood for peacekeeping operations, particularly in Africa.32 Except in few cases, the US no longer sends its ground fighting forces to foreign peacekeeping missions. Thoughts on this military strategy were more properly shaped by the experience of the US in the wars in Afghanistan and Iraq.33 As in the Middle East, the policy manifests in Africa in terms of the US not sending its ground troops to fight in any country. Except at Camp Lemonnier in Djibouti where the US has about 2000 troops, Uganda with about 100 soldiers searching for Joseph Kony of the Lord’s Resistance Army (LRA) and a few soldiers sent to help the French in Mali, the US no longer has a large military presence in Africa. What the country does is to build the capacity of the African military, in terms of training and equipment, to be able to deal with its problems. A corollary to this policy is the US sending drones to collect intelligence and fight terrorists in countries where it has strategic interests. Some of the possible bases for these drones, according to Reed, include Camp Lemonier in Djibouti, Seychelles, Arba Minch in Ethiopia, Entebbe in Uganda, Lamu in Kenya, Nizara in South Sudan, Niamey in Niger and Ouagadougou in Burkina Faso. What these drones do and the implication of their activities for the future security of Africa are still shielded in secrecy.34 The sketchy information available is to the effect that drones were used by the US in Libya and Somalia.35 The experience in the Middle East is that this technology often leads to extensive collateral damage, most especially to civilian deaths. A recent scenario in Nigeria presents some warning signs about the use of drones. The US came into the country to help search for over 200 girls kidnapped by the Boko Haram Islamic sect in 2014. As usual, the US said it would not send ground troops but use its modern technology to collect intelligence on the problem which Nigerians expected to be passed to the military for solving the problem. Having arrived in the country and having operated for weeks, the US military announced that it would not share raw military intelligence with their Nigeria counterparts as both sides work to rescue the schoolgirls. This position, according to Pentagon spokesman Colonel Steve Warren, was taken against the US belief that the Nigerian military had been infiltrated by Boko Haram.36 This situation violates Nigeria’s sovereignty, and it is not good for the future of Africa. Just as the US doubts, the Nigerian military would doubt the intelligence it is provided with; Nigerians could as well doubt what the US does with

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the intelligence collected from Nigeria. The least one would have expected is for both the US and Nigerian military to collect and use the intelligence jointly.

Back to the Future This paper is not arguing for a future Africa in which no external intervention is welcome when the people have problems. This expectation is not possible in the present age of globalization. The point that has been made rather is that Africans do too little for themselves in conflict management, and the developed nations take advantage of this to organize different forms of opportunistic intervention in African conflicts. In this respect, the fact must be faced that not all the external interventions in African conflicts are problematic; some of them indeed helped the continent. Though African leaders now claim that the International Criminal Court (ICC) is “anti-Africa” and “politicized” on the ground of having all its twenty-one investigated cases from Africa, the fact remains that the DRC, CAR, Mali and Uganda have all referred situations to the court for investigation. Ugandan President Yoweri Museveni referred Joseph Kony, leader of the Lord’s Resistance Army, to the ICC in 2004. The same Museveni was later to praise Kenya in 2013 for rejecting “blackmail” by the ICC when Kenyan President Uhuru Kenyatta was indicted for his role in Kenya’s postelection violence in 2007 and 2008. The fact must be faced that the ICC does not just bring itself to Africa. It was first invited to Africa by violent conflicts. The questionable peacekeeping operations in the continent also came because of obvious African problems. If Africans want to stop these interventions, it must learn to become a peaceful part of the global community. The first step in this direction is for AU and RECs to return to the much touted “African solutions to African problems”. If Africa starts to be peaceful, the international community will stop coming. This was the point that President Barak Obama was trying to make in his address to the Ghanaian Parliament in Accra on July 11, 2009, when he observed “Africa’s future is up to Africans”. He observed further that “America will not seek to impose any system of government on any other nation—the essential truth of democracy is that each nation determines its own destiny…Opportunity won’t come from any other place, though—it must come from the decisions that you make, the things that you do, and the hope that you hold in your hearts”.37

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Four things must be done to provide for a more peaceful future Africa. The first is increasing the continent’s investments on preventive diplomacy. The second is for African leaders to stop providing cross border support to insurgent groups. The third is to build better internal capacity for responding to African conflict. The fourth is for African leaders having conflict issues to prefer the intervention of AU and RECs to that of the outside world in the spirit of the fact that the best solutions are the ones that come from within rather than from without. What is preventive diplomacy, and should it unfold in Africa’s future? The United Nations’ (1992) Agenda for Peace specifically refers to it as “action to prevent disputes from arising between parties, to prevent existing disputes from escalating into conflicts and to limit the spread of the latter when they occur”. This imposes two responsibilities on African leaders. The first is for African leaders to work, whether unilaterally or multilaterally, toward stopping anything leading to violent conflicts on the continent. Once this problem is halted, they will stop coming. What are these problems and how can they be prevented? The most encompassing of the problems Africa is facing is lack of good governance. This is the goose that lays the golden eggs of conflicts in Africa. Once there is a better governance system in Africa, the tensions in the conflict would reduce drastically. The issues to be given adequate attention in this respect include political and bureaucratic accountability, freedom of association, objective and efficient judiciary, freedom of information and expression and efficient public institutions. Obama called attention to this issue in his 2009 address in Ghana. He observed that: What we will do is increase assistance for responsible individuals and institutions, with a focus on supporting good governance—on parliaments, which check abuses of power and ensure that opposition voices are heard; on the rule of law, which ensures the equal administration of justice; on civic participation, so that young people get involved; and on concrete solutions to corruption like forensic accounting, automating services, strengthening hotlines, and protecting whistle-blowers to advance transparency and accountability… With better governance, I have no doubt that Africa holds the promise of a broader base for prosperity. The continent is rich in natural resources. And from cell phone entrepreneurs to small farmers, Africans have shown the capacity and commitment to create their own opportunities. But old habits must also be broken.38

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The second leg of the preventive diplomacy task for future Africa is for the continent to have actionable early warning system for predicting any problem that could occur and finding solutions to them immediately. APSA and the peace architecture for RECs provide for this on paper, but in reality, they do not exist in any actionable form. One key indicator that has to be closely monitored is the performance of African economy. Violent conflicts are likely in countries where people find it difficult to peacefully earn their living. What is required here is a more prudent economic management system. It is unfortunate that there is no light at the end of the dark tunnel. Just recently, the International Monetary Fund (IMF)’s managing Director, Christine Lagarde, warned African nations issuing billions of dollars in sovereign bonds to rethink the ugly situation which could overburden their economies and undermine Africa’s current economic growth and records of good governance. For now, the sub-­ Saharan Africa’s economy has been doing well over the past five years, from the rising investors’ due to “ultra-loose monetary policies in the US, Japan and Europe. But once again, African nations are beginning to increase their borrowing spree, with Ghana and Zambia being the worst cases. Ghana’s debt profile was put at forty nine percent of her GDP. The debt profile of Zambia is also assuming a disturbing proportion”. If this problem is not carefully managed, Africa might start facing some new conflict issues. Dealing with this problem should include better integration of the African economy in a manner that places more emphasis on intraAfrica trade. To reduce the interference of ICC in African problems, it is necessary to make the African Court of Justice and Human Rights become actionable. The original intention of the African Union was to have an African Court of Justice that would serve as the “principal judicial organ of the Union” (Protocol of the Court of Justice of the African Union, Article 2.2) to rule on disputes over interpretation of AU treaties. The protocol setting up the Court of Justice was adopted in 2003, came into force in 2009 but later gave way for another protocol, creating the African Court of Justice and Human Rights. The new system has two chambers—one for general legal matters, and one for rulings on human rights treaties. The protocol on the Statute of the African Court of Justice and Human Rights (hereafter “African Court”) was amended in 2010 to provide for the expansion of the jurisdiction of the African Court to deal with criminal jurisdiction over the international crimes of genocide, war crimes and crimes against humanity, as well as several transnational crimes such as

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trafficking in persons and drugs, terrorism, piracy and unconstitutional changes of government and corruption.39 The goal of the amendment is to provide the AU member states with the ability to prosecute offenders that would otherwise have been tried by the ICC. The Court officially started its operations in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia, in November 2006, but moved to its present seat in Arusha, Tanzania, in August 2007. In addition to whatever powers establishing the Court, Article 4(h) of the AU Constitutive Act provides for the power to attain this goal. It guarantees “the right of the AU to intervene in a Member State pursuant to a decision of the Assembly in respect of grave circumstances, namely: war crimes, genocide and crimes against humanity”. The right to exercise this power by AU is also provided for by the global doctrine of R2P. A sustainable future Africa is the one in which African leaders have respect for this Court and are willing to comply with its rulings. It is hoped that the AU would have the kind of power to force African leaders to appear before the Court, as ICC currently does, as some Africans would not appear before it voluntarily. Some warning signs are already apparent that not all African leaders would cooperate with the African Court. As the African Union and African leaders individually are criticizing ICC, it is unfortunate that only twenty-­ six African countries have ratified the protocol establishing the African Court and only six of them (Burkina Faso, Ghana, Malawi, Mali, Rwanda and Tanzania), as of March 2013, according to the court’s website, have made a formal declaration accepting the jurisdiction of the court. This does not speak well for the future of the African continent. Even then, the acceptance of the jurisdiction of the African Court by African leaders does not automatically mean that ICC would cease to intervene in African conflicts. It would if the Court is not up and doing. What the AU has to keep pushing for is the supranational bodies in the continent to leave the investigation and prosecution of grave crimes to national and regional justice mechanisms in the spirit of the principle of complementarity which gives states the primary jurisdiction to try grave crimes and play an active role in the fight against impunity. But this suggestion would only work when AU and the RECs become more proactive not only as critics of the International Criminal Court (ICC), as we now have, but are also more openly committed to the fight against impunity and championing the rights of victims of grave crimes. They therefore need to consistently monitor the actions and steps taken by member states to bring individual perpetrators of such crimes to the altar of justice.

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Where the AU and RECs take the first step of providing justice, the ICC would have fewer reasons to intervene in the problem. The ICC often intervenes when nothing is done about an obvious problem. It is necessary for the African Union to put more efforts into ensuring the proper takeoff of the African Standby Force. For now, it is expected that the Force would become active in 2015,40 but some short-term measures are already being taken to reduce the continent’s reliance on outside forces and money for defence. A short-term decision was taken at the 21st Ordinary Session of the Assembly of Heads of State and Government at the African Union summit in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia, in May 2013, to establish a military rapid-reaction force to deal with regional security emergencies in Africa. This initiative, called “African Capacity for Immediate Response to Crises”, was expected to be a stop-gap measure pending the time when the AU would have the capacity to fully establish its Standby Force. The Assembly decided that the rapid-response force would be formed from voluntary contribution of about 1500 troops, equipment and funds by AU member states with the capacity to provide them, and it would be deployed within the framework of the African Peace and Security Architecture based on the principle of “African solutions to African problems”. The force is expected to have the capacity to deploy within fourteen or less days of the unfolding of a conflict situation.41 Africa is still waiting to see this dream become a reality.

Conclusion It is necessary to conclude this paper on a note that the frustrations caused to African leaders by external intervention in African conflicts is after all good for the African people at the end. First and foremost, it makes African leaders more conscious of the obligations of adhering to the principles of existing global and African peace architectures. The frustrations remind them of the relevant aspects of the UN Charter on peacemaking, peacebuilding, peacekeeping and preventive diplomacy. It reminds them of R2P, the 2005 “Ezulwini Consensus” of the African Union as well as the other international conventions and protocols they are signatories to. It reminds them of the fact that the rest of the world would not treat with indifference any case of crimes against humanity committed in Africa, whether by African leaders against their people or by insurgent groups against the people. It reminds them that this is an era of opportunistic external intervention in African problems, and that the best solution to

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African problems is the one that comes from within and not from outside the continent. For Africa to be able to realize its development goals, a long-term commitment to conflict prevention and management is necessary at this moment in African history. It is necessary for these African leaders to put in place relevant governance structures for reducing the number of violent conflicts in the continent. More work must be done at reducing the flow of illegal arms into the continent. The more these arms are available, the more the insurgent groups would have the capacity for trouble-making, thus calling the attention of the rest of the world to Africa. Africa is rich in mineral resources. These should creatively exploit in a manner that reduces poverty among the people. African leaders should invest more on mediation to foster stable and equitable political structures and support to African peacekeeping capacities. There should be appropriate humanitarian interventions that effectively access those in need and are supported by political and judicial actions.

Notes 1. K. M. Fierke, Diplomatic Interventions: Conflict and Change in Globalizing World (Houndmills, Basingstoke, Hampshire: Palgrave Macmillan, 2005). 2. James Rosenau, “Intervention as a Scientific Concept,” Journal of Conflict Resolution 13 (2), 1969, p. 153. 3. K. M. Fierke, Diplomatic Interventions: Conflict and Change in Globalizing World (Houndmills, Basingstoke, Hampshire: Palgrave Macmillan, 2005), p. viii. 4. I. Oppenheim, International Law, vol. 1. (London: Longman, 1905). 5. Patrick M.  Regan, “Choosing to Intervene: Outside Interventions in Internal Conflicts,” Journal of Politics 60 (3), 1998, p. 756. 6. Chester Crocker, “Lessons on Intervention,” in Managing Conflict in the Post-Cold War World: The Role of Intervention. Report of the Aspen Institute Conference, August 2–6, 1995 (Aspen, Colorado: Aspen Institute, 1996), pp. 77–88. 7. Chester Crocker, “Lessons on Intervention,” in Managing Conflict in the Post-Cold War World: The Role of Intervention. Report of the Aspen Institute Conference, August 2–6, 1995 (Aspen, Colorado: Aspen Institute, 1996), p. 79. 8. F.  Edmead, Analysis and Prediction in International Mediation (New York: UNITAR Study, 1971); O. R. Young, Intermediaries: Third Parties in International Crises (Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Press, 1967),

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pp. 19–20; F. S. Northedge and M. D. Donelan, International Disputes: The Political Aspects (London: Europa, 1971). 9. Hudson Meadwell, “A Rational Choice Approach to Political Regionalism,” Comparative Politics 23, 1991, pp.  401–403; Hudson Meadwell, “The Politics of Nationalism in Quebec,” World Politics, 45, 1993, pp. 203–241. 10. Andrew Kohut and Robert Toth, “Managing Conflict in the Post-Cold War World: A Public Perspective,” in Managing Conflict in the Post-Cold War World: The Role of Intervention. Report of the Aspen Institute Conference, August 2–6, 1995 (Aspen, CO: Aspen Institute, 1996), pp. 105–117; Mohamed Sahnoun, “Managing Conflicts in the Post-Cold War Era,” in Managing Conflict in the Post-Cold War World: The Role of Intervention. Report of the Aspen Institute Conference, August 2–6, 1995 (Aspen, CO: Aspen Institute, 1996), pp.  89–96; M.  Kaldor and R. Luckham, “Global Transformations and New Conflicts,” IDS Bulletin 32 (2), 2001, pp. 48–59, Institute of Development Studies, Brighton. 11. Thandika Mkandawire and Adebayo Olukoshi (Eds.), Between Liberalization and Oppression: The Politics of Structural Adjustment Programme in Africa (Dakar: CODESRIA, 1995). 12. Paul D.  Williams, War and Conflict in Africa (London: Polity Press, 2011). 13. Charles Tilly, “War Making and State Making as Organized Crime,” in Peter Evans, Dietrich Rueschemeyer and Theda Skocpol (Eds.), Bringing the State Back In (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1985), pp. 169–192. 14. Jennifer Giroux, David Lanz and Damiano Sguaitamatti, The Tormented Triangle: The Regionalization of Conflict in Sudan, Chad and Central African Republic, Working Paper No. 47. Regional and Global Axes of Conflict, Center for Security Studies, ETH, and Swiss Peace, April 2009. 15. Naomi Kikoler, “Responsibility to Protect,” Keynote paper presented at the International Conference: ‘Protecting People in Conflict and Crisis: Responding to the Challenges of a Changing World’ organized by the Refugee Studies Centre and Humanitarian Policy Group, September 2009, p. 1. 16. See “The State Parties to Rome Statute,” http://www.icc-cpi.int/en_ menus/asp/states%20parties/Pages/the%20states%20parties%20to%20 the%20rome%20statute.aspx. 17. African Union, “The Common African Position on the Proposed Reform of the United Nations: The Ezulwini Consensus,” EX/EX.CL/2 (VII), 7–8 March 2005, Addis Ababa: African Union, p. 6. http://www.responsibilitytoprotect.org/index.php/component/content/ article/35-r2pcs-topics/34-african-union-the-ezulwini-consensus.

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18. African Union, “The Common African Position on the Proposed Reform of the United Nations: The Ezulwini Consensus,” EX/EX.CL/2 (VII), 7–8 March 2005, Addis Ababa: African Union, p. 6. http://www.responsibilitytoprotect.org/index.php/component/content/ article/35-r2pcs-topics/34-african-union-the-ezulwini-consensus. 19. Bjorn Moller, “The African Union as Security Sector: African Solutions to African Problems,” Crisis States Working Papers Series No. 2. London: Crisis States Research Centre and Development Studies Institute, 2009, p. 1. 20. Isaac Olawale Albert, Pinched, Ditched or Jinxed: The Mantra of African Solutions to African Problems (An Inaugural Lecture, University of Ibadan, Ibadan: University Press, Nigeria, February 3, 2011). 21. O.  McDoom, “Rwanda’s Ordinary Killers: Interpreting Popular Participation in the Rwandan Genocide,” Working Paper No. 77. Crisis States Research Centre, London School of Economics and Political Science, 2005. 22. Dominique Maritz, “Rwanda Genocide: Failure of the International Community,” E-International Relations Students, April 7, 2012, http:// www.e-ir.info/2012/04/07/rwandan-genocide-failure-of-the-internationalcommunity/. 23. http://www.un.org/en/peacekeeping/operations/current.shtml. 24. Morlise Simons, “Ex-President of Liberia Aided War Crimes, Court Rules,” The Economist, April 26, 2012. 25. Asim Elhag, “The Sudanese Role in Libya 2011,” http://sites.tufts.edu/ reinventingpeace/2012/12/17/the-sudanese-role-in-libya-2011/. 26. International Crisis Group (ICG), “Chad: Back towards War?” ICG Africa Report 111, 2006; International Crisis Group (ICG), “Darfur’s New Security Reality,” ICG Africa Report 134, 2007; International Crisis Group (ICG), “Central African Republic: Anatomy of a Phantom State,” ICG Africa Report 136, 2007; Roland Marchal, “The Unseen Regional Implications of the Crisis in Darfur,” in Alex de Waal (Ed.), War in Darfur and the Search for Peace (Harvard: Harvard University Press, 2007); Jérôme Tubiana, The Chad-Sudan Proxy War and the ‘Darfurization’ of Chad: Myths and Reality (Geneva: Small Arms Survey, 2008); Jérôme Tubiana, “Land and Power: The Case of the Zaghawa,” at http://www. ssrc.org/blogs/darfur/2008/05/28/land-and-power-the-case-of-thezaghawa/. Retrieved May 28, 2008. 27. Asim Elhag, “The Sudanese Role in Libya 2011,” http://sites.tufts.edu/ reinventingpeace/2012/12/17/the-sudanese-role-in-libya-2011/. 28. Isabella Bennett, “Guest Post: AU Failure in Libya? Maybe Not,” The Internationalist, October 21, 2011, http://blogs.cfr.org/patrick/2011/10/21/au-failure-in-libya-maybe-not/.

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29. Mwangi S.  Kimenyi, “Libya and Ivory Coast Crises Point to Needed Reform of the African Union,” http://www.brookings.edu/research/ opinions/2011/03/31-african-union-kimenyi. 30. Alex Dewaal, “The African Union and the Libya Conflict of 2011,” http://sites.tufts.edu/reinventingpeace/2012/12/19/ the-african-union-and-the-libya-conflict-of-2011/. 31. George Ayittey, “An African Solution: Solving the Crisis of Failed States,” Harvard International Review, April 14, 2010, http://hir.harvard.edu/ refugees/an-african-solution. 32. Esther Pan, “African Peacekeeping Operations,” Council on Foreign Relations, December 2, 2005, http://www.cfr.org/world/african-peacekeeping-operations/p9333#p2. 33. Stephen Budiansky, “Formula for How Many Troops We Need,” Washington Post, May 10, 2004, http://www.spokesmanreview.com/ breaking/story.asp?ID=2149. Retrieved September 29, 2008; Steve Bene, “Not Enough Troops in Iraq?,” Washington Monthly, January 9, 2005, http://www.washingtonmonthly.com/archives/individual/2005_01 /005422.php. Retrieved September 27, 2008; John S. Brown, “Numerical Considerations in Military Occupations,” Army, April 2006, http://findarticles.com/p/articles/mi_qa3723/is_200604/ai_n17175276/pg_1. Retrieved December 20, 2008; Robert Kagan and William Kristol, “Too Few Troops,” Weekly Standard, 9 (31), April 26, 2004, under “Resolve Alone Won’t Bring Success,” p.  3, http://www.weeklystandard.com/ Content/Public/Articles/000/000/003/977ovnnr.asp?pg=2. Retrieved February 16, 2009; Thomas E.  Ricks, Fiasco: The American Military Adventure in Iraq (New York: Penguin Press, 2006), pp. 41, 118; Michael R. Gordon and General Bernard E. Trainor, COBRA II: The Inside Story of the Invasion and Occupation of Iraq (New York: Pantheon Books, 2006), pp. 28–29, 45–46, 53, 76–77, 95–98, 119. 34. John Reed, “Mapped: The US Military’s Presence in Africa,” May 1, 2013, http://complex.foreignpolicy.com/posts/2013/05/01/ mapped_the_us_militarys_presence_in_africa_this_spring. 35. Richard Rozoff, “US Drone Warfare Has Become a Global Phenomenon,” Stop NATO: Opposition to Global Militarism, April 9, 2014, http://rickrozoff.wordpress.com/2014/04/09/audio-u-s-drone-warfare-hasbecome-a-global-phenomenon/; The Bureau of Investigative Journalism, “US Covert Actions in Somalia,” http://www.thebureauinvestigates. com/category/projects/drones/drones-somalia/. 36. Abdullahi Umar, “Chibok: US Will Not Share Intelligence With Nigeria— Official,” Leadership, May 15, 2014. 37. For the full speech see http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2009/07/11/ obama-ghana-speech-full-t_n_230009.html.

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38. For the full speech, see http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2009/07/11/ obama-ghana-speech-full-t_n_230009.html. 39. Institute of Security Studies, Implications of AU decision to give the African Court jurisdiction over international crimes, Paper No. 235, June 2012, www.issafrica.org/uploads/Paper235-AfricaCourt.pdf. 40. Africa Defence Forum, “Exercise Stresses: Police, Civilian Roles in Standby Force,” Africa Defence Forum, vol. 6, Quarter 2 (n.d.), p. 60. 41. Africa Defence Forum, “AU to Create Rapid Reaction Force,” Africa Defence Forum, vol. 6, Quarter 4 (n.d,), p. 60.

Reference Kolzeka, E. (2008). Boots on the Ground: A Historical and Contemporary Analysis

of Force Levels for Counterinsurgency Operations. School of Advanced Military Studies, United States Army Command and General Staff College, Fort Leavenworth, Kansas.

PART III

Indigenous Knowledge Systems in Pre-colonial Africa

CHAPTER 10

Beyond Western Medicine (Drugs): Indigenous Knowledge Systems in Ola Rotimi’s The Gods Are Not to Blame and James Henshaw’s This Is Our Chance ’Leke Ogunfeyimi

Introduction In the preface to This Is Our Chance (2010), James Ene Henshaw opines that a great challenge that confronts all rapidly developing countries is the need to “preserve good traditions, and at the same time graft upon them, where appropriate.” Anything good for a course is anything needed for that course. Thus, the good tradition that the playwright advocates should be preserved is simply the tradition that enhances the existence and improves the development of Africans/Nigerians. One very important tradition is the health/healthy living tradition which inspired the popular dictum: health is wealth. This study X-rays the health culture in Africa/Nigeria with special attention given to herbal medicine, its challenges and prospects in the precolonial, colonial and postcolonial African/

’L. Ogunfeyimi (*) Ondo State University of Science and Technology, Akure, Nigeria © The Author(s) 2020 187 S. O. Oloruntoba et al. (eds.), Indigenous Knowledge Systems and Development in Africa, https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-34304-0_10

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Nigerian society. The two plays selected for the study present the mysteries of herbs and plants in our environment, and advocate their preservations. Ene Henshaw begins his exploration into medical science with the introduction of Bambulu, a village teacher hired by Chief Damba of Koloro to privately coach his daughter, Princess Kudaro. Bambulu produces a small dark bottle from the pocket of his very “well-made suit of English cloths”. He holds the bottle and speaks in a breezy and academic fashion: This is the child of my brain, the product of my endeavour, and the materialisation of my inventive genius. It is an anti-snake-bite vaccine. Western Science has not succeeded in producing anything so potent. But I, Bambulu (striking his chest), have, without laboratories, without any help, produced this medicine from herbs of this village … You may one day find this anti-­ snake-­bite vaccine very useful. It is a remedy not only for snake bites and various insect stings, but also for various canine and reptilian contingencies. (p. 7)

While, with this self-advertisement, Bambulu makes a boast of his invention, he, however, refuses to mention those “herbs of this village” with which he has attained this medical feat. In this respect, three things come to mind: (i.) the possibility that anyone could doubt the potency, the efficacy and the ingenuity of such an invention; (ii) the possibility that such a claim may be a sheer figment of artistic creation by the author; and (iii) the possibility that the author has deliberately remained silent about the herbs as a way of challenging true scholarly medical research. Exploring the third possibility, the study has authenticated the information given about such herbs and plants, particularly, in rural areas, which can produce several (anti-snake-bites) potent vaccines of global standard. The fact that people in rural areas live with snakes and other dangerous reptiles, or that they are vulnerable to diseases, provides a good and virgin reason for scholarly explorations. The tradition has always been: in the face of challenges, inventions are developed. This provides the defence for the development of several antidotes for snake bites and other ailments rampant in societies with little or no government-prompted medical or health attention/projects, using only herbs and plants. In Reproductive Biology of Tropical Crop Plants, M.A. Faluyi observes that, apart from those plants that are good for human and animal ­consumption as “food, clothing and fuel,” there are many others that

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serve medical or medicinal purposes, “which are used in the production of medicine” mostly in villages (Faluyi, 2009, p.  60). However, for about 500 years that the communities have been in existence, and with over ten universities, there has not been any serious research carried out on antisnake and other reptilian bites vaccines produced from herbs and plants or other herbal medicines. Hitherto, the efficacy of herbs by obohs or native doctors or herbalists to treat snake-bites and several other diseases is never doubted. Hygiene is usually the challenge most patients have. Some reasons have been provided as being factorial of the unenthusiastic and taciturn attitude Nigerian medical students and scholars demonstrate towards herbal medicines. (1) Most of them do not study to solve indigenous health-related problems with indigenous mechanisms. (2) Excused by our colonial mentality, Africans/Nigerians (both government and the people) do not appreciate whatever is locally produced, its quality notwithstanding. (3) In respect to herbal medicine, it appears African/ Nigerian medical scholars and students are simply scared to collaborate with herbal experts. They see it as cultic or as what makes one an automatic initiate of a cultic sect to engage in such a scholarly research, particularly, because their mentality has been compromised to appreciate African/Nigerian nativity as Satanism or evil. The erroneous picture this paints is that Africans/Nigerians have absolute knowledge of the source of Western drugs, and trust that the West do not have such a connection with the esoteric world to produce their drug. Or that a Western drug does not contain any mystical content than those indicated in the leaflet. Otherwise, this attitude could be considered a mockery of intellectual ingenuity and knowledge independence. This is what excuses the taciturn interest Damba’s daughter exhibits towards the anti-snake bite invention of Bambulu. She does not appreciate it. She does not appreciate living in the village or identifying with anything or invention traceable to indigenous knowledge and proficiency. She wants a foreign life with all its fictions or fantasies. Of course, looking at the play holistically, it could be argued that the author is seeking to remind Damba’s daughter and her likes of Africa’s colonial experience as a way of provoking them to identify the future and protect it. Western writers of history and literature such as Joseph Conrad had always elaborated a view of Africa as seen within the imperial-colonial context, clearly defining the sense of their public, such as racist stereotypes towards Africa and Africans. They knew what their readers wished to read, and to that taste they catered. In “An Image of Africa: Racism in Conrad’s

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Heart of Darkness,” Chinua Achebe criticizes them for concluding that Africans have no “other occupations besides merging into the evil forest or materializing out of it simply to plague Marlow.” For centuries, it was a deep belief in America that the despised black men of Africa had languished in savagery for thousands of years. This myth continued even till the twentieth century. In 1952, for instance, Lord Milverton, a former colonial governor of Kenya, said: “the African has stagnated in primitive savagery during thousands of years that men in the rest of the world were creating their civilisations” [Emphasis mine] (Adodo, 2010, p.  38). I have chosen to italicize “their civilisations” because I have never been comfortable with people’s, particularly Nigerians’, definition, perception and conceptualization of civilization as the way of life, practices or/and culture of the West. Historically, civilization has often been understood as a larger and “more advanced” culture, in contrast to smaller, supposedly primitive cultures (Wright, 2004, p. 115). Similarly, some scholars have described civilization as being necessarily multicultural. In this broad sense, a civilization contrasts with noncentralized tribal societies, including the cultures of nomadic pastoralists, Neolithic societies or hunter-gatherers, but it also contrasts with the cultures found within civilizations themselves (Wright, 2004, pp. 115, 117 and 212). According to Adam, Robert McCormick: A civilisation is any complex society characterized by urban development, social stratification imposed by a cultural elite, symbolic systems of communication (for example, writing systems), and a perceived separation from and domination over the natural environment. (Adams, Robert McCormick, 1966, p. 13)

Perhaps, civilization should be seen as the popularity, attractiveness and recognition a race gives and attracts to its own culture and indigenous discoveries to the admiration of others. This highlights the observation of Havilland, William et al. that civilization is intimately associated with and often further defined by other socio-politico-economic characteristics, including centralization, the domestication of both humans and other organisms, specialization of labour, “culturally ingrained ideologies of progress and supremacism, monumental architecture, taxation, societal dependence upon farming and expansionism.” As an uncountable noun, “civilisation” also refers to the process of a society developing into a centralized, urbanized, stratified structure. Civilizations are organized in

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densely populated settlements divided into hierarchical social classes with a ruling elite and subordinate urban and rural populations, “which engage in intensive agriculture, mining, small-­ scale manufacture and trade. Civilisation concentrates power, extending human control over the rest of nature, including over other human beings” (Mann, Michael, 1986, pp. 34–41). This appears to be the concern of the selected dramatists for this study. Their advocacy for the locally produced medicines from the indigenous herbs and plants is one way to attract universal recognitions and attention to African indigenous knowledge. They are writers whose inspirations are influenced and lubricated by several works they have read. One thing they seem to have achieved, which has diffused into their conscious and unconscious reasoning, as a result of their avid readership, is their understanding of the psyche of the West. They know, particularly, what they (the West) think of Africa. They have read and studied several works of the Western authors on Africa and Africans. They are well grounded in the history of Western imperialism and slave trade. They know John Newton, the world acclaimed Man of God who composed one of the world’s most sung, most listened-to, most loved and most famous hymn: “Amazing Grace”—a song that symbolized evangelical fervour and piety in the nineteenth century: Amazing Grace, How sweet the sound That saved a wretched like me. I once was lost but now am found Was blind but now I see. (Aitken, 2007, p. 2)

Shortly after John Newton’s conversion to Christianity, he became a full time slave master. For six years, he shipped hundreds of Africans, with intense brutality, across the Atlantic from Sierra Leone to the Caribbean, as the Catholic Father Adodo puts it, “without any qualm of conscience” (Adodo, 2010, p. 40). Of the over ten million Africans who crossed the Atlantic as slaves before 1850, three million were shipped in British vessels. In 1662, the New Royal African Company undertook to supply 3000 slaves annually to the West Indies. It was on the Greyhound that John turned back to his Christian roots. But his new faith did not alter his views on slavery. Five years later, as captain of his own ship, he wrote in his ­journal that he was thankful for being led into “an easy and creditable way

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of life” (Aitken, 2007, p. 2). His profit from slave trade was so huge that it dwarfed any religious or moral guilt in him. In 1751, Newton complained about the rising cost of slaves. He wrote: “A massive, now [that] there are so many competitors, is near double the price it was formally” (Blight, 1998, pp. 1–2). However, after four years as a slave ship captain, Newton resigned his commission on the advice of his doctors. By this time, his views on the trade had begun to change. Several years later, after becoming a minister, he wrote, “I think I should have quitted [the slave trade] sooner had I considered it as I now do to be unlawful and wrong. But I never had a scruple upon this head at the time; nor was such a thought ever suggested to me by any friend” (Blight, 1998, pp. 1–2). About the time Newton explored the hospitality of Africa, a British intellectual, Lord Chesterfield, also saw Africans as morons or mentally impoverished. Chesterfield, cited in G.V. Scammell’s article titled “On the Discovery of the Americas and the Spread of Intolerance, Absolutism, and Racism in Early Modern Europe,” that “Africans are the most ignorant and unpolished people in the world, little better than the lions, tigers, leopards, and other wild beasts, which that country produces in great numbers” (Chesterfield, cf. Scammell, 1995, p. 503). James Watson, a Nobel Prize winner for his part in the unravelling of DNA who now runs one of America’s leading scientific research institutions, made some terrible comments about Africans. The 79-year-old geneticist reopened the explosive debate about race and science in a newspaper interview in which he said Western policies towards African countries were wrongly based on an assumption that black people were as clever as their white counterparts when “testing” suggested the contrary. He claimed that genes responsible for creating differences in human intelligence could be found within a decade. According to him, “all our social policies are based on the fact that their intelligence is the same as ours— whereas all the testing says not really.” He said there was a natural desire that all human beings should be equal but “people who have to deal with black employees find this not true.” Most Africans/Nigerians, particularly, children and the young adults, do not have this information. They are disconnected from their history. The most disheartening part of it is that they are not making any effort to be reconnected to it. All they want is to travel out and enjoy invented life of fantasy that lacks substance. No nation can grow without her youth being actively involved in scientific research and accomplishments. Great nations of the world are great because of their scientific and technological

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inventions. Nigeria would have made considerable success in medical sciences if our herbal experts had been encouraged enough by the government, and our medical students had collaborated with them or involved them in their medical research. Sadly, most of our medical students, excused, perhaps, by their misconception of these herbalists as cultists and witches or their ignorance of the sociolinguist denotations and connotations of the lexical item, herbs, avoid them. Christopher Gussa, who founded “Plant Cures Inc.” which handcrafts over 150 Serious Herbal Medicine Products for Specific Disorders, all created through clinical application, in his essay “Bible, Drug Use, Health News,” opines: Have you ever noticed the huge surge of desire and longing in people to get back to the natural for our healing and medicine? The Food and Drug Administration (FDA) combined with the drug industry and the media have almost totally erased this knowledge from our minds, and worse yet from our spirits. The FDA may, someday, take the herbs out of the health food stores but even the FDA will never get rid of the weeds. Yes, believe it or not, the weeds are a gift from God and when God gives us something, no one can take it away.

The Bible condemns the use of poisons in the name of drugs for medicine, labels it as “sorcery” and very plainly tells us that true medicine is leaves or the common name used for medical leaves, herbs. Psalms 104:14 says that God has given us “herbs for the service of man.” According to Martin Polanco, drug and medicine are often confused as one and the same thing though “there is the difference between the two.” “A drug is a substance that is often considered narcotic, hallucinogen or a stimulant. On the other hand, medicine expresses a preparation used for the treatment or prevention of disease” (Polanco, 2016, p. 1). Although a drug primarily refers to a medicinal substance, its purpose is different from that of medicine. According to Gussa, the word “sorcery” is translated from the original Greek word “pharmakon,” which means “a drug” or “a spell-giving potion, a druggist or pharmacist, a poisoner.” A pharmacist today has the same Greek title that he had at the time the New Testament was written about 2000 years ago, and he is still doing the same thing: dealing in poisonous drugs! The Bible says that “sorcery,” or the use of poisonous drugs, has deceived all nations. “For by thy sorceries (pharmacea) were all nations deceived. And in her was found the blood of prophets, and of

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saints, and of all that were slain upon the earth” (Rev. 18:23, 24). By inference, all nations practice sorcery through the use of drugs, but they are deceived into thinking that it is right. God condemns the merchandising and use of poisonous drugs along with murder and idolatry. In the Webster’s 2nd Collegiate Dictionary (1980), the word “pharmaceutical” is defined as “the practice of witchcraft or the use of poison.” The very first place the word “medicine” is used in the Bible is in Proverbs 17:22 and it says, “A merry heart doeth good, like a medicine.” If medicine and drugs are the same thing, this would, at first glance, seem to reveal a contradiction in the Bible. This is further advanced in the Bible, “The fruit thereof shall be for meat and the leaf thereof for medicine” (Ezekiel. 47:12) The Bible confirms the values of medicine, that it is good, and tells us where to obtain it: from the leaves or what we commonly call herbs which grow, mostly, in villages. This is further advanced by Polanco: The word “medicine” expresses a preparation used for the treatment or prevention of disease. It is interesting to note that medicine refers to preparation especially the one taken by the mouth. In the broader sense, the word “medicine” would mean the science or practice of the diagnosis, treatment and prevention of disease. It is seen as a practice quite distinct from surgical methods. Thus “a doctor of medicine” means a physician who is adept in treating diseases by administering medicines. Medicine does not contribute to the factor of addiction, unlike a drug. In other words, it can be said that a medicine does not cause the stupefaction of the mind like a drug. The word “medicine” is derived from the Latin word “medicina”. (Polanco, 2016, pp. 1–2)

Kudaro, however, does not like Bambulu and his invention because she does not like to be connected to her root, her “home.” Her interest is to “attend parties in … big towns [where they dance] the waltz,” shaku shaku and Azonto (Henshaw, 2010, p.  4). But, because, Bambulu so trusts his invention, he forces her to hold it on the excuse that she might find it helpful one day. This effort is not in vain. One day, indeed, the invention serves its intended miraculous purpose, salvaging the life of “the younger son” of Mboli, Chief of Udura, who is “stung by a venomous snake.” Nothing we did could revive him. Just as we had given him up, your illustrious daughter saw him … persuaded us to set her free for a moment. Then, the miracle happened. She brought out a small bottle which she said was

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given to her by her schoolteacher. She immediately tied a string of palm leaves above the bite and rubbed this medicine strenuously into the bite. For a moment we thought the child had died. There he lay, almost breathless and silent. Then a slight grin like unwilling smile passed across his little face; he heaved a sigh and then fell asleep. Two hours later he recovered and has since been perfectly well. (p. 37)

With this feat, the author seems to be making mockery of Nigerian students or youth who do not have interest and time to salvage the nation by showing interest in or exploring indigenous knowledge, enterprises and scientific experience that could drive the nation’s economy, but always wish to live in affluence using imported goods. The author also makes a mockery allusion to the Nigerian society and her intellectuals when he represents Damba as a leader who appreciates such a medical feat using local ingredients, but whose policy is devoid of continuity. For example, Damba calls the school teacher Bambulu, “Great teacher,” and promises to build him “many more schools” (p. 38). Now, these schools “many … schools” have been built for scholarly research. Yet, the Nigerian nation has relied heavily on Western drugs except in rural areas where the people live, mainly, on medicines: plants, roots, leaves and the bark of trees. They know the values of these plants. They have the native (not scientific) knowledge that most of the plant body is composed of the ground tissue system, which has a variety of functions. They know, though not scientifically, the vascular tissue system, an intricate conducting system that extends throughout the plant body, is responsible for conduction of various substances, including water, dissolved nutrient minerals, and food (dissolved sugar). “Roots, stems, leaves, flower parts and fruits are organs … composed of all the three tissue systems” (Solomon, Berg, & Martin, 2005, p. 604). This excuses Faluyi’s position that many of the plants used in drug production have been identified and the active ingredients extracted and purified for treatment of disease. According to him: In many parts of the tropics, the herbalists usually cure human discomforts and diseases with the medicinal herbs without any form of purification. Nowadays, however, modern medicine is shifting towards the use of synthetic drugs but it is important to note that many of the medicinal plants are still reproducing both as cultivated or as wild plants in the forests. (Faluyi, 2009, p. 60)

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A.C. Dutta says leaves gather the sunlight necessary for photosynthesis, the biological process that converts radiant energy into the chemical energy of carbohydrate molecules. Plants then use these molecules as starting materials to synthesize all other organic compounds (such as starch and cellulose, amino acid, lipids and nucleic acids). Chemically, the nucleus of plants is “predominantly composed of nucleoproteins, which are phosphorus—containing nucleic acids” (Dutta, 2009, p.  123). According to him: Nucleic acids are wonderful discoveries of modern times. They are universally present in the nucleus and in the cytoplasm of all living cells, and are now definitely known to form the chemical basis of life. They are very complex organic compounds made of phosphate, pentose sugar (ribose, as in RNA or deoxyribose, as in DNA) and nitrogen bases (purine and pyrimidine). (Dutta, 2009, pp. 123–124)

But, how many Nigerian scholars have explored the height of their intellectual knowledge and experience or even collaborated with the local herbalists, particularly, in rural areas, to produce medicines, locally, from these plants with all these compositions? This is a rhetorical question to demonstrate how Africans or Nigerians have ignored the indigeneity and the indigenous genus or knowledge as one that produces such an invention by “a village teacher.” This appears one major concern of these plays under study, to challenge universities (particularly in rural areas) in Africa/Nigeria to take up some responsibilities in trado-medical inventions with raw material “growing wild in the bush” (Dutta, 2009, pp. 123–124), begging to be explored, and herbal-medics sinking into the abys of domestic infamy and ignominy. Universities and other institutions of higher learning are founded to address societal problems. Any of these institutions that fails to function in this capacity will never succeed or excel. In Nigeria, private universities are founded and funded to address those problems that public universities— particularly because of large students’ population, policies and attitudes that are contrary to the vision, mission and core values of the university, and poor funding—have failed to address. The inclination to draw attention to the reasons universities are founded inspired this design. Consequently, the knowledge of an expert in producing anti-snake-bites and other diseases vaccines so potent, using the plants, roots and herbs of the host village of the Samuel Adegboyega University, Ogwa, Edo State

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(Dr) Iboi, an oboh (native doctor or herbalist), is sought. Exhibiting his experience, Iboi has confirmed that there are several roots, herbs and plants that are good for several vaccines because of their compositions. This underscores the position of Solomon et al. in Biology: Various chemical substances appear in the plant body as products of metabolism or as by-products. These are called ergastic substances … Carbohydrates, proteins, fats and oils are such substances. They constitute the food of plants, supplemented by vitamins and essential minerals. (Solomon et  al., 2005, pp. 134–135)

One now appreciates the reason Ola Rotimi, in The Gods Are Not to Blame (1975), unlike Henshaw, does not hesitate to mention those herbs that are efficacious in curing some serious ailments, and the processes of preparing them. According to him, “Before the palace. Townspeople— old, and young, men, and women, some with babies strapped to their backs—all sprawling or crouching on the bare ground in varying forms … moaning, keening” (p. 9). The people have run to their king, Odewale, for a cure to a strange ailment that has plagued the village, which has claimed some lives, and has defiled several sacrifices including those offered to “Sonpona, the god of the poxes, Ela, the god of Deliverance, Sango, the god of thunder and rainfall, whose showers can help wash away the evil in the soil on which we stand” (p.  11). The people, also, because they know the values of the herbs in that village, take up some herbal-medical responsibilities: Second woman: Your highness … I have tried, in my own house … I have boiled some herbs, drank them, yet sickness remains. Odewale: What herbs did you boil? Second woman: Lemon-grass, teabush, and some limeskins. Odewale: That’s good. And nothing happened? Second woman: I and my household drank the medicine, yet we did not get better, my lord. Odewale: For how long did you boil it? Second woman: As soon as it boiled, I put it down. Odewale: No, no. You must boil it longer, woman, longer, so that the medicines in the herbs can come out in full spirit to fight the sickness. Boil it longer. Third woman: I boiled my own longer – a long time. I even added dogo-­ yaro leaves to it.

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Odewale: And how does the body feel? Third woman: Not as well as the heart wishes, my lord.

From all indications, Odewale knows the medicinal values of most of these leaves and plants. Ordinarily, his suggestions would have worked the miracle as obtains in Henshaw’s This Is Our Chance. But, what plagues his village requires more than herbal solution. As we later learnt, “the oracle of Orunmila said there is a curse in [the] land, and until that curse is purged, our suffering will go on” (Rotimi, 1975, p. 19). By inference, no amount of herbs, plants and roots would have worked any magic or miracle. Notwithstanding, the herbs, roots and plants still perform their medicinal functions in preserving the lives of about 99 per cent of the people until spiritual diagnosis is sought, done, and a spiritual cure is applied. If any Western drugs had been applied before the spiritual solution is sought, the situation would have remained the same. Of course, there have been several cases where Western medical doctors have advised their patients to be discharged from their sick beds and be taken home for spiritual or mystical attention because their illnesses have defied Western medications. According to a research on “Addressing Patients’ Spirituality in Medical Treatment,” carried out by a group of medical professors in 2008, led by Marc Galanter, MD, Professor of Psychiatry, New York University School of Medicine, it is agreed that medical care has long been associated with religion and spirituality, “but in recent years a trend has arisen to introduce diverse spiritually oriented approaches in the context of empirically grounded practice” (Galanter et al., 2008, p. 2). The research reviews the application of these approaches in contemporary medical practice, and highlights the relative utility of such applications, “the use of spiritual assessment of the patient, and the role of the clergy and nursing in introducing spirituality into the clinical setting” (Galanter et al., 2008, p. 2). It focuses on recent attempts to establish the utility of such interventions and provides by way of illustration such a programme that the authors have developed and implemented in the general hospital setting. According to them: In the Western tradition, medicine and religion have always been linked— sometimes closely and sometimes farther apart—and religious influences on medical practice and on the ethics of the profession are longstanding. The growth of interest in the interaction of medical practitioners with religion

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and spirituality over recent years has paralleled similar developments in the larger society, as many healthcare providers with a strong spiritual orientation have sought to bring this spiritual aspect of their personal lives more into their clinical work. A major aspect of this movement has involved legitimating the positive relationship between religious involvement, spirituality, and health in many publications in the professional literature. Of comparable importance has been the growing recognition that spirituality and religion permeate the lives of patients as well as many medical encounters. A question to be considered has become not only how to deal with the religious and spiritual aspects of health care, but how they can be introduced into the treatment context. (Galanter et al., 2008, p. 2)

A key technique for addressing spirituality in clinical practice is the spiritual calculation. Spiritual calculations focus on learning whether the patient is part of a supportive faith community, “ascertaining unmet spiritual needs that should be addressed in the course of treatment” (Galanter et al., 2008, p. 2) identifying religious beliefs that might influence medical treatment decisions and identifying potentially harmful spiritual practices such as spiritual struggles that patients associate with their illness. Spiritual struggles are defined as “efforts to conserve or transform a spirituality that has been threatened or harmed” (Galanter et  al., 2008, p.  2) and are expressed in terms of conflict and questioning of one’s spiritual/religious convictions. With a patient who professes to be neither religious nor spiritual, the physician can still enquire into what they are doing to cope with their illness. Practitioners developing long-term relationships with dying patients have developed questions probing deeper into their sense of how their illnesses relate to “what it all means to aid patients in identifying spiritual interventions that might benefit them” (Galanter et  al., 2008, p. 2). The focus here is to further advance biblical or God’s preference of herbal medicines to Western drugs. For instance, in Genesis 1:29, the Bible says, “And God said, Behold, I have given you every herb … and every tree … to you it shall be for meat.” In Revelation 22:2, the bible says, “In the midst of the street of it, and on either side of the river, [was there] the tree of life, which bare twelve [manner of] fruits, [and] yielded her fruit every month: and the leaves of the tree [were] for the healing of the nations.” Ezekiel 47:12 says, “And by the river upon the bank thereof, on this side and on that side, shall grow all trees for meat, whose leaf shall not fade, neither shall the fruit thereof be consumed: it shall bring forth

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new fruit according to his months, because their waters they issued out of the sanctuary: and the fruit thereof shall be for meat, and the leaf thereof for medicine.” Psalms 51:7 says, “Purge me with hyssop, and I shall be clean.” In Isaiah 38:21, the Bible says, “Let them take a lump of figs, and lay [it] for a plaister upon the boil, and he shall recover.” Psalms 104:14–15 says, “He causeth the grass to grow for the cattle, and herb for the service of man.” A research carried out on medical plants of Nigeria in 2013 by Nigeria Natural Medicine Development Agency, Federal Ministry of Science and Technology, in the South-south regions, reveals that, in recent times, several active principles of medicinal plants have been isolated, characterized and their mechanisms of action understood through various research studies. Some of these are: 1. Botanical name: Acanthus montamus. Common name: False thistle Esan name: Ugbilihibhosasa Parts used: leaves, root, twigs, stem Uses: Leaves are used for boils on the finger and are applied as hot poultice to maturate abscesses. They are also used as cough medicine for women and children. Pounded leaves with salt and pepper are eaten for rheumatic pains. A decoction of leafy twigs is taken as a purgative. A leaf macerate is given to children as an emetic and the fresh young growths are taken for heart troubles. The fresh leaves are used for the treatment of chicken pox and stomach ache. Decoction of the leaves is antihypertensive. 2. Botanical name: Asystasia gangatica Common name: Tropical primrose Esan/Benin name: Eboghogiro/Eboghogira Parts used: Leaf, plant sap Uses: Used to treat sores, even bad feet sores. The leaf-sap is put on the nostrils, like syrup, to stop nose-bleeding, and is as an embrocation for stiff neck and for enlarged spleen in infants. The pulp leaf is used as a suppository for pile. The leaf decoction is taken for treatment of fever, epilepsy, stomach pains, heart ache and urethral discharge. The leaf is also used to treat asthma. It also has anti-inflammatory properties. 3. Botanical name: Cleistopholis patens Common name: Salt and oil tree Esan name: Otu

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Part used: Bark and leaf Uses: Used to treat fever. The leaves are used as a vermifuge and febrifuge. Sap from the pounded bark or the bark decoction is used to treat drought tuberculosis and for simple bronchial affections. The bark is steeped in cold water and taken as a purgation. 4. Botanical name: Mangifera indica Common name: Mango Esan name: Imago Parts used: Leaves, stem bark, rook, fruit Uses: Used for malaria, yellow fever, hypertension, anaemia, urine haemorrhage, liver troubles, diarrhoea, insomnia, cough and asthma. 5. Botanical name: Dennettia tripetala Common name: Pepper fruit Esan name: Ohure Parts used: Leaves, fruits, seeds, stem Uses: The leaves are eaten with alligator pepper to improve foetal viability in pregnant women. They are also used to treat depression at the middle head of babies (infants). They are also used as an insect repellent, used to treat fever, cough and toothache, and used as stimulant. 6. Botanical name: Alstonia boonei Common name: Stool or pattern wood Esan name: Ojegbukhu Parts used: Root, bark, leaves. Uses: To cure gonorrhoea, yellow fever, diarrhoea, diabetes, stomach ache. It is also used as febrifuge, tonic and antidote. 7. Botanical name: Picralima nitida (Picralima) Esan name: Egbele Parts used: Fresh/dry roots, leaves, seeds Uses: For body pains and stomach ache; the sap is used for otitis. The powdered seeds are used for pneumonia and other chest conditions. It is also used to treat fever. 8. Botanical name: Nicotiana tabacum (Tobacco) Esan name: Itaba Parts used: Leaves Uses: The juice is used against irritation of the eye. It is used to treat toothache; to cure ringworm, as worm expeller, epilepsy, anaemia; to treat convolution, ulcers, cold and tumours; and so on.

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9. Botanical name: Cocos nucifera (coconut palm/porcupine wood) Esan name: Uvien Parts used: Bark, root, nuts, the milk Uses: For scabies, toothache, urine diseases, bronchitis, liver ailments and dysentery; for burns, hypertension, heart failure; and so on. 10. Botanical name: Dissotis rotundifolia (chickweed) Esan name: Ukhuo-limin Parts used: Leaves, twigs Uses: For hyperthermia, hookworm infections, rheumatism and painful swellings, stomach ache, diarrhoea, miscarriages and so on. According to Felix Iboi, there are several other commonly utilized medicinal plant species even in Ebelle and Ogwa, in Edo State. Some of these are: 1. Usinonmueran used for malaria fever. 2. Monniga for typhoid-fever. 3. Isayo for pile. 4. Akphakha for glaucoma and other related optical problems. 5. Osonmandan is for poison. 6. Ubolo: for ulcer. 7. Apaudegbanon: for worm. 8. Ikhele for toothache. 9. Ukhuonkhen for rheumatism. 10. Ogenlonmon for dysentery. African, and particularly Nigerian, scholars, however, appear not to have enough time for these plants to clinically produce medicines. Yet, as he promises, Damba has been building several universities: public and private. However, the contemporary significance of traditional medicine practice is evident in several research breakthroughs for several diseases, some of which include Nicosan, which has anti-sickling effects and a number of artemisinin-based antimalarial, among others; also, in numerous arrays of herbal products which have merged as cosmetics, dietetic and supplement. But, most of these are carried out by foreigners. This is why, this chapter, inspired by the selected dramatists, challenges Nigerian and African scholars to live up to expectation, and carry out several research on local herbs that herbalists use in curing most diseases in the local areas.

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Herbal medicines are as effective, if not more effective than, Western drugs. They can also be produced as vaccine to treat medical cases that are specific to our environment so as to allay the fear of hygiene. The popular Yoruba adage “Seleru agbo, agbara agbo, ni Osun fi nwe omo re ki dokita o to de” [Before the advent of medical drugs, Osun had always relied on and healed her children with herbal medicine (decoction)] is one clarion call challenging scholars to accede to some native academic responsibilities in the areas of medical-transformation, that is, local ways of growing herbal and plant medication to global reckoning is a unique scientific way specific to African/Nigerian nativity.

Conclusion Over the past decades, there has been increased critical attention paid to the intersection of theatre and medicine, although the relationship between the two is far from new. Medicine and science are central to our society’s efforts to comprehend the mystery of being, to explain pain and to address mortality. Yet, theatre and medicine share a fundamental preoccupation with what goes on between birth and death. Public dissections, which enjoyed considerable intellectual and cultural prestige during the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries, offer us examples of the coming together of medicine and drama/theatre. Seventeenth-century illustrations of the anatomical theatre at Leiden University in the Netherlands depict the ceremonial gathering around a cadaver while it is being ­dissected by surgeons. Much the same as operating theatres, the tiered surgical stages in the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries were sites where the quest for knowledge was paired with a morbid fascination with witnessing raw pain. Surgery was performed on living people without anaesthesia, sterilization or concern for the privacy or dignity of the patient. These spectacles, which have to a great extent shaped the idea of the victimizing medical gaze, projected a forbidden aesthetics of suffering and violence (at least until anaesthesia was developed in the 1840s) and were still considered a legitimate form of entertainment in the 1870s. The operating theatres of early-modern times prepared the ground for the presence of medical figures in Ibsen, Strindberg, Chekhov, O’Neill, and others in late-­ nineteenth- and early-twentieth-century modern drama. From the second half of the twentieth century to the present day, there has been an on-going experimentation with the theatricality of the medicalized, post-human, diseased body, stretching the limits of its finitude

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and mapping its multiple identities. This phenomenon includes: real-life physicians, nurses and medical practitioners who write and perform plays in order to enter more fully the relational dimension of healthcare. Thus, the ways in which the fields of theatre and medicine interconnect to reflect and reshape knowledge and experience prove that theatre is more than a mere instrument to a product-oriented end, such as the training of good doctors; it also stands for the aesthetic moment that occurs when medical and artistic vocabularies converge. Being socio-telic, drama develops from the society, investigates the society, analyses its results and makes its recommendations. These recommendations are what critics identify and advance. The two plays under study have investigated plants in Nigeria and their medicinal or medical values, and they have made the recommendations: 1. Medical students and practitioners should be encouraged to carry out research involving local herbal medical practitioners to further investigate the recommendations of the plays and other related ones. 2. Scholars should not see any collaboration with any local herbal medical practitioners as cultic or satanic. 3. Religious leaders, particularly Christians, should be discouraged from preaching against herbal medicines or the practitioners. They should appreciate what the scriptures preach about herbal medicines. 4. Interpreters or translators of religious messages from one language to another, including the ones on pulpits and films, should supply nuances that are appropriate for specific ones. For instance, the word “herbalist” should not be used for a satanic character or a character that uses magical powers to perpetrate spirituality-related wickedness. According to Rev. Adodo, a veteran herbal researcher who has explored herbal medicines in line with biblical injunctions, in Herbal Medicine and the Revival of African Civilisation (2010), herbal medicine is very important to the existence, civilization and sustainability of the African being and transformation. Apart from being exigent to the economic, social and cultural recovery of Africa/Nigeria, it also redefines and reconceptualizes the African/Nigerian mind and Western perception of the African/ Nigerian man. This is because, for every sickness, there is a plant somewhere in the garden to cure it. Somewhere in the African garden is a plant for the cure of cancer. Somewhere in the African garden is a plant to cure diabetes, or hypertension, or malaria. Medicine, whether orthodox or

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alternative, started in the bush. Many of the most potent drugs ever developed by human beings came from plants. And I believe the best is yet to come. Right there in the African bush, the dead bones shall rise, men and women of wisdom, of vision, and of knowledge shall rise and change the face of the earth (Adodo, 2010, p. vii).

References Adams, R. (1966). The evolution of urban society. New York, USA: Transaction Publishers. Adodo, A. (2010). Herbal medicine and the revival of African civilisation. Ewu: PAX. Aitken, J. (2007). John Newton: From disgrace to amazing grace. Crossway Books. Blight, D. (1998). The Africans in America. WGBH Educational Foundation. Dutta, A. C. (Ed.). (2009). Botany. India: Oxford. Faluyi, M.  A. (2009). Reproductive biology of tropical crop plants. Akure: O&A Books. Galanter, M., Glickman, L., Dermatis, H., Tracy, K., & McMahon, C. (2008). Addressing patients’ spirituality in medical treatment. New York, NY. Henshaw, J. (2010). This is our chance. Lagos: Bounty. Mann, M. (1986). The sources of social power. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. Polanco, M. (2016). Difference between drugs and medicine. Retrieved from www.awakemedia.net Rotimi, O. (1975). The gods are not to blame. London: University Press. Scammell, G. (1995). Essay and reflection: on the Discovery of the Americas and the Spread of Intolerance, Absolutism, and Racism in Early Modern Europe. The International History Review, 13(3), 502–521. Retrieved February 22, 2020, from www.jstor.org/stable/40106426 Solomon, E. P., Berg, L. R., & Martin, D. W. (Eds.). (2005). Biology. Belmont, CA: Thomson. Wright, R. (2004). A short history of progress. Toronto: House of Anansi.

CHAPTER 11

The Indigenous Knowledge of Law in Pre-­ colonial Akwa Ibom Area: A Comparative Study of the Similarities and Differences Between the English and the African Legal System Joseph R. Bassey

Introduction This work is a legal history and historiography. Historiography, according to Arthur Marwick, is the study of “the writing of significant historians (and other scholars and professionals), with interest in what they said and why they said it.”1 Based on the Eurocentric writings about African legal system, this work is a comparative study. It compares the English legal system and the African legal system, using the pre-colonial Akwa Ibom area in the present South-South Nigeria as a case study. As for the period of comparison, in the case of the English legal system the period since the

J. R. Bassey (*) Department of History and International Studies, Akwa Ibom State University (AKSU), Mkpat Enin, Nigeria © The Author(s) 2020 207 S. O. Oloruntoba et al. (eds.), Indigenous Knowledge Systems and Development in Africa, https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-34304-0_11

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pre-Norman Conquest is considered, while in the case of Akwa Ibom customary law system, the pre-colonial and colonial periods are the bases. For comparison, certain terms relevant to this study deserve brief clarifications. Some of the terms are: “law,” “custom,” “customary law” and “common law.” The Black’s Law Dictionary defines the term “law” as “[t]he regime that orders human activities and relations through systematic application of the force of politically organized society, or through social pressure, backed by force, in such a society; the legal system.”2 A custom is a practice that by its common adoption and long, unvarying habit has come to have the force of law.3 Customary law consists of customs accepted by the members of a community as binding among them. The word “customary” means a record or memory of all the established legal and quasi-legal practices within a community.4 Common law is the body of law derived from judicial decisions, rather than from statutes or constitutions. According to Bryan Garner, “Every country has its common law.”5 The similarities in the usages of these terms in both the Western and the African legal systems have already been shown by the present author in his previous work.6

A Brief Profile of Akwa Ibom Area Akwa Ibom Area is in the South-South geo-political zone of Nigeria. It is bordered on the East by Cross River, on the West by Rivers State and Abia State, and on the South by the Atlantic Ocean and Cross River State again. It occupies an area of 7081 sq. km and situated and lying between latitudes 4°321 and 5°331 North, and longitudes 7°251 and 8°251 East. Akwa Ibom is currently the highest oil and gas producing state in the country. It is made up of thirty one local government areas, comprising mostly the Ibibio, Annang, Oron, Eket, Ibeno, Obolo (Andoni) and Itu Mbonuso groups. Uyo is the capital of the state. The Akwa Ibom area was an integral part of Old Calabar, which was first visited by the Portuguese in 1432.7 The area was part of Oil Rivers Protectorate, Niger Coast Protectorate and Southern Protectorate. It became part of Eastern Region of Nigeria until 1976 when South-Eastern State was created. This SouthEastern State was renamed Cross River State in 1976 during the General Murtala Muhammed Military administration, when he created additional seven states. Akwa Ibom state was created by Military President Ibrahim Badamasi Babangida on 23 September 1987 from the former Cross River state. It had a population of 4,805,451, ranking nine out of the thirty six

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states by the 2005 national census, but presently has a population of over five million people. Scholars have shown that the ancestors of the Akwa Ibom people migrated probably “from further north” and occupied the Central Benue Valley along with other populations. Due to the desiccation of the Sahara region after 2500 BC the present Akwa Ibom peoples migrated again from the Central Benue Valley Ibom in the present Arochukwu in Abia State and to Usak Edet in Cameroon between 600 BC and 300 BC. From Ibom and Usak Edet, the people migrated to the mainland where Ikot Oku Ikono and Ibeno districts respectively served as new centres of dispersals.8 Abasiattai relies on linguistic and archaeological researches and asserts that Akwa Ibom people are among Delta-Cross speakers in South-­ South Nigeria, who emerged as a distinct ethnic and linguistic group only between about 4000 and 5000 years ago.9 Some of the Akwa Ibom people migrated from Ibom in Arochukwu after the Aro-Ibibio war in about 1534 when “the leader of the Ibibio warriors who fought the war was captured and slain at Oro Village.”10 The present Akwa Ibom state derives its name from the former abode of the people, Ibom, now located in Arochukwu Local Government Area of Abia State.

Denial of Existence of African Law in Pre-colonial Times Some Western scholars usually assert that Africa, including pre-colonial Akwa Ibom area, had no laws before the arrival of Europeans to the continent and subsequent establishment of colonial rule, which imposed, among other things, the English legal system on the people. For instance, Margery Perham, one of the Eurocentric writers, who studied South Eastern Nigeria, wrote that the “territory is composed of a mass of peoples among whom the institution of chieftaincy, in any of its usual African forms, hardly exists, and which, by European standards, and for purpose of easy administration, are entirely unorganized.”11 To support her argument, Perham quoted a sixteenth-century report by a European Sea Captain who wrote that: “In the sixteen century, one of our Sea Captains reported them a people of beastly living, without a god (sic), laws, religion or commonwealth.”12 In another publication, Perham wrote: “Until the very recent penetration of Europeans, the greater part of the continent was without wheel, the plough or the transport animal, without stone

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houses or clothes except skin, without writing or without history.”13 Perham, the Sea Captains/explorers, missionaries, administrators and other Eurocentric writers are implying that the pre-colonial Africa had no laws, no government and that the people were in a state of anarchy. Contrary to these Eurocentric views, Malcolm N. Shaw, acknowledged as “one of the world’s leading international lawyer,”14 has asserted that law is not an exclusive idea or invention of the Western or the so-called civilized world. Relying on world history, Shaw has rightly asserted that: In the long march of mankind from the cave to the computer a central role has always been played by the idea of law—the idea that order is necessary and chaos inimical to a just and stable existence. Every society, whether it be large or small, powerful or weak, has created for itself a framework of principles within which to develop. What can be done, what cannot be done, permissible acts, forbidden acts, have all been spelt out within the consciousness of that community. Progress, with its inexplicable leaps and bounds, has always been based upon the group as men and women combine to pursue commonly accepted goals, whether these be hunting animals, growing food (crops) or simply making money.15

Malcolm Shaw’s liberal view has the support of many Western and African jurists and law teachers and researchers such Akintude Obilade who states that “every society, be it primitive or civilized, is governed by a body of rules, which the members of the society regard as the standard of behaviour.”16 The position that pre-colonial African communities had their own laws even before the arrival of the Europeans is given more credence by Udo Udoma’s empirical work wherein he has concluded that, Traditionally, indigenous African political systems of government were essentially and basically democratic, founded, as they were, on social structures, which determined the rights and obligations of individuals within a given group and defined the territorial and associational units of society. Well-established and articulated constitutions provided for formal leadership and authority within each group.17

Discussing the general nature of law, Kiralfy, a British legal scholar, asserts: All communities are governed by laws of some kind. The uniform observance of some minimum standards of conduct is necessary if any group living in society is to survive and function normally… Even the most cynical of

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men have realized that laws will be most effective and the community strongest if its laws correspond as much as possible with the sentiments and feelings of right and wrong of the members of the community … The rules of law ought therefore to accord with the wishes of the people, so far as the issues involved attract popular attention. The history of law is the history of a continuous development. Deliberate legislation goes back to early times.18

All these conclusions by both the Western and African legal pundits and historians point to, among other things, the fact that Africa including the pre-colonial Akwa Ibom area had their indigenous laws before the arrival of the Europeans and their colonial rule. As will be shown later, the Akwa Ibom law had been developed from time immemorial whereas the English written common law was developed in 1189, a year fixed as the beginning of “legal memory.” One of the characteristics of the English legal system “is its continuous growth since medieval times” and “the ample development of native principles made it unnecessary to import foreign legal systems.”19 This strikes a similarity: African laws, like the English laws, developed from “native principles.” The “native principles” involve customs and usages that have been evolved by the people over a long period of time and through many generations. The Period of Invention of English Common Law and Akwa Ibom Area Customary Law In terms of the period of invention, it has been documented that the English common law originated in the early Middle Ages in the King’s Court known as Curia Regis. King’s Court or Curia Regis was a single royal court set up for most of the country at Westminster, situated near modern-day London. Like many other early legal systems, the English common law did not originally consist of substantive rights but rather of procedural remedies. Reportedly, the working out of these remedies has, over time, produced the modern system in which rights are seen as primary over procedure. Until the late nineteenth century, English common law continued to be developed primarily by judges rather than by legislators.20 The age and origin of the English common law are further exposed by one internet source, which states that:

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The common law of England was largely created in the period after the Norman Conquest of 1066. The Anglo-Saxons, especially after the accession of Alfred the Great (871), had developed a body of rules resembling those being used by the Germanic peoples of northern Europe. Local customs governed most matters, while the church played a large part in government. Crimes were treated as wrongs for which compensation was made to the victim.21

King Henry II contributed greatly to the development of the English common law. King Henry ruled England from 1154 to 1189. He opened royal courts and strengthened them by sending royal judges to every part of the England at least once a year. The judges’ duties included tax collection, settlement of lawsuits and punishment of criminals. Also, King Henry introduced the use of jury in English court to further empower the judicial system. In medieval England, a jury was a group of loyal people who were usually twelve in number and were neighbours of the accused. The jury would answer all the questions as put to them by the judge concerning the facts of a particular case. Reportedly, jury trials became a popular means of settling disputes in England. However, only the King’s courts were allowed to conduct settlement of cases by jury. “Over the centuries, case by case, the rulings of England’s royal Judges formed a unified body of law that became known as common law.”22 McDougal Littell’s World History dates the European Middle Ages as a period after the fall of the Roman Empire and spanning from around 500 to 1500 AD.23 George Guest would shift the period of the Middle Ages a little backward to between 476 AD when the Dark Ages began in Europe and 1453 when the modern world started with the capture of Constantinople by the Turks.24 For F. K. Buah, from about AD 476 to 1400 is the medieval period or the Middle Ages, while the period from about 1400 to the present day is called the modern age. From The System of Law That Has Developed in England From Approximately 1066 to the Present, it has been stated that “When William, duke of Normandy, also known as William the Conqueror, vanquished England in 1066, there was no English law as the Americans of 1776 came to know it.”25 It could be inferred from these European authorities that the English law started most probably in 1066, the year the Norman Conquest of England began, followed by the capture of Jerusalem by the Seljuk Turks in 1076. Thus, in terms of age, the Akwa Ibom area customary laws are older than the English common law. The Akwa Ibom area customary laws date back to

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antiquity. Relying on archaeological, linguistic, anthropological and archival evidence as well as oral traditions, Abasiattai in his historical work has shown that the Akwa Ibom people had settled in the Cross River Basin and developed their various aspects of culture including customary laws in the “period stretching from antiquity to about between 600 B.C. and 300 A.D.”26 From about 300 to about 1750 AD the people already settled and expanded their civilization. These dates serve as hard-core evidence showing that while the Akwa Ibom area, nay, Africa, was enjoying its civilization, England and indeed the entire Europe were in the “Dark Ages.” As one African historian aptly put it, As a result of constant invasions by barbarian tribes, civilization which had flourished under the rule of the Roman Empire came to a standstill. Development in learning, architecture, science, (law) and art slowed down or stopped altogether. Because of the many wars between the petty kingdoms, life became unsafe. A kind of ‘darkness’ covered life in Europe. For this reason, the period from about A.D 450 to 800 is sometimes called the ‘Dark Ages’.27

The atavistic nature of the Europeans pushed them into many wars, which could last for more than one hundred years.28 Unlike Africa, Europe was in the state of dark anarchy for more than 500 years. It is with profound interest to note that while darkness covered life in Europe, certain African kingdoms and empires such as Ashante, Timbuktu, Kanem-Bornu, Yoruba, Benin, Igbo, Ibibio, Ijaw, Jukun, Old Calabar, Idoma as well as the Akwa Ibom area were at the apogee of their respective civilizations. As one Ghanaian historian rightly recalled, “Europe remained in this state (of darkness) for over 500 years before there was any real rebirth of interest in learning and culture.”29 This has proved wrong Professor Huge Trevor-­ Roper, who in 1962 when his students demanded for some courses in African history said: “Perhaps, in the future, there will be some African history to teach. But at present, there is none; there is only the history of the Europeans in Africa. The rest is darkness… and darkness is not a subject of history.”30 Africa was never in darkness, but Europe was engulfed in darkness for over half a century. The Akwa Ibom area legal system was at advanced stage of development when the European marauders, who, on coming out of the long period of darkness, moved into Africa and instituted the Atlantic Slave

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Trade that lasted for more than 400 years and after its abolition, first by Great Britain in 1807, the Europeans again instituted other exploitative, oppressive and suppressive mechanisms often referred to as imperialism and colonialism, which were legalized by the Berlin Conference of 1884–1885 and the General Act of Berlin (1885). Contrary to that misleading Eurocentric opinion, the Akwa Ibom area was well organized with laws, gods and religions to regulate their lives and their relations among themselves. There were small kingdoms, clans and villages with indigenous democratic principles.31 According to an Intelligent Report on Ediene and Itak, the pre-colonial Ediene Kingdom, though small in size, was ruled by a Priest King with a crown title known as Okuku.32 The Ediene Priest King was assisted in his judicial, executive, legislative and administrative functions by the family heads, village heads, clan heads and a council of ministers. The council of ministers was composed of indigenous chieftaincy title-holders who were responsible for agriculture, trade and commerce, security, religion, recreation and so on. Each of these and other sectors was regarded as ministries. Deserving chieftaincy title-­holders took charge of the “ministries” and their positions were equivalent to those of the modern ministers or commissioners, except that theirs were hereditary.33 As the present author has shown in previous publications, between 1841 and 1872, international trade was carried on in the Niger Delta including the Akwa Ibom area without the English or Western law; the Europeans made use of the indigenous judicial institutions to settle commercial disputes.34 While “the main body of English law” was introduced in the Colony of Lagos in 1863, apart from the British Treaties which dated to 1841, rudimentary English law was introduced in Niger Coast Protectorate in 1872.35 More fundamental changes in the indigenous judicial system, therefore, began to occur in 1872 following the promulgation of the Order-in-Council in that year. By virtue of the 1872 Order, membership of all the African Kings and Chiefs or middlemen and traders in the Court of Equity ceased. Thenceforth, the British took over virtually all the judicial, legal and political powers and authorities of the Natural Rulers and institutions in the acquired territories. However, more and more remarkably changes occurred in 1891 when Major Claude MacDonald was appointed High Commissioner and Consul-General of the Oil Rivers Protectorate. From that year (i.e. 1891), MacDonald became the new “paramount ruler” and by 1900 when Great Britain took over direct administration of the Northern and Southern Protectorates,

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virtually all the judicial powers of the natural rulers had been replaced with the English legal system. As Nair36 rightly noted, the judicial system established by the colonial administration represented an important transition in the change from the preservation of the social equilibrium by chiefs to the impersonal justice of the courts acting under the rule of law. Fundamentally, the traditional legal system of the Akwa Ibom area changed due to the British incursion. The changes could be seen in terms of methods and procedures as well as the ultimate aims of law and justice. Under the imposed English legal system, the council of elders could no longer play the dominant role. In the first place, the courts were no longer held in the King’s and Chief’s palaces as before. Bribery and corruption were no longer rare in the indigenous courts. The gradual introduction of a modern system of legal procedures finally did away with the traditional legal system. The ultimate objective of law was no longer the application of the idea of reconciliation between conflicting interests or the idea of obtaining reciprocity but the punishment of the offender.37 External Influence on the English Common Law and Akwa Ibom Area Customary Law Unlike the English who did not import foreign legal systems from Roman Empire as done by “most European and Asiatic countries,” African societies helplessly witnessed massive imposition of the English legal system and distortion of their indigenous laws, especially since the nineteenth century. However, though the British did not import their laws from Roman Empire, they cannot sustain any claim that their present laws are purely indigenous: The present English legal system has been profoundly influenced by the Anglo-Saxon and Norman traditions. The Vikings invasions and the Norman Conquest were very important in the evolution of Britain and the English legal system. They therefore deserve a brief discussion here. After the Dark Ages (470–800) Britain was battered by fierce raids of Danish Vikings. The Vikings invaders were so feared by the people to the extent that a special prayer was usually said in Churches, thus: “God deliver us from the fury of the Northmen.” King Alfred the Great (871–899) was the only person that could chase out the Viking invaders. Fortunately, King Alfred and his successors gradually united the Kingdom under one rule. They called the United Kingdom England, meaning “Land of the Angles.” The Angles were not indigenous to Britain; rather,

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they were one of the Germanic tribes that invaded Britain. Another invasion was launched by the Danish King named Canute in 1016. England was conquered and the Anglo-Saxons and the Vikings were united as one people. In 1042, King Edward the Confessor being the descendant of the Anglo-Saxon Alfred the Great took the throne. Unfortunately, Edward died in 1066 without an heir, resulting in rivalry for the throne. The struggle for the throne led to another invasion led by William the Conqueror, the Duke of Normandy, located in the Northern France, which had been conquered by the Vikings. The Normans, though descendants of the Vikings, were French in language and in culture. Being King Edward’s cousin, William the Conqueror claimed the English Crown and invaded England using the Norman army. William was challenged by Harold Godwinson, who also claimed the throne. Godwinson was an Anglo-­ Saxon, equally ambitious as his rival, William. The struggle for the throne by Godwinson and William led to war between the Normans and Saxons on 14 October 1066. It is said that this war changed the course of English history. After Godwinson was killed in the battle, William the Conqueror declared all England his personal property. While the English lords who supported Godwinson lost their lands, William granted fiefs (estates) to about 200 Norman lords who swore oaths of loyalty to Harold Godwinson personally, thus laying the foundation for centralized government in England.38 Local customs and local courts suffered the same fate in Britain and Africa. Kiralfy reported that “local customs were discouraged by the Normans and local courts brought under the control of the royal court at Westminster.”39 So, like the present Akwa Ibom area legal system which had been adulterated during the colonial rule, the original English laws and institutions had been altered and, in some cases, buried during the Vikings Anglo-Saxon and the Norman Conquests. Lagos and Old Calabar offer illustrations of how the British presence brought fundamental changes to the indigenous laws of the people. After the bombardment of Lagos in 1851 and annexation of Lagos to the Crown in 1861 and imposition of the English legal system in 1862, the existing local customs were greatly discouraged, and the indigenous courts were brought under the Crown as Lagos became a Crown Colony. In Old Calabar, including the Akwa Ibom area, the local customs and local courts were brought under the control of the British Consul, especially since 1891 when Claude Macdonald was appointed the Consul-General of the Oil River Protectorate with Old Calabar as it headquarters.

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Characteristics of the English Common Law and the Akwa Ibom Area Customary Law  (a). Unwritten Law 5 Critics often condemn African laws as no laws because according to them African laws are not written down. Unwritten law is not peculiar to Africa. Even in the United Kingdom not all the laws operating therein are written down. This much has been admitted by the scholars including Legal Historian Kiralfy who has stated authoritatively that “[m]any parts of English law have never been codified.”40 Matthew Hale has classified the laws of England into two kinds, namely: Lex Scripta, or the written Law; and Lex non Scripta, or the unwritten Law. He also asserts that “all the laws of this (United) Kingdom have some monuments or memorials thereof in writing, yet all of them have not their original in writing; for some of those laws have obtained their force by immemorial usage or custom, and such laws are properly called Lexes non Scriptae, or unwritten laws or customs.”41 One part of Matthew Hale’s classification of the English law strikes fundamental similarities with the African customary laws. First, like the United Kingdom Lexes non Scriptae, African customary laws are largely unwritten, or Lexes non Scriptae. Second, some the laws of the United Kingdom derive from “monuments or memorials,” implying antiquity, history or oral traditions, just as African customary laws depend on oral traditions as a veritable source. Like the English common law, African customary laws obtain their force by immemorial customs and usages. Lack of codification of the English common law makes it difficult to proffer solutions to specific legal problems compared to other European states with codified laws. As rightly observed, Many parts of English law have never been codified. Foreign lawyers consider this a serious criticism of the English system, and accuse it of uncertainty, when compared with the complete and well-drafted codifications of other countries…. Few codes (developed by other European countries) are so rich in detail as to offer solutions to specific legal problems which are better than those provided by English law.42

The above observation presupposes the fact that most of the laws introduced to Africa and imposed on people were defective and confusing. As the imported English laws were full of uncertainties due to lack of

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c­ odification, they opened rooms for unjust court decisions and punishment of the innocent during the colonial rule. Examples of unjust judgements abound, including the trial and deportation of King Ja Ja of Opobo, the trial and deportation of King Overanmi, the trial and hanging to death Chiefs Okuri and Oden of Ediba, the trial and hanging of Chief of Mkpok.43 Like the English laws, some of the Akwa Ibom customary laws are not written down but are embedded in the breasts and hearts of the juries. In the contemporary times, the need to document African customary laws has been seen as a necessity but controversial. The controversy emanates from the form which the written law should take. While some argue for codified form of customary law which will require legislative backing, others posit for loose form or manual form of written customary laws. The reasons for the unwritten nature of African laws are very understandable. For one, by the time the European imperialists and colonizers arrived, many African communities did not yet perfect their indigenous art of writing such as Nsibidi and Medefidrin44 in the case of Ibibio, Efik, Ekoi, Ejagham, Oron peoples of the Lower Cross River region of Nigeria. Of course, the combined negative impact of the Trans-Atlantic slave trade, imperialism and colonialism and their accompanying instability did not encourage further development of the indigenous writings which could have led to written laws of the people. It must be added that every human community had passed through the prehistoric period, when history or laws could not be written down. In fact, until about 4000 years ago, people anywhere in the world did not know the art of writing, and therefore, could not write down their histories or laws.45 The flexible nature of customary laws provides a strong reason why the indigenous laws should not be codified. Codified customary laws will automatically take away the important characteristics of flexibility of the people’s law. This much has been noted by the Akwa Ibom State Law Reform Commission that has stated that, it is agreed that customary law by its nature is, “flexible and shows unquestionable adaptability to alter circumstances without entirely losing its character”. It is the belief of some people that to reduce our customary laws into a written form will automatically deprive it of this important characteristic of flexibility particularly if the written law takes the form of a code.46

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 (b). Flexibility of English Common Law and Akwa Ibom Area 5 Customary Law Both the English common law and the Akwa Ibom area customary law are flexible in nature. The flexible nature of the common law and customary law are demonstrated by the Historical School of Law, which holds that “customary law may complete, modify, or repeal a statute; it may create a new rule, and substitute for the statutory rule which it has abolished.”47 This was further demonstrated in the case of Owonyin v. Omtosho where the Court held that customary law is “a mirror of accepted usage.”48 In Alfa v. Arepo, the Court further held that customary law is flexible as its rules change from time to time to reflect the changing social and economic conditions of the people.49 In Levis v. Bankole, Osborne C. J. said in 1908: “One of the most striking features of West African (including Akwa Ibom area) native custom (or customary law) … is its flexibility; it appears to have been always subject to motives of expediency, and it shows unquestionable adaptability to altered circumstances without entirely losing its character.”50 Many changes have occurred in the Akwa Ibom area customary laws in recent times. It was customary for the first male child to inherit his late father’s house and to take the largest share of his landed property. This has changed in many families and communities. The legal custom of killing or selling persons involved in crimes of murder, stealing, adultery and witchcraft has changed. Such criminals are now punished by the state. In some communities, female children are now allowed to inherit their father’s property, unlike before when females were completely excluded from inheritance as such was considered a taboo. This radical change is in line with the recent Supreme Court judgement51 that has voided the Igbo law and custom which forbid a female from inheriting her late father’s estate, on the grounds that such custom is discriminatory and conflicts with the provision of the Nigerian Constitution.52 Source of English Common Law and Akwa Ibom Area Customary Law 6(a). Precedent Another similarity between the English common law system and the African customary law system is the practice of following precedent of previous court decisions and the unchallenged authority of the judges to

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declare the law. In England, this practice was developed in the medieval times. “The practice of following previous judicial decisions is very old in England … and the English judges through their important positions in the medieval state enjoyed a high degree of respect.”53 According to Lorna Elliott, the English common law is in effect legal precedent that is made by judges sitting in court. Unlike statutory provisions, which are laws that are codified as Acts of Parliament, the common law is constantly changing. The reason for changing nature of the common law is attributed to the fluid way in which judges interpret the law using their knowledge of legal precedent and common sense and by applying the facts of the case they are hearing to those prior decisions. English law works on a common law system, as opposed to a civil law system, which relies on statute and certain texts.54 The practice of following the precedent was prevalent in Akwa Ibom area even before the arrival of the British and their subsequent imposition of colonial rule on the people. For instance, a British colonial administrator, R.J.R.M. Curwen, in his Intelligence Report on Ediene and Itak clans in Calabar Province, stated that “one Ediene Chief … he is blind, but is carried to Court and follows the proceedings with alert interest and sums up evidence and precedents clearly and vigorously.”55 The “one Ediene Chief” referred to by Curwen was Okuku Udo Etuk Essien, a Crown Chief and Village Head of Udung Ikot.56 Udung Ikot is now known as Obio Ediene, which has been split into two villages with distinct village heads.57 This implies that precedent and its use in Court and administration of justice were not new to the African juries or judges, neither were they an exclusive invention of the Europeans.  (b). Oral Traditions 6 Like the African societies, the Saxons made use of oral tradition as a source of common law. However, when the Normans took over “Oral Saxon customs lapsed into oblivion.”58 Kiralfy reported that local customs of Norman origin were recognized in the royal courts though they were ­discouraged and that rural customs survived into modern times as forms of copyhold tenure, which ultimately derived from the division of the English population into Norman lord and Saxon serf. Like the Akwa Ibom area customary law, the English “common law is a living law.”59 The English common law grew from minute origins to enormous proportions. The English common law system operates retrospectively, declaring what the law is and has been rather than what it shall

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be. By this declaratory theory, it has been possible to date the earliest types of action at law in various fields, such as the earliest actions on contract not contained in a sealed document. Dating legal issues to the earliest times implies the use of oral traditions or oral history especially given the fact that such earliest actions were not documented or codified. Similarly, oral traditions and oral history constitute a veritable source of Akwa Ibom customary law. According to Kiralfy, “great men could make a will or “cwide.” Conveyancing of land was oral, but often evidenced by written charters, especially where special terms were stipulated. Most land descended by popular customs of descent and was known as “folkland” governed by folkright. Some forms of feudalism had begun to evolve in England before the (Norman) conquest. Local customs lingered on in the walled boroughs much longer than in the feudal countryside, especially in London which made its separate peace with King William.60 It thus appears that the English law and punishment of offenders were constructed to safeguard and maximize economic interest of the ruling elite in Britain and such system was extended to the Akwa Ibom area and other parts of Africa. Their major economic interests were on land and labour. This assertion has been alluded to by a British scholar when he wrote: “English law was formed in feudal time when land was all-­ important. Even today all activities are carried on upon the land and all material things come from or out of the land.”61 No wonder, most of the conflicts among people and between countries could be traced to lands. The positions of customs in Borough and in the counties were not the same. The county customs were recognized by the English common law. In Kent, the special system of gravelkind descent has lingered on into the present-century Britain. Some customs of counties also survived. Like the principle of immemoriality that must be observed in African oral traditions, “the royal courts laid down the rule that county custom was only valid if immemorial.”62 Unlike the Borough customs as shown above, the county customs could not be transferred from one county to another. Also, the county customs could not be changed unlike the Borough customs which could be changed even without the King’s permission. Emphasis was placed on immemoriality of the customs because, like the African customary law, the English law was preserved by oral traditions. Kiralfy put it more pointed that “At first immemoriality must have referred to the actual memory of any person living, since in the first centuries after the Conquest law was preserved by oral tradition.”63 The similarity

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between the English customary law and Akwa Ibom customary legal system concerning the use of oral traditions should be seriously noted, as this has debunked the Eurocentric view that Africans had neither history nor indigenous law until the arrival of the Europeans and imposition of colonial rule on the people. Two examples of cases are given here to further demonstrate the fact that the Western laws depend on history and customs of the people, just like the Akwa Ibom customary laws do. Indeed, a famous example of its (Justinian’s Institutes) use is the 1805 case of Pierson v. Post, in which a New York judge, deciding on a case that involved a property dispute between two hunters over a fox, cited a Roman law principle on the nature and possession of wild animals from the Institutes as the precedent for his decision. Reportedly, today Pierson v. Post is often one of the first property law cases taught to American law students. The United States v. Robbins, a 1925 California case that went to the Supreme Court and paved the way for the State’s modern community property laws, was based upon a concept of community property that California inherited not from English common law but from legal customs of Visigothic Spain that dated to the fifth century CE. Cases such as these illuminate the rich history that unites and divides the civil and common law traditions and are a fascinating reminder of the ancient origins of modern law.64 However, over-reliance on the written records by the English courts and litigants to prove customs has led to the disappearance, or rather the extinction, of numerous customs and oral traditions. “As records were maintained in writing the central courts appear gradually to have limited customs to those recognised when the earliest records started or not contradicted since that time,” that is, “after the time of memory.” In 1346, at the court of the Prince of Wales held at Macclesfield, the defendant demanded judgement based on common law used in the county of Cheshire and throughout England. On the contrary, the plaintiff in that case of simple contract claimed based on custom at Eyres of Macclesfield. The King’s Bench held that there was no such custom since the Eyres had first been in the time of Edward I “after the time of memory.”65 The phrase “after the time of memory” means the end of dependent on the unwritten immemorial oral traditions as source of English customary laws. It happened that, as time went on, customs that were not written down in the custumals or Year Books were not recognized and therefore could not be pleaded in court. This posed problems and frustration as both the courts and people could not determine the exact

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date of the commencement of the written law or the “legal memory” as opposed to the unwritten immemorial oral traditions. Therefore, in order to solve this problem, “they (the King and courts) fixed on the year 1189 as the beginning of legal memory, an appropriate date as most royal court rolls (documents or records) start(ed) about that time.” In other words, the English written law started in 1189. As noted above, if this date is taken into consideration, it means that the English law is relatively young, while the indigenous Akwa Ibom customary laws date from time immemorial because of its dependence on oral traditions, which have been transmitted from several thousands of generations to another and up to the present.  (c). Customs and Mores 6 Although the Western legal minds have managed to admit that the African customary laws are laws and not mere “mores” or “ethics,” they criticize them for not being in written form. Such criticism is dismissible because according to the Historical School of Law represented by a German aristocratic Jurist, Friedrich Carl Von Savigny, good and humane laws are rooted on the history of the people, including oral traditions which are not written down. According to Von Savigny, “however far back one goes into the past of a people one will always find some laws governing them.”66 Both the English common laws and the Akwa Ibom customary laws are “mores,” which have a universal meaning of being customs derived from generally accepted practices. In other words, mores are derived from the established practices of a society rather than its written laws. Eugene Ehrlich postulates that the real law of the society is the prevalent norms and values in the society. The norms and values of any society are embedded in the histories of such a society. Any law that is at variance with popular conduct cannot achieve its objective as an instrument of social control. In his Fundamental Principles of the Sociology of Law,67 Ehrlich has emphasized that the living law is the norms and values as found in the society. Living law reflects the real values and dominates the society’s life. Custom emphasizes a relatively long time frame while conduct can be for a moment or shorter period of time.68 Like Africans, the Europeans recognized customs as a source of law, just as precedent legislation and oral traditions are. Customs give rise to customary law, which are rooted on the history of the people. In both Africa and the Western world, customs have been recognized as the earliest and important form of law in itself. Interestingly, the English common

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law was regarded as law and custom of England.69 Relying on Allen’s Law in the Making, Kiralfy shows custom as an important source of the English law. According to him, Custom has itself been the ultimate source of many rules later incorporated into legislation or indulging judges to give particular decision. Beyond this, however, custom has been in earlier times an important form of law in itself, recognised as binding before it was the subject of any decision. The common law was regarded as the “law and custom of England” and no rival body of custom could be set up as in force throughout the whole country. It was possible, however, to rely on local customs of various kinds.70

The English legal historian has also shown the relationship between customs and history. He stated clearly that: These customs figure in our (English) historical sources in various guises … (and) actions were brought specifically for a declaration of custom or for the enforcement of customary rights … (action) to enable successors to recover goods to which they were entitled on intestacy under local county customs. The existence of some customary right or liability in most cases became material in the course of some other kind of action. In a suit for nuisance by flooding, for instance, the plaintiff would claim that the defendant was bound by local custom to repair a sealed wall. In an action of assault and battery the defendant would plead that the plaintiff tried to stop him from exercising some customary right. In an action of trespass to land the defendant would allege a customary right of way across that land to the parish church.71

Similarly, the pre-colonial Akwa Ibom indigenous courts usually relied on the customs of the people to settle land cases, inheritance (testacy and intestacy), nuisance, assault and battery, defamation, trespass and other customary rights. In some African communities, customs may be classified into family custom, lineage custom, village custom, clan custom and “tribal” or “ethnic” customs. In spite of these theoretical classifications, certain customs may run through the entire area. Under the early English legal system, the recognized categories of customs were Borough custom, County custom and Manor and Parish customs. Apart from the customs being copied by one Borough from another Borough, they might be changed from time to time without the permission of the King. For instance, in 1445, the Burgesses of Coventry were

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empowered by the Charter Rolls of Henry VI “to ordain and add any fresh custom where there was previously no remedy.”72 Bristol had earlier been given similar grant by the King in 1373. Due to these adaptations, many Boroughs had quite different rules of law. The Borough had compiled volumes known as custumals or collections of customs of the people. The custumals were said to be poor in statements of substantive rule, but concerned with administrative details. “As time went on, most of the special rules in the Boroughs seem to have died out.”73 Further extinction of the Borough customs was checked by the deliberation act of employing barristers to record the proceedings of the Borough courts and prevailing customs. “In the seventeenth century it was common to appoint barristers from the Inns of Court in London as recorders of Boroughs.”74 Apart from developing and keeping the judiciary records, the activities of the lawyers no doubt hastened the inevitable trend towards uniformity with the English common law. In practice, if a Borough custom could not be strictly proved, it was presumed that the common law would apply. Similarly, the Akwa Ibom customary laws have now been documented as a Manual of the Restatement to preserve customary laws and advocate, promote and expand the use of the indigenous justice, social philosophies and systems (and make it) suitable for the management of the people in their traditional societies.75 Again, unlike before where the affairs of the customary courts were conducted entirely by lay men, now the Chief Judge of the Akwa Ibom State appoints seasoned Lawyers to preside the affairs of the customary courts in the state.76

Summary and Conclusions The foregoing are strong and weighty pieces of evidence of general similarities between the English common law and the Akwa Ibom area customary laws that were invented by the people long before the British incursion and subsequent imposition of the colonial rule. Against the Eurocentric view that Africans did not have law and history of their own until the coming of the Europeans and their colonial rule, this chapter has compared the English common law with the pre-colonial Akwa Ibom area customary law based on the universally recognized and frequently used legal terms such as “law,” “custom,” “customs and usages,” “customary law,” “institution” and “common law.” It shows that these terms are common to both the British and the Akwa Ibom people, except that the latter use the terms in their indigenous language. It is further submitted as follows:

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First, that characteristically, both the English common law and the Akwa Ibom area customary law are unwritten and flexible. Second, that both English Common law and Akwa Ibom area customary law have precedent, oral traditions, customs, mores and history as their main sources. Third, that both the British and the pre-colonial Akwa Ibom people practised trial by ordeals. Fourth, that the early English laws were more crude, cruel, barbaric and inhuman than the pre-colonial Akwa Ibom laws. As one British legal historian has rightly reported, “Anglo-Saxon law was much older and cruder form of legal redress than the law imported by the Normans, whatever other merits there were in Anglo-Saxon institutions. This law exhibited a curious amalgam of barbaric violence and religious piety.”77 Fifth, that as shown above, some of the indigenous Akwa Ibom legal and judicial practices were recommended and adopted by the British colonial officers in the administration of justice in the area under study and beyond. Sixth, that in terms of originality, the English common laws could largely be traced to France and Germany, outside Great Britain itself. The English common law greatly owes part of its origins to the Vikings and Norman Conquests. Unlike the English common law, the Akwa Ibom area customary laws are indigenous and not imported but invented by the people out of their experiences, customs and usages; And finally, Seventh, that but for the excruciating effects of Trans-Atlantic Slave Trade, European imperialism and colonialism, it is certain that the pre-colonial Akwa Ibom laws would have been more modernized many centuries before the development of some aspects of the English laws. The fact that the British colonial officials had made use of some of the pre-­colonial Akwa Ibom judicial institutions and practices strongly supports the view that, indeed, the people of area had contributed to the ­development of the legal system in pre-colonial, colonial and post-­colonial Nigeria.

Notes 1. Arthur Marwick, Nature of History (Macmillan Press: London, 1979), p. 16. 2. Bryan A.  Garner (Ed.), Black’s Law Dictionary (USA: Thomson West Publishing Company, 2004), p. 900. 3. Garner (Ed.), Black’s Law, p. 413.

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4. For definitions of “legal custom,” “local custom,” “customs and usages” and “customary” see Black’s Law Dictionary, p. 413. 5. Garner, Black’s Law Dictionary, p. 293. 6. Joseph R. Bassey, “Comparative Study of the Similarities and Differences Between the Origins of the English Legal System and Pre-Colonial Akwa Ibom Area Legal System,” Akwa Ibom State University Journal of Arts 2, 2017, pp. 32–48. 7. E.  O. Effiong-Fuller, Calabar: The Concept and Its Evolution (Calabar: University of Calabar Press), pp. 14–16; A. J. Latham, Old Calabar 1600– 1891: The Impact Of the International Economy Upon a Traditional Society (Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1973), p.  17; Joseph Robert Bassey, “The British Palm Oil Trade, Judicial Development…,” p. 81. 8. M. B. Abasiattai, “History of Cross River State,” in M. B. Abasiattai (Ed.), Akwa Ibom and Cross River States: The Land and the People and their Cultures (Calabar: Wusen Press Ltd., 1987), p.  50; M.  B. Abasiattai, “Prolegomenon to Akwa Ibom State: A Historical Framework,” in Etop J.  Usoro and Philip Akpan (Ed.), Akwa Ibom State: A Geographical Perspective (Enugu: Immaculate Business Support Services, 2010), pp. 1–15. 9. Abasiattai, “Prolegomenon…,” p. 3. 10. http://logbaby.com/encyclopedia/akwa-ibom-state-nigeria-overviewhistory-and-summary. Retrieved January 21, 2018; see also Onwuka Dike and Felicia Ekejiuba, The Aro of South-Eastern Nigeria 1650–1980 (Ibadan: University Press Limited, 1990). 11. Margery Perham, Native Administration in Nigeria (London: Cambridge Press, 1967), p. 21. 12. Ibid. 13. Margery Perham, “The British Problem in Africa,” Foreign Affairs 29 (3), July 1951, p. 2. 14. Malcolm N. Shaw, International Law (Cambridge University Press, 2010), p. i. 15. Ibid., p. 1. 16. Obilade, The Nigerian Legal System, p. 3. 17. Udoma, History and the Law, p. 1. 18. A.  K. R.  Kiralfy, The English Legal System (London: Sweet & Maxwell Limited, 1960), p. 1. 19. Ibid., p. 3. 20. Common Law, https://www.britannica.com/topic/common-law. Retrieved September 9, 2017. 21. Ibid. 22. McDougal Littell (Ed.), World History: Patterns of Interaction (Evanston: A Houghton Mifflin Company, 1999), p. 317.

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23. Ibid., p. 353. 24. George Guest, The March of Civilisation (London: G. Bell and Sons Ltd., 1974), pp. 236–238. 25. The System of Law that Has Developed in England From Approximately 1066 to the Present. English Law, http://legal-dictionary.thefreedictionary.com/Common+law+of+England. Retrieved September 9, 2017. 26. M. B. Abasiattai, “History of Cross River State,” in M. B. Abasiattai (Ed.), Akwa Ibom and Cross River States: The Land, the People and Their Culture (Calabar: Wusen Press Ltd., 1987), pp. 47–69. 27. Buah, West African and Europe, p. 5. 28. See for example the “Hundred Years War” which lasted from 1338 to 1450. 29. Buah, West African and Europe, p. 5. 30. Hugh Trevor-Roper, “The Rise of Christian Europe,” in The Listener (London, November 28, 1963), p.  871. Cited in Erim and Uya (Eds.), Perspectives and Methods of Study in African History, p. 1. 31. A. E. Afigbo, The Warrant Chief: Indirect Rule in Southeastern Nigeria, 1891–1929 (London: Longman Group Limited, 1972). 32. R.  J. M.  Curwen, NAE: EP./7989 A/MIL Gov/5/1/6 “Intelligence Report on Ediene and Itak Clans of Ikot Ekpene, Old Calabar” (25 July, 1931). See also NAE: EP 1240/N.A. 10/1923 Memorandum on Method to be Adopted on the Selection of Ibibio Native Court Members” (3 November, 1930). 33. NAE: EP./7989 “Intelligence Reports on Ediene…,” pp. 22–26. 34. Joseph R. Bassey, “Trade Without Law in the Niger Delta Territory, 1841– 1872: A Study in Legal History,” Journal of Contemporary Reflection 3 (1), October 2013, pp. 123–132. 35. Joseph R. Bassey, “How the British Developed Modern Legal System in the Niger Coast Protectorate, 1872–1914,” African Journal of Culture, Philosophy and Society 3 (1), September 2013, pp. 114–126. 36. Nair, Politics and Society, p. 216. 37. Bassey, “The British Palm Oil Trade…,” www.theijhss.com, p. 89. 38. Littell, World History, pp. 352–353. 39. Kiralfy, The English Legal System, pp. 3–4. 40. Ibid., p. 4. 41. Matthew Hale, “The History of the Common Law of England” (1713), http://www.constitution.org/cmt/hale/history_common_law.htm. Retrieved September 9, 2017. 42. Kiralfy, The English Legal System, p. 4. 43. Bassey, Impact of International Rule…, pp. 98; 273–287; 241–243; 98. 44. Abasiattai, et al., The African Pentecost…, pp. 115–132.

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45. F.  K. Buah, West African and Europe (London: Macmillan Education Limited, 1977), p. 1. 46. Akwa Ibom State Government, A Manual of the Restatement of the Prevailing Customary Laws of Akwa Ibom State (Uyo: Law Reform Commission, 2011), p. xii. 47. Savigny, System Vol. 1, cited in T. O. Elias, The Nature of African Customary Law (Manchester: The University Press, 1962), p. 44. 48. Owonyin v. Omotosho (1961) 1 All Nigeria Law Reports (All N.L.R.) 304 at p. 309. 49. Alfa v. Arepo (1963) Western Nigeria Law Reports, p. 95. 50. Lewis v. Bankole (1908) 1 Nigeria Law Report (N.L.R.) 81 at pp. 100–101. 51. Supreme Court Upholds Right of Female Child to Inherit Properties in Igboland, http://www.cracong.org/supreme-court-upholds-right-offemale-child-to-inherit-properties-in-igboland/. Retrieved July 13, 2017. 52. See Section 42 of the Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria, 1999 (as amended). 53. Kiralfy, The English Legal System, p. 4. 54. Lorna Elliott, “Common Law in England,” http://www.courtroomadvice.co.uk/common-law-england.html. Retrieved September 9, 2017. 55. Intelligence Report on Ediene…, p. 4. 56. Ibid., p. 25. 57. Interview with Okuku Ben Udo, Village Head of Edemiyere, Ediene Clan, Ikono L.G.A. 18/01/2018. 58. Kiralfy, p. 8. 59. Ibid., p. 8. 60. Ibid., pp. 25–26. 61. Ibid., p. 19. 62. Ibid., p. 132. 63. Ibid., p. 132. 64. The Common Law and Civil Law Traditions, https://www.law.berkeley. edu/library/robbins/CommonLawCivilLawTraditions.html#skip_main_ content. Retrieved September 9, 2017. 65. Cited in Kiralfy, The English Legal System, p. 132. 66. Savigny, System Vol. 1, cited in T. O. Elias, The Nature of African Customary Law (Manchester: The University Press, 1962), p. 43. 67. Cited in Elias, The Nature of African Customary Law, p. 41. 68. A. O. Sanni, “Law in Social Context,” in A. O. Sanni (Ed.), Introduction to Nigerian Legal Method (Ile-Ife: Kuntel Publishing House, 1999), p. 9. 69. Carleton Allen, Law in the Making, p. 127, cited in Kiralfy, The English Legal System, p. 130. 70. Kiralfy, The English Legal System, p. 130.

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71. Ibid., p. 131. 72. Ibid. 73. Ibid. 74. Ibid. 75. A Manual of The Restatement of Customary Laws…AKS,…. Foreword, p. viii. 76. Interview with Barr. Edet Udoasu, Practicing Lawyer, Uyo, Akwa Ibom State, Nigeria, 6 January 2018. 77. Kiralfy, The English Legal System, p. 25.

CHAPTER 12

The Resilience of Ondo Indigenous Adjudicatory Institutions 1915–1957 Charles K. Omotayo

Introduction Before the advent of the Europeans and the eventual establishment of the colonial administration in Yoruba land, there was a system of justice and administration of law that was based on the customs and traditions of the people (Fadipe, 1970). The Yoruba people had ways of settling their civil and criminal cases, by means of an institution as old as the history of the Yoruba people themselves (Onadeko, 2007). Yoruba culture was an amalgam of realities permeating all aspects of life: knowledge, beliefs, art, politics, customs, religion, law and justice. Law and justice was part of the political culture which had been in place before European incursion. This legal aspect of Yoruba culture presupposes that peace and harmony had flourished for a very long time in the society. Ondo Kingdom was not an exception of this legal culture as evidence, which will be presented by this study, has gone to show that the Kingdom had established indigenous

C. K. Omotayo (*) Department of History and International Studies, McPherson University, Seriki-Sotayo, Ogun State, Nigeria © The Author(s) 2020 231 S. O. Oloruntoba et al. (eds.), Indigenous Knowledge Systems and Development in Africa, https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-34304-0_12

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judicial tribunals before the coming of the colonial administrators and even with the establishment of colonial rule and eventual formation of the Native Court in Ondo in 1915, the people continued to have abiding faith in the indigenous judicial tribunals which existed side by side with the colonial judicial institutions. Ondo Kingdom is located on latitude 07°06′ North and longitude 4°5′ East in the tropical rain forest belt of Nigeria. It belongs to the moist forest zone of Ondo State. The kingdom is bounded in the north by Akure the capital city of Ondo state, in the South by the Ilaje /Ese Odo and part of Ijebu in Ogun state while in the east, it is bounded by the Owena River (Adeyemi, 1993). This study essentially covered the whole of Ondo Kingdom, including the adjoining villages, communities and settlements which were typically Ondo. Ondo Kingdom was composed of a homogenous community. Apart from Ode Ondo, the capital of the kingdom, there were other towns and villages that were under the hegemony of the Osemawe of Ondo. This study covers all such villages as part of the Ondo Kingdom. The period between the years 1915 and 1957 which the study focuses on is to properly situate the resilience of Ondo indigenous judicial institutions generally and the Jomu tribunal which this study is using as case study in proper historical perspectives. The year 1915 which is the starting point is historically significant because it was the year Native Courts was introduced in Ondo. This brought changes in the indigenous system of adjudication as the colonial administrators tried to discredit the indigenous courts through their various activities. The terminal period, the year 1957, is also historically significant and remarkable in the history of Ondo since the year witnessed the successful re-institutionalization of indigenous chieftaincy institutions through gazette of the government. It was in 1957 that the government of the old western region, under Chief Dauda Adegbenro, the then commissioner for chieftaincy and local government adjusted the chieftaincy structure and functions through a gazette (National Archive Ibadan, Ondo Province 1/1 2168c/10). It is imperative to state that the period under review of study is important because this was the time when the indigenous adjudicatory systems in Ondo experienced colonial challenges resulting from the establishment of native courts and the promulgation of several ordinances which were contradictory to the system hitherto practiced before 1915. It is therefore, significant to unfold how the indigenous system survived these upsurges.

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Indigenous Tribunals in Ondo Kingdom During the period under review in Yoruba land there was no society that was totally free of crime and criminality but the degree of their presence or occurrence varies from one society to the other. This to some extent determines the mechanisms that would be put in place to checkmate the trend and incidence, and Ondo Kingdom was no exception as there were various indigenous adjudicatory systems. In Ondo Kingdom, judicial machinery was in most cases in the hands of titled chiefs except where the security of the state was involved. Ondo indigenous adjudicatory systems evolved with the political culture which is as old as the history of the people (Olaoba, 2008). This presupposes the fact that the law which was practiced in the indigenous tribunals was part of the cultural heritage of the Ondo. However, this judicial machinery was structured and classified into different indigenous tribunals with each specializing in a sphere of jurisprudence. The Osemawe’s Court Like in other Yoruba kingdoms, the Oba of Ondo Kingdom (Osemawe) had a court that was supreme and held in high esteem by his subjects. The Ondo monarch was regarded as the representative of the gods. He was also addressed as Kabiyesi, an expression which is a contracted form of the sentence ki a binyin kosi (there is no question of anyone querying your authority). Akinbinuade (2004) states that the Osemawe’s court was different from the state council (The Eghae). The state council, otherwise known as the Osemawe-in-council, was the apex policy making body of Ondo comprising the high chiefs (king makers) with the Osemawe as the head. Though the Osemawe presides over both the state council and his court ceremoniously, in practice there were palace judges who were saddled with the responsibility of overseeing the administration of the Osemawe’s court. They included Lisa, Ayadi, Orunoba, Legiri, Losare, Yegunwa, Lijoka and Lurowo (Akinbinuade, 2004). These chiefs were the adjudicatory officers and administrators of the Osemawe’s court. All members of the Eghae were automatic members of the state council but not all members of the state council were members of the Osemawe courts except in special cases where all stakeholders need to be part of the adjudication especially if the case was involving a titled chief (A. B. Akinsade, personal interview, June 2013).

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The Osemawe’s court was the highest court of appeal. Criminal cases were handled at the Oba’s court. The idea of classifying cases into either civil or criminal existed among the Ondo, and a criminal was called odaran. To be considered odaran in Ondo, one had to commit a heinous offense that could not easily be settled or dismissed as trivial. Such cases included homicides, treason and felony, burglary, accidental or provoked manslaughter, assault and rape, while civil cases included willful damage of property, quarrel, insult, debt and other offenses. Any appeals from the other courts especially from quarter chiefs’ courts were addressed by the Oba’s court. The quarter chief would definitely be a member of the Oba’s court, as a chief in the town, but he would have to allow the other chiefs to adjudicate on cases that come from his quarter. He usually introduced the parties involved in the case. The Oba gives judgment after listening to the litigants and to the contributions of his chiefs. This court seats once in every fourteen days (Iye Poona, Personal Interview, July 2013). With the establishment of the Native Court in 1915, the Oba’s court became the Native Court with colonial interferences and the Osemawe as president; this really affected the status of the court but never diminished the confidence of the people in indigenous adjudication as they continued to patronize other indigenous tribunals. The Lobun’s Court The first Oba in Ondo was a female (Oba Pupupu), and she was the last woman to reign as Osemawe. Although a decision had been made never to have a female ruler again, women nevertheless are entitled to have a female leader, Lobun, which means the owner of the market,1 and is also referred as Oba Obirin (woman king). The Lobun’s major responsibility is the installation of a new king. Many mysteries and taboos surround the title which makes it extremely difficult to get a replacement when the seat is vacant. A very significant norm regarding the position is that whenever a Lobun dies, a replacement cannot be made until the reigning Oba dies. The new Lobun is elected for the main purpose of installing the Oba. This development must have accounted for the difficulty encountered in finding a replacement for the position after the demise of the Lobun. Olupona noted, “Once a Lobun is appointed, it was forbidden for her to engage in any domestic duties. She may not step on an upswept floor early in the morning and she may not eat any food prepared the previous day”. In addition, it is the daughter of the Lobun or a woman within the lineage that succeeds her. Her power and significance in Ondo culture are often

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reflected in a rhetorical question often asked to caution pride or rebuke arrogance in a girl/woman: We de se Lobun i? Are you Lobun? the woman king? Or how come, you are arrogating to yourself the importance of king Lobun? This proverb shows the significant role played by the Lobun in checking women morality (Olupona, 1992). By the virtue of her position, the Lobun operated a tribunal that was principally meant for women and market-related squabbles. She was also in charge of Ondo markets as well as the priestess Aje (god of wealth and prosperity). It is the responsibility of Lobun to open new markets and perform necessary ceremonial rites that pertain to this (Akinbinuade, 2004). Her tribunal, unlike that of the other high chiefs, was the court of first and last instances. Cases tried in her court cannot be appealed against. Her judgments were final and her pronouncement was accepted as the verdict of the goddess of wealth. The Lobun does not operate alone. A cabinet of female chiefs supports her. Their duties were (i) maintenance of order in the town’s market places and (ii) performance of the ritual purification of the market when the need arises. The Lobun courts seat every market day (Mrs. Cecilia Adebayo, Interview, July 2013). The Sashere’s Court The Sashere is a high chief and a prominent member of the state council. He was next to the Odunwo in hierarchy and could be regarded as the equivalent of Lord Chancellor and keeper of the seal. He took care of the Odotu quarter and had the Ologbosere as a collaborator2 (Fawehinmi, 1991). Traditionally, he was the chief responsible for external relations, and was the foreign affairs minister. By the nature of his responsibility, he operated a special court that was meant for strangers and treated cases that were based on business-related issues. For instance, in 1891, Sashere Fasida (Otokola bi ogodo) was one of the chiefs of Ode Ondo appointed by Oba Ajilobioje to discuss with some indigenes of the town who had for long been resident in Lagos, to come back home and acquire land for enterprise (Fawehinmi, 1991). Also, in 1896, as Fawehinmi state Sashere Awosika (Ayotilerewa) was asked to try and persuade the missionaries in Ondo, their converts and other strangers in town to cooperate with those from Lagos who were interested in enterprise in Ondo. The Sashere’s court was not a regular court and in most cases it was meant to support ­non-­indigenes of the town. Cases involving non-indigenes were usually transferred to his court on request.

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The Logbosere’s Court The Logbosere is the most senior of the ekule chiefs and head of the otu chiefs. Lloyd reported that the Logbosere presided over a judicial court which heard all cases prior to their reaching the highest court which was the Oba’s court (Lloyd, 1962). Reacting to this, Chief J. O. Akinsade, the Layegbo of Ondo, revealed that the Logbosere court was not a court per se but a review tribunal, which ensured that cases brought to the palace of the Osemawe were worthy to be presented to the Osemawe (J. O. Akinsade, Personal Interview, June 2013). This presupposes the fact that cases that were not worthy or considered not worthy were treated by the Logbosere. This was how the Logbosere’s court came into existence. It is not a court that attracts litigation from the people but a court that attends to cases sent to the Oba’s court and considered not worthy of the king’s attention. The Logbosere maintained a close relationship with the Oba, visiting the palace several times daily assisting in the administration of the community. In some quarters, the Logbosere is regarded as the clerk or secretary of the Osemawe (O.  Ogedengbe, Personal Interview, May 2013). The Jomu’s Court The Jomu of Ondo Kingdom is one of the prominent high chiefs, king maker and third in the traditional hierarchy of Chiefs in Ondo Kingdom. The Jomu’s stool is a hereditary title that is reserved for the descendants of Jomu Nla. In the body of Ondo oral traditions, Jomu Nla was a great warrior who reigned during the time of Oba Airo. According to Chief J. O. Akinsade, the secretary of Jomu dynasty from 1980 to 2011, Jomu Nla was a warrior who came from Benin. He accompanied Oba Airo back to Ondo when the Oba was called to come and take over the kingship of the kingdom after the demise of his mother pupupu. His father was a native of Benin and his mother was from Ondo. Although Jomu Nla was not the only one that accompanied the Oba back home, he became prominent and played a significant role in the consolidation of Ondo hegemony over neighboring towns and villages. He eventually became a key member of the traditional hierarchy in Ondo.

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The Jomu of Ondo has always played a key role in the indigenous judicial administration of Ondo Kingdom. According to Fawehinmi (1991), the judicial career of Jomu Akinwumiju was divided into two periods. The first period began when the Osemawe ceased to be president or member of the minor court. It was also a period when the high chiefs were rotating the presidency among themselves. The period was from 1922 to 1934. He remarked that this change was necessitated by the Native Courts Ordinance of 1922, and this was the period Jomu attained his judicial excellence. The second phase, according to the author, was necessitated by the promulgation of the Native Courts Ordinance of 1933 which allowed for a system of appeal from the judgments of the Minor Court to another Native Court of Appeal. The implication of this ordinance was that a District Native Court of Appeal was created and presided over by the Osemawe who was assisted by the Jomu and other high chiefs. Between 1915 and 1933, the colonial judicial adjudicatory system in Ondo was subjected to series of changes. These changes were in response to the growing popularity of the indigenous adjudicatory system. It is instructive to state here that the regular changes which characterized the Native Court leadership were because of the low cases of litigation recorded. The Ondo people continued to patronize the indigenous tribunals for the settlement of conflicting claims. To curtail this, the colonial administrators deemed it fit to bring on board the chiefs in charge of the indigenous tribunals into the Native Courts, with the hope that the people would embrace the Native Court but this never happened because the indigenous tribunals were deeply rooted in the culture of the people. High Chief Akinwumiju, the Jomu of Ondo during this period, became more popular for his judicial prowess as he combined the statutory responsibility of the Native Court and his indigenous tribunal. Fawehinmi reports that when Jomu Akinwumiju was made President of the Native Court, he presided over cases in the Native Court during the day and returned home to preside over the Jomu’s tribunal in the evening. What this presupposes is that Jomu’s tribunal was operational even with the Jomu as the President of the Native Court. The judicial dexterity of Jomu Akinwumiju was noticed by the colonial administration. The District Officer, Mr. Spottingwoode, in 1930, wrote: It must be admitted however that Chief Jomu’s explanation of the altitude of the court is a sound one—namely that judgments for plaintiff in this case would give rise to a good deal of vexation(sic) litigation and would be a bad

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precedent generally. (Cited in R.  O. Fawehinmi’s Makers of Ode Ondo, Vol. 1, p. 34)

The period when the Jomu’s court came into existence is not actually known. However, according to local proverbs (owe) of the Ondo people, it shows that the Jomu’s court had been in existence for a long period of time. Ondo people believed that taking one another to Jomu’s court was just too sensitive because the relationship between the two parties will become altered (A. B. Akinsade, Personal Interview, June 2013). Hence they employ owe to discourage people from going into any legal tussle in Jomu’s court if there was an alternative conflict resolution strategy (Akinmade, 2005): E e ti kootu jomu bo wa‘li wa s‘omo‘ye. Nobody comes back from Jomu’s court to become brothers.

This was so because the Jomu’s court was a place where all hidden secrets and offenses were exposed and that was one of the reasons why the Ondo people continued to have abiding faith in the Jomu’s court. From the above proverb, two inferences can be drawn: the use of the word kootu Jomu in the proverb shows that the Jomu’s court had been in operation for a period of time for it to have gained a place in the consciousness of the people’s proverb; it also signifies the power of the Jomu’s court in revealing hidden secrets. In Ondo Kingdom, because proverbs are passed down from one generation to the other as truthful sayings tested by usage, information derived from them are likely to be more authentic than that which may be obtained from other forms of oral literature (Akinmade, 2005).

Why Ondo People Continued to Have Faith in Indigenous Tribunals The guiding objective of Ondo indigenous judicial adjudication, just like any traditional African adjudicatory system, was to restore peace and social harmony within the community by ensuring that disputants and their respective supporters are reconciled (A. B. Akinsade, Personal Interview, June 2013). This was further captured by Allott: At the heart of [traditional] African adjudication lies the notion of reconciliation or the restoration of harmony. The job of a court or an arbitrator is less

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to find the facts, state the rules of law and apply them to the facts than to set right a wrong in such a way as to restore harmony within the disturbed community. Harmony will not be restored unless the parties are satisfied that justice has been done. The complainant will accordingly want to see that the legal rules, including those which specify the appropriate recompense for a given wrong, are applied by the court. But the party at fault must be brought to see how his behaviour has fallen short of the standard set for his particular role as involved in the dispute, and he must come to accept that the decision of the court is a fair one. On his side he wants an assurance that once he has admitted his error and made recompense for it he will be reintegrated into the community. (Allott, 1968, p. 131)

The above has captured the philosophy of the Ondo indigenous adjudicatory system and it could be regarded as one of the cardinal reasons why the people continued to have abiding faith in them. Involvement of the People In Ondo Kingdom, conflict between two members of a community was regarded as a problem which afflicts the entire community. To restore harmony, therefore, there must be general satisfaction among the community at large, as well as among the disputants, with the procedure and the outcome of the case. In Jomu’s court for instance, public consensus was, moreover, necessary to ensure enforcement of the decision through social pressure. It was, therefore, not surprising that the procedures used in adjudicating justice in Jomu’s court allowed members of the public to tender evidence and generally make their opinions known. Explaining this, the Jomu of Ondo revealed: Although judgment was delivered by me on the advice of my chiefs, Everybody had a right to speak in an orderly manner, to put Questions to witnesses, and to make suggestions to the court. This privilege was extended to the audience who could give their Opinions concerning the proceedings. (A. B. Akinsade, Personal Interview, June 2013)

The Jomu and his chiefs would sit for hours listening to what by Western standards might be considered a mass of irrelevant details. This was done to settle the disputes once and for all so that the society could thereafter continue to function harmoniously.

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Rituals of Re-integration Genuine acceptance of a judgment was recognized as essential for the ending of hostilities between disputants and the restoration of harmony within the community. To confirm acceptance by both parties, they may be expected to eat from the same bowl or drink from the same cup, especially in family-related squabbles. This forms part of the reconciliatory approach intrinsic to all indigenous tribunal in Ondo Kingdom. The Lobun’s traditional arbitration however is noted for this particularly. The audiences, especially members of the family or compound, also partake in the eating and drinking as an expression of their acceptance of the offender back into the community. In Jomu’s court, both parties will be asked to share kolanut or drink from the same cup as a sign of reconciliation. Restorative Penalties The main purpose of the Ondo indigenous arbitration during the period under review was to restore social harmony and reconcile the parties. The penalties, therefore, usually focus on compensation or restitution in order to restore the status quo, rather than punishment (A. B. Akinsade, Personal Interview, June 2013). This is not to say that punishments were never meted out when necessary. The type of punishment depended on the case. However, sometimes depending on the tribunal, the tribunal may order the restitution of, for example, twice the number of the stolen goods to their owner, “especially when the offender has been caught in flagrante delicto” and fines may be levied. Imprisonment never existed as a penalty for any offense in Ondo indigenous courts. This was so because cases that would warrant imprisonment were sent to the Oba’s court or state council. Flexible Rules of Evidence and Procedure It has been argued that the credibility of evidence is determined from the arbitrator’s “intimate and direct knowledge of the dispute” (Baxi, 1986) which makes an elaborate system of rules of evidence, procedure and pleading unnecessary. At the Logbosere’s court hearing, disputants simply tell their stories as they consider relevant. These lengthy oral testimonies have been seen as equivalent to “pleadings” that produce “a ritually sanctioned purge of anger and emotions as well as a complete exposition of the circumstances” (Bush, 1979). As already noted, the adjudicators of Jomu’s

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court also show the greatest reluctance to cut short any member of the public—no matter how irrelevant the contribution may turn out to be— where that person claims to have special knowledge of the facts, or simply desires to comment (Elias, 1952). Although the judges listen to all kinds of statements of fact, they do classify evidence as interested and uninterested, and direct or circumstantial or hearsay, and may advise parties and witnesses not to repeat hearsay, particularly in cases not involving kinsmen. They look for corroboration, and they weigh evidence by several tests including divination. Norms and Tradition as the Legal Framework To achieve lasting reconciliation, the arbitrators of the Ondo indigenous court take many factors into consideration. Norms and tradition of Ondo, however, remained the guiding framework of justice. The law of the land is embedded in the norms and customs of the land. “Law in the African society is never defined in a vacuum as it necessarily puts on the gown of culture for optimum performance” (Olaoba, 2002) What is legitimate depends on the culture and cultural standards of the people and it is upon this that decisions are taken in the Jomu’s court. Chief J. O. Akinsade, a member of the Jomu’s court panel of arbiters, revealed: After listening to cases from both sides, we have to look Into what our culture says about such situation. Our culture is our constitution.

This can further be explained from the proverb of the Ondo people Omo‘nen le sengwa sengwa da mu s‘aya. That your child is beautiful does not mean you can marry her.

The implication of this proverb shows that there are certain things that are abominable which, no matter how enticing, you must stir clear off. Ondo people see marrying one’s child or incest as an abomination (Akinmade, 2005).

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Appeal to the Supernatural One fundamental feature of the indigenous adjudicatory system of the Ondo people which could be said to be one of the reasons why the people continued to have abiding faith even during the colonial administration was the appeal to the supernatural force. Investigating a crime in Ondo Kingdom during the period under review became necessary whenever an offender was not known or whenever the matter of litigation goes beyond the understanding of the adjudicators. There were various methods used but the commonly adopted method used in finding out the person who committed an offense was trial by ordeal. Trial by ordeal as a judicial method for the ascertainment of the truth and discovery of an unknown criminal was very common during the pre-colonial epoch and even during the colonial administration, it was noticeable and evident. Adewoye (1977) pontificates that “Ordeals were of many kinds, varying from one community to another. There was, for instance, the Oyin Lele Egbele ordeal among the Urhobos and Itsekiris in the Niger Delta. A fowl’s feather was besmeared with some juju; if the feather quill easily passed through the tongue of a defendant or accused person that was believed to be an indication that a false charge had been laid against the person”. In criminal cases among the Kalabari as among the Urhobos on the determination of witchcraft, an accused person could be asked to swim across a creek full of crocodiles. “He was judged innocent if he came out alive” (Elias, 1952) Trial by ordeal, which method borders more on the proof of innocence or guilt than on fact finding, was a universal phenomenon. Its existence is not peculiar to the continent of Africa. Adewoye (1977) provided a more holistic perspective to the matter under review when he said inter alia: “All human societies have at one stage or the other of their legal development employed the ordeal for the judicial determination of the guilt”. In Ondo, trial by ordeal was a common feature of indigenous adjudication before and during the colonial administration. P. E. M. Richards, the district officer in Ondo, in his report to the Resident Officer of Ondo Province in 1925, wrote: On February 24th, a complaint was made to me by one Asani, a native of Ibadan, to the effect that he had been the victim of a trial by ordeal in Ondo. Another victim swore that he had made a public complaint to the Osemawe and council without obtaining redress of any kind. It is quite obvious, that

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the majority cases of offence against native law have for years been tried in Ondo by ordeal, in fact the Chiefs themselves have now admitted to me that such has been the practice. (National Archive Ibadan: Ondo Province 2/5 c2/1925)

The upshot of the above is that trial by ordeal in Ondo had been in existence long before the coming of colonial administrators, and was part of the indigenous adjudicatory systems. As a feature of Ondo indigenous judicial system, trial by ordeal was also a common feature in Jomu’s court. Various forms of ordeal were practiced in Ondo during the period under review as described by Adeyemi (1993) as follows: • The Feather Ordeal: Feather is supposed to pass through the tongue. If it passes through easily, the verdict is “not guilty”, but if it sticks the accused is guilty. • The Leaf Ordeal: A bundle of leaves of a certain kind is made and the parties undergoing the test draw out one. Some leaves will draw out easily and some will stick, with the same result as in the feather ordeal above. • The Eye Ordeal: A new broom is pointed at the eyes of the examinee and after inquiring into the matter the person performing the ordeal will examine the eyes of the examinee and if they pale and water, he or she is guilty. • Sasswood or “Obo” Ordeal: Used to prove innocence in a case of an accusation of witchcraft against anyone. “Obo” (bark of a tree) is pounded in a mortar into powder. The powder is put in a basin or calabash filled with water and the man or woman who wished to prove his or her innocence will drink the water. If the party dies, his guilt has been established. His corpse would be taken outside the town boundaries to be thrown into the forest unburied. If death does not follow, then the party has established his innocence and the person who had led him to drink the obo would be severely dealt with by the chiefs. However, trial by ordeal was not adopted for all cases; it was adopted only for cases that required quicker result. And in most cases, it was carried out on request by parties involved in dispute, especially on adultery cases. The feather and leaf ordeals were the common trials adopted for minor cases such as theft, family squabbles and land dispute. While the sasswood or eye

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ordeals were for offenses regarded as heinous. For example, someone accused of adultery may be asked to drink from a ritual mixture prepared with the sasswood powder. If that person died from it, it was assumed that he or she had committed the offense. This was the common trial by ordeal in Ondo and it was in most cases meant for witchcraft and adultery cases.

Conclusion In the colonial intelligence report on Ondo in 1935, it was reported that a dispute would first go to the quarter chief in his house, helped by the four chiefs in the quarter next in seniority to himself. This shows that the Ondo people had evolved a strong system of indigenous adjudicatory system before the arrival of the colonial administrators, and even with the introduction of the colonial judicial institutions, the people continued to have abiding faith in the indigenous tribunal, thereby serving as a threat to the survival of the Native Court which was subjected to several changes between 1915 and 1933. This study was inspired to primarily correct the erroneous notion that Africans had no legal culture before the coming of the colonial administrators and that it was the colonial administrators that instituted African jurisprudence. Interrogating the Ondo Indigenous adjudicatory judicial system, this study has shown that the appeal to the supernatural, rituals of re-integration, restorative penalties and participation of the people in the adjudicatory process were the reasons why the indigenous adjudicatory system in Ondo survived the onslaught of colonialism.

Notes 1. Extract from “Our Great Monarch” final burial monograph of late Oba(Dr) F.I.A Adesanoye, Saturday 22nd, April 2006, p. 2. Published by the Ondo Development Committee (ODC). 2. The Odotu is a quarter in Ondo Kingdom with a chief that is answerable to the Osemawe of Ondo Kingdom.

References Adeyemi, M. C. (1993). Ondo Kingdom: Its history and culture (N. Aluko-Olokun, Enlarged). Ibadan: Bounty Press Limited

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Adewoye, O. (1977). The judicial system in Southern Nigeria, 1854–1954. London: Longman. Akinbinuade, K.  O. (2004). The history of Ondo Kingdom. Ondo: Kejok Communications. Akinmade A. C. (2005). Yoruba-Ondo proverbs: A literary study of themes, functions and poetic devices. A PhD thesis in the Department of English, Faculty of Arts, University of Jos. Allott, A. N. (1968). African Law. In J. D. Derrett (Ed.), An introduction to legal systems. London: Sweet & Maxwell. Baxi, U. (1986). People’s law in India: the Hindu society. In M. Chiba (Ed.), Asian Indigenous Law. London: KPI Limited. Bush, R.A. (1979). A Pluralistic Understanding of Access to Justice: Developments in Systems of Justice in African Nations. In M. Cappelletti & B. Garth (Eds.), Access to Justice (Volume III): Emerging Issues and Perspectives (pp. 261–310), The Florence Access to Justice Project, Sijthoff and Noordhoff. Elias, T.  O. (1952). Nature of African customary law. Manchester: Manchester University Press. Fadipe, N. A. (1970). The sociology of the Yoruba. Ibadan: Ibadan University Press. Fawehinmi, R.  O. (1991). Makers of Ode—Ondo. Vol. 1, published in accessed from the Gbobo Fawehinmi Library, Laje road, Ondo. Lloyd, P. C. (1962). Yoruba land law. London: Oxford University Press. National Archive Ibadan: Declaration of Native Law and Custom in Respect of Jomu Chieftaincy. Ondo Province 1/1 2168c/10. National Archive Ibadan: Ondo Province 1/1 140, p. 55. National Archive Ibadan: Ondo Province 2/5 c2/1925. Olaoba, O.  B. (2002). An introduction to African legal culture. Ibadan: Hope Publications. Olaoba, O. B. (2008). Yoruba legal culture. Lagos: New Age Publishers Ltd. Olupona, J. F. (1992). Kingship, religion and rituals in a Nigerian community: A phenomenological study of Ondo-Yoruba festivals. Ibadan: Layday Ltd. Onadeko, T. (2007). Yoruba traditional adjudicatory systems. African Study Monographs, 29(1), 15–28. Interview with High Chief A.  B. Akinsade the Jomu of Ondo Kingdom, in his palace at Odojomu on 25/6/2013. Interview with Chief J. O. Akinsade, The Layegbo of Ondo and Secretary of the Ojomu Dynasty 1980–2011 on 14/6/2013. Interview with Chief Omotayo Ogedengbe, 66 years, quarter chief of ijokodo. 14/4/2013. Interview with “Iye Poona” 80 years, Lobun compound on 13/7/2013.

CHAPTER 13

Indigenous Knowledge Systems and Food Security in the History of Hausaland: An Examination of Food Preservation and Storage Practices Umar Muhammad Jabbi

Introduction The rapidly growing population in Nigeria and the considerable annual variation in the amount and distribution of rainfall underscore the importance of preservation and storage of agricultural food products for food availability and accessibility at all the times. Agriculture, which provides a source of livelihood for the rural dwellers, who constitute the most of our population, has been subjected to a number of government policies which seem to have concentrated more on aspects of production and marketing but less on preservation and storage, the twin processes that are crucial for food availability at all times. As part of the effort to ensure their continued survival and welfare, the people of Hausaland have invented several ways of handling their food products to preserve and safeguard them from spoilage and attacks from

U. M. Jabbi (*) History Department, Usmanu Danfodiyo University, Sokoto, Sokoto, Nigeria © The Author(s) 2020 247 S. O. Oloruntoba et al. (eds.), Indigenous Knowledge Systems and Development in Africa, https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-34304-0_13

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insects and rodents. It was through these and other postharvest management systems that the Hausa people were able to face the uncertainties of the season in the area. Despite its usefulness, the indigenous knowledge system has long been despised as devoid of any scientific content and therefore valueless (Osunde & Jibowo, 1996, p. 46). This misconceived idea about indigenous knowledge has adversely affected our developmental efforts in many areas of human needs. The concept of ‘indigenous knowledge’ throughout this chapter refers to the accumulated common sense knowledge, ideas and techniques of a people living together in a certain area generated by their own and their ancestors’ experience. This includes even knowledge originating elsewhere that has been internalized by the local people. This allows local people to solve local problems using endogenous solution which they have full control of. It also provides a basis for decision making on survival strategies. Article 10 of the 2007 United Nations declarations on the right of indigenous people acknowledges the value of indigenous knowledge; it states: Indigenous people have the right to maintain and develop their political, economic and social systems or institutions, to be secure in the enjoyment of their own means of subsistence and development and to engage in all their traditional and economic activities. (Young & Shafie, 2013)

Food security refers to secure access to sufficient food to meet increasing demand to mitigate fluctuations in output and price. The Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO), an organ of the United Nations, defines food security to mean ‘the availability of adequate food supplies at all times, that all persons have means to access to it, that is nutritionally adequate in terms of quantity, quality and variety, and that it is acceptable within the given culture’. Access to adequate supply of food could be through growing it or means of purchasing it throughout the entire year. Food insecurity is the opposite of this, the lack of access to sufficient and quality food for an active and healthy life (Adegbola, Bamishaiye, & Daura, 2001, p. 57).

The Study Area Hausaland is the land of the Hausa people. It is a very vast territory of which more than half is now in Niger republic. Adamu, in line with Smith’s geographical definition, gave the territorial expanse of Hausaland as

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‘stretching from Azbin in Air mountain area in the north to a few Kilometres south of Kufena and Turunku in Zazzau in the south and from the middle of the Niger valley in the west to the eastern boundaries of Niger republic and Northern Nigeria in the east’ (Adamu, 2010, pp. 144–145). This study will, however, concentrate on the Nigerian side of Hausaland despite the fact that the practice and techniques of food storage throughout Hausaland seem to share some similarities. Three major ecological zones have been identified in Hausaland and they included the Northern Guinea ecological zone, the Sudan ecological zone and the Sahel Savanna Zone. The supply of rainfall (an important factor in food production and the types of crops to be cultivated) decreases as one moves from the south to the northern parts of the area. In addition, this is an area where there is considerable annual variation in the amount and distribution of rainfall (Norman, Pryor, & Gibbs, 1979). It was partly for these uncertainties in the weather conditions that informed the adoption of mixed cropping by our farmers as some crop species are likely to react differently to variations in weather. This is a rational decision as it could offset the risk of crop failure.

Indigenous Knowledge of Preservation and Storage With the indigenous knowledge that dryness is an important condition for food crop preservation, farmers in this area have learnt to ensure that the moment their millet or sorghum crops matured, the stalks are cut near the base and left on the field for sun drying to ensure that all the moisture content is ejected out of the seeds. After being left for weeks or days on the farm and is considered dried enough, the head of the plant where the seeds are attached is cut off and tied in bundles (Damma) for transportation to the family compound or any other place prepared for storage (Hays, 1975, p. 117). The Hausa people of Northern Nigeria have developed various forms of storage facilities which are all based on a thorough understanding of the environment. Some of the prominent food storage facilities included straw storage structures (Rumbu), earthen granaries (Rufewa), Kundu (circular rolled thatch container) for unthreshed beans storage and bags. The straw storage structures and the earthen granaries are the most common storage facilities used in the storage of millet and sorghum among the Hausa people. The normal storage practice has been that grains not for immediate use are kept within the cavity of the granary unthreshed. This is in line

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with an old wisdom of preserving grains from pests and rodents. The ­following section will look at the indigenous construction technology as well as their efficacy as viable food storage facilities.

The Granary Structure in Hausaland Circular thatch or mud-built granary is not a preserve of Hausaland alone; similar structures have been observed among a number of non-Hausa central Nigerian communities such as Gbagyi, Mumuye and the Kambari communities occupying areas between Yauri and Kontagora (Denyer, 1978). The granary was specifically constructed for the storage of grains which were owned or controlled by the household head or the compound head. The popular Hausa proverb Wa ya ki faduwar Rumbu, Matan gida ko kaji? (Who cares if a granary collapses, House wives or Chicken?) clearly shows that the ownership of granary in Hausa land rests with the male members of the household. The housewives usually have their own special granaries located inside their rooms or just by the side of the doors to their rooms. Most writers on grain storage facility in Hausa land emphasized on the type of Rufewa (granary) placed on stone foundations, as if it is the only type of granary found in the area (Clapperton, 1966, p. 218). A variant of granary building that seems to have been unnoticed by scholars are the ones that start directly from the ground level. This is commonly referred to as Rufewar kasa (granary based on the ground) in Hausa. The placement of granary building on stone boulders foundation or on level ground is informed by the accumulated indigenous knowledge by the people on the nature of their area, and as an effort to address specific identified problems. The tropical region in which Hausaland is located is known to harbour various species of termites. Stone boulders were used to raise the granary structure a little above ground level in termite-infested areas as well as to protect the structure from ground water and moisture. The stone boulders were meant to prevent the mud-plastered platform and the ground level. Termites, most particularly the white ants (Hau: Gara), are known to feed on vegetal matter which is a major component in the prepared mud for building. Therefore, for the safety of the building it has to be shielded from the destructive activities of white ants. To establish the circular stone foundation, stone slabs were placed with an interval of about four inches from each other. The number of the stones depends on the size of the granary to be constructed. On top of the

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boulders, horizontal beams (Hau: Barogi) are placed and their heads are made to meet on the centrally placed stone boulders, which act as a pillar; the interstices were then bridged using short sticks most preferably of Sabara (Guerra senegalensis). Puddle mud was then piled to cement the structure, resting the platform (Hau: Daba) of the granary. The size of the platform determines the size and carrying capacity of the granary. A medium-sized granary, which could accommodate a hundred bundles of grains (about three metric tons), was usually made to have a circular platform with a radius of about twelve- to fifteen-foot steppings (Hau: Kafa/ Taki). From the edges of the circular platform mud walls were built using the slow and tedious pottery technique. The transverse walls of the granary overlap towards the end forming a circular opening wide enough to allow the passage of only one person at a time. It was through this opening that millet, corn or any other crop to be stored in is passed in and out of the granary. In some exceptionally large granaries, additional openings in the form of windows were created when the building structure reaches an average man’s height, to assist the person inside find an easy outlet when the grain content of the structure has gone down, making it impossible for him to reach the mouth of the granary by mere jumping (Hau: Salon mussa—lit. cat style) which was the traditional way of getting out of the granary. To protect the content of the granary from rain water, heat from sunlight, fire and thieves, a series of covers were designed. The most common cover was the conical thatch cover (Hau: kutubi) that is put over the mouth of the granary to keep our birds, insects wet and moisture. A popular Hausa musician, Dan Anache, adumbrated upon the structure when he observed: Kutubi abin aza ma Rufewa, meaning Kutubi is the traditional cover to the granary. The sloping mud wall and the thatch cover are heat-­ insulating materials to make the roof of the bins to protect the stored grains from day-time heat and remain cool overnight which prevent moisture condensation and migration inside the structure. Moreover, the heat generated by the stored grains as a result of respiration is greatly reduced by the cool temperatures within the cavity of the granary thereby improving the storage life of the products. In addition, another effect of temperature reduction is on the activities of insects and fungi. The metabolic rate of insects and fungi decreases and consequently so does the activity cause spoilage. Insect activity increases with the rise in temperature (Mrema, Gumbe, Chepete, & Agullo, 2011).

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Another set of cover that is usually constructed and placed on the granary is the kaki. The kaki cover is normally used for granaries that are meant to store grains for a very long time either due to the absence of the owner or because he has a number of them. The kaki is a circular mud slab usually pre-fabricated in halves and after drying is lifted and placed on the mouth of the granary and on top of this the kutubi is usually placed to cover both the kaki and the mouth of the granary. The kaki cover serves as an additional cover to protect the content of the granary from thieves and in the case of a fire outbreak, as the kutubi thatch cover is highly inflammable. To shield the granary structure from the action of torrential rains of the rainy season, bundles of aligned and knitted grasses were spread to cover the upper part of the structure down to the point of the widest diameter. In addition, strands of empty pods of the locust bean tree (Hau: makuba) were tied around the upper opening such that as rain water falls the dissolved content of the empty locust beans pod could smear and make the walls water proof. Earlier in the course of the building process at the point of the widest diameter on the structure a circular mud ring (Hau: Gandawali) perforated at different intervals was constructed to provide openings through which ropes for tying the thatch cover were passed and supported to facilitate the tying process. The grains stored in the granary were normally left in their ears unthreshed in line with an old wisdom of preserving grains from pests and rodents. The grains within the cavities of the granary were untied and spread through a process known as Kinshe in Hausa. Clapperton, a nineteenth-century European explorer that visited areas of Hausaland, described a granary building in nineteenth-century Sokoto as made in the form of a large urn or pitcher raised from the ground about 3 feet by stones. They are made of clay and chopped straw, and are raised to a height of eleven or twelve feet. The thickness of the sides is above four inches, though in any part it will bear man’s weight. The diameter in the widest part may be seven to eight feet, and the top about three or four feet, and it is overlapped at the mouth like a wide mouthed earthen jar. (Clapperton, 1966, p. 218)

Not all granaries were as huge as the ones described by Clapperton. The size largely depends on the farm unit and the production capacity of the household or the individual owner of the granary. Imam Imoru did

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observe that in Zamfara area of Hausaland there are small and large bins, and there are ones that hold 1000 bundles, but a commoner does not need to build one this big (Ferguson, 1973, p.  65). Moreover, Imoru reported to have seen a granary in Talatar Mafara which was said to store 2000 bundles. A 1000-bundle capacity Rumbu is estimated to store about twenty-five metric tons of threshed grain (Hays, 1975, p. 118). European travellers to our area during the nineteenth century like Clapperton did comment on the durability and effectiveness of the granary structure. He alleged that the life span of the granary structure, taking all precautionary measures, was only eight years, and that the grain stored within the cavity of the granary could last only for three years after which they are destroyed (Clapperton, 1966) But a research conducted by Giles (1964), and the information obtained from the present users of the facility, did not agree with Clapperton’s unfounded and derogatory comments. Longer periods of durability and storage were suggested. Giles’ research on cereal storage revealed that grains stored in the granary could keep well up to six years. However, our informants insisted that the grains stored in the granary could remain well up to ten to fifteen years, and that the facility, if properly maintained, could last for more than thirty years. Moreover, Hays’ research on storage of cereals through the granary has concluded that the storage capacity of granary is adequate and it is cost-­ effective (Hays, 1975, pp. 117–123). A form of mud-built granary that has not attracted much attention from scholars was the Rufewar Daka. This was a smaller granary erected inside or very close to the wife’s living room, specifically for the woman to store her grains, peeled and dried cassava and cotton (mostly obtained from gifts from her relatives, from husband or, in some cases, from her own labour). Grains stored in this kind of granary were normally threshed before storage. The existence of Rufewar Daka is an indication that women in this area had the right to own property long before the present era. The corn stored in the granaries was adequately protected from moisture, insects and rats, which were the principal agents of destruction of grains. The Kutubi (cone-shaped thatch structure) cover was permeable to sunlight rays, and allowed humidity to evaporate, thereby creating a very good condition for preservation, that is, dryness. The granary till date is the most effective storage facility available to the people in the region. Other storage facilities constructed by the people in the area included the Rumbu constructed of thatch and Zana matting in the shape of the

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Rufewa, usually supported from the ground by short Y-shaped wooden stakes embedded in the ground. The structure provided free movement of air in and out of the structure as well as good thermal insulation.

Storage and Food Security Agricultural production of millet and sorghum is seasonal while demand for food commodities is more evenly spread throughout the year. This underscores the need to store excess supply to meet the average demand. The major components of food security as could be gleaned from the Food and Agriculture Organization’s (FAO) definition include food availability, food access, food utilization and not losing the excess. Food insecurity then boils down to the inability of households or individual to have reliable access to food in sufficient quantity and quality to enjoy an active and healthy life (Adegbola et al., 2001, p. 57). Many farming communities store a portion of their output for food security considerations, to ensure availability always (Owatch, Bahiigwa, & Elepu, 2017, p. 10). Since the time of independence various Nigerian administrations have been striving to achieve food security for the country. During the period of the 1960s, up to the period immediately after the Nigerian civil war the country relied on agriculture to provide infrastructure and run government services. With the increasing revenues from oil the country witnessed an efflorescence of agricultural programmes designed to improve food availability in the country. Some of these policies and programmes included the National Food Programme (NAFPP) of 1973, the Operation Feed the Nation (OFN), the Agricultural Development Project (ADPs) and the Agricultural Credit Guarantee Scheme instituted to provide credit to oil the machinery for agricultural production. Other government agricultural programmes include the Green Revolution programme, the Directorate of Food and Rural Infrastructure (DFFRI) and the formation of the Bank for Agriculture, among others (Abba et al., 1985, pp. 16–50). However, it has been observed that Nigeria’s food problem does not lie with food production per se; rather, it lies with postharvest handling of the products. The Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) did observe in the year 2001 that in comparison to other African countries Nigeria has the highest per capita food output (Adegbola et al., 2001, p. 59). But a major hindrance to the attainment of food sufficiency and the achievement of food security is wastage. An estimation of food wastage in Nigeria between the period of 1995 and 2000 indicated that about 0.81 million

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metric tonnes were lost (ibid., 57). This indeed is a huge source of deficit and an appropriate storage practice could greatly reduce this wastage. Food losses have a great bearing on food availability and security. It is partly for fear of spoilage that farmers sell their grains soon after harvest when prices are low. Improving storage could improve food accessibility by making households less dependent on market for food. Another advantage of storage is that stored grains can be a form of saving account for the small farmer and can increase his income through the sale of the stored products. This could help lift people out of extreme poverty and hunger and improve access to food, a major condition for food security. Similarly, reducing postharvest losses through adequate and effective storage could enable a developing country like Nigeria export grain and generate additional income for the country and its producers, resulting in high standard of living. Moreover, a proper storage system can protect and improve the health of humans and animals who consume the grains or their by-products. Grain infestation by fungi develops a reprehensible odour and is contaminated by mycotoxins which can have deleterious health effects for both humans and animals. Similarly, insects, rodents and birds cause damage to the grains and contamination from faeces and other body parts (Jayar, 2018). Postharvest losses resulting from improper storage has the effect of tightening food market and contributing to high food prices by removing part of the supply from the market which in turn negatively affects food accessibility to the lower-income members of the society. In other words, improper storage methods could endanger food security. Food security could be guaranteed only while side by side with increased production there are adequate provisions of storage facilities for food products. The current government grain reserves in the country are too few and far away from the peasant farmers who are most vulnerable in times of shortages as a result of famine, drought or other emergency situations. For proper and adequate grain storage the Hausa people have been able to evolve through the indigenous knowledge system, the granary structure. The granary has been found to be very effective as a storage facility in addition to low storage cost in comparison to modern-day improved techniques. The granary structure has over the years adequately secured food for household consumption, for gifts as well as for sales to meet certain expenses.

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Conclusion This study highlights the rich indigenous knowledge of food preservation and storage among the Hausa people of Northern Nigeria. The preservation and storage practices of the people of the study area were found to be effective in terms of the cost, durability and in the protection they give to the food products against the elements of weather, insects and rodents. The indigenous methods are eco-friendly and involve the use of locally available materials. By securing excess food for future consumption or sale, indigenous food storage practices enhance food security. Moreover, the use of the indigenous methods has a positive multiplier effect on the local economy by creating jobs and improving incomes and food security among the generality of the populace. Modern methods of storage involving the use of synthetic pesticides to check postharvest losses during storage are highly expensive and have adverse effects on the environment, more particularly on human and animal health. Moreover, the Nigerian Stored Products Research Institute (NSPRI), established in 1954 to conduct research on all aspects of postharvest handling and storage of agricultural crops in Nigeria, is yet to develop an affordable, accessible and reliable grain storage facility for our rural farmers. This underscores the relevance of the call for a reappraisal in favour of policies that can foster indigenous knowledge systems. The neglect of the indigenous knowledge system is partly responsible for the sorry state the Nigerian nation finds itself in terms of food availability. Wastages resulting from inadequate storage have led to the loss of a significant quantity of food product, thus adversely affecting availability and making the nation to make up for the shortfall through importation with all the consequences that it entails. And Nigeria being a sub-Saharan country where the challenges of climate change are very glaring entails that she need to adopt reliable and cost-effective methods of securing food surpluses obtained during years of plentiful rainfall in anticipation of the years of drought which could adversely affect food production output. This could greatly assist the nation in ensuring food availability at all times and also help in controlling food price hike all year round and making them accessible to the masses of the country. Thus the recovery, recognition and harnessing of indigenous food preservation and storage practices will help in our struggle towards achieving food security for the teeming population of Nigeria. The indigenous knowledge systems of food product storage needs to be generalized

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among other farming communities in the country. This could be achieved through government patronage and extension efforts to educate and encourage the farmers on the need to patronize the food storage and preservation knowledge we inherited from our parents to save our future. This is more important now that modernity is threatening to swallow up all indigenous ways of doing things which are been branded as outmoded and archaic. The granary structure has virtually disappeared from most of our cities, being replaced by room stores that that expose food crops to the infestation of insects and rodents. Moreover, the loss of patronage from most of the well-to-do farmers and the traditional elites who reside in the cities is threatening the continued survival of the skills of granary construction. Therefore there is the need to act fast to salvage our indigenous knowledge of food preservation and storage from extinction. This is the surest way for the preservation and the proper use of the knowledge to guard food availability and accessibility throughout the nation.

Appendix

Fig. 13.1  Showing various forms of granaries. (Source: Jabbi, 2014)

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References Abba, A., Abdullahi, Y. A., Kwanashie, M., & Usman, Y. B., et al. (Eds.). (1985). The Nigerian economic crisis: Causes and solutions. Zaria: Academic Staff Union of Universities of Nigeria. Adamu, M. (2010). The major landmarks in the history of Hausaland. The Eleventh Inaugural Lecture, Usmanu Danfodiyo University, Sokoto, Trans-Akab Ltd. Adegbola, J.  A., Bamishaiye, E.  I., & Daura, A.  M. (2001). Food security in Nigeria: Government intervention and the place of effective storage. Asian Journal of Agriculture and Rural Development, 1(2), 56–63. Clapperton, J. H. (1966). Journal of a second expedition into the interior of Africa. London: Frank Cass. Denyer, S. (1978). African traditional architecture. London: Heinemann Books Ltd. Ferguson, D.  E. (1973). Nineteenth century Hausaland: Being a description by Imam Imoru, of the land, economy and society of his people. PhD (History) thesis, University of California, Los Angeles. Giles, P. H. (1964). Storage of cereals by farmers in Northern Nigeria. Tropical Agriculture, 41(3), 197–212, Trinidad. Hays, H. M. (1975). The storage of cereal grains in three villages of Zaria Province, Northern Nigeria. Savanna, 4(2), 117–123. Jabbi, U. M. (2014). A history of Hausa indigenous building in some parts of the Rima Basin C.1400–2000 A.D. PhD thesis (History), UDUS, p. 284. Jayar, D. S. (2018). Storing grains for food security and sustainability. Retrieved from http://link.springer.com/content Mrema, G.  C., Gumbe, L.  O., Chepete, H.  J., & Agullo, J.  O. (2011). Rural structures in the tropics: Design and development. Rome: FAO. Retrieved January 10, 2018, from http://www.fao.org/docrep/015/1243e10 Norman, D. W., Pryor, D. H., & Gibbs, C. J. N. (1979). Technical change and small farmer in Hausaland, Northern Nigeria. Michigan State University African Rural Economy Paper No. 21, 1979. Retrieved January 10, 2018, from http://pdf.usaid.gov/pdf-docs/PNAAG951 Osunde, M. A. A., & Jibowo, A. A. (1996). Harnessing indigenous knowledge system for sustainable agriculture in Nigeria. In Proceedings of the ninth annual conference of Nigeria Rural Sociological Association, held at the Usmanu Danfodiyo University, Sokoto, Nigeria. Owatch, C., Bahiigwa, G., & Elepu, G. (2017). Family household food storage, consumption and sales decision making under price risk in Uganda. Journal of Development and Agricultural Economics, 9(1), 8–15.

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Sustainable Agriculture and Food Security in LDCs. (2011). United Nations Conference on Trade and Development (UNCTAD) Briefs. Less Developed Countries Series. Young, H., & Shafie, E. (2013). Indigenous knowledge and practices related to food preparation and preservation in a Bedouin community Egypt. In Tropentag, Conference on International Research on Food security, Natural Resource Management and Rural Development, Organised by University of Hohenheim, Stuttgart, Germany, 17–19, September 2013. Retrieved January 10, 2018, from www.tropentag.de/2013/proceedings

CHAPTER 14

Understanding Igede Indigenous Knowledge Systems and the Future of Igede Cultural Heritage in Benue State, Nigeria Mike Odey

Introduction Igede traditional knowledge systems and institutions have several elements. These include Igede traditional marriage system, different patterns of subsistence farming for human survival, unique traditional judicial and administrative systems, and so forth. I demonstrated elsewhere, how in several instances, the Igede traditional judicial and administrative systems worked to bring about harmony and stability among Igede people and their neighbors before the advent of the British colonial rule (Odey, 2016, p.  4). For example, Igede people traditionally handled cases of misdemeanor such as unwillingness to pay back debts, theft, and more serious cases of murder sometimes leading to hanging of culprits at Okpokpo. The other is the indigenous administrative institution before colonial rule in which the role of the village spokesman (adikobia), igabwo and power of religious sanctions were paramount. In this chapter, my attention is focused on four Igede traditional institutions which are fundamental to

M. Odey (*) Department of History, Benue State University, Makurdi, Benue State, Nigeria © The Author(s) 2020 261 S. O. Oloruntoba et al. (eds.), Indigenous Knowledge Systems and Development in Africa, https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-34304-0_14

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the very existence and survival of Igede cultural heritage in Benue State in Central Nigeria. These include the essence of Igede language, ejobi, epwedii and the celebration of Igede Day. The basic assumption of the chapter is to globalize and bring Igede indigenous cultural practices which constitute the central elements and the very existence of Igede people in Benue State in central Nigeria to the public domain. Deriving from this, the overriding objectives are diverse: The first is to argue that although Igede people are regarded as a minority ethnic group in Benue State and Nigeria at large, their indigenous cultural behaviors occupy a strategic position in the nation’s development process and deserve to be studied systematically because there is no stigma or disdain within the Igede indigenous knowledge system when compared to the so-called modern science or cultural practices of other ethnic groups in Nigeria. The second objective is to explore the multiple linkages between the diverse traditional cultural elements of Igede people and how their cultural activities have affected the development of the area. The final objective is to examine the future prospects of Igede cultural heritage in a fast-moving global system.

Geographical Context and Pre-colonial History of Igede Area Igede ethnic group is the third largest in Benue State comprising two Local Government Area (LGA) Council of Oju, which was created after the Local Government Reforms in 1976, and Obi LGA in 1986. In the past, Igede land (comprising Oju and Obi LGAs) was made up of 13 clans but are now 14 clans due to continuous regrouping and coalition of agnate groups from the existing clan structure. Each clan is made up of a number of villages, and two Districts in Igede-Central Areas, Uwokwu, Ainu and Oju areas, and Ito District on the other hand. The two districts combined (Igede-Central and Ito) are located in between latitudes 6° 40′ and 7° 5′ and longitudes 8° 10′ and 8° 35′. Geographically, Igede land coverage is well over 610 square miles stretching north-south. The range has good watershed for heavy agricultural production for much of the year with a dash of green vegetation here and there. Much of Igede area is surrounded with a long range of low hills running down from Igwe–Uwokwu and Andibila/Uchenyim hills lowering down to Ito plains in Obi LGA as one moves toward Otukpo town as well

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as Oboru and Oye overlooking the Obudu hills, as part of the Udi escarpment. Its land mass is about 400 square miles and well wooded with savannah grassland, forest land and palm trees. By the early colonial period, the population was a little over 150,000 but by the 2006 population census they numbered about 267,198 and about 359,093 by 2015 estimate. However, Igede population will be well over 500,000 persons including those living in Oju and Obi local government areas and those in the diaspora who were not captured by the national population census such as those in Oyonwu, Ogodoo, Oripwa, Igabu, Itakpa as well as Anyada and others popularly referred to as Igede-Ejebi around Opirikwu villages in Cross-Rivers State who have been long integrated and speak Yalla language as fluently as Igede and pay taxes to the government of Cross River State as a sign of allegiance. The physical environment of Igede area appears to be well endowed but requires much effort yet to tame the ecology for the survival and improvement in the lives of the people. The best description of Igede location on the Nigerian map includes those provided by Frampton (1935, p. 139) and Forde (1970, p. 140): According to these sources, Igede is bounded in the south by Abakaliki, Ezza/Izzis and Ogoja in Cross River State. In the north, and North-east, Igede land has common boundaries with the Tiv in Konshisha and Gwer LGAs; and in the west and the north, by Akpa, Utonkon and Ijigbam districts in Okpokwu and Otukpo LGAs in Benue State. Each village has a playground serving as a rendezvous where most social-political activities took place during the pre-colonial and early colonial period. To date, Ojebe village in Igede central District remains the most significant rendezvous of all Igede people where cultural, social and political issues concerning the people are discussed in a democratic forum/ manner called Epwedii. The demographic composition of Igede pre-colonial history was simple, comprising mainly Igede population for the most part, except for seasonal labor—migrants like the Ezza and Izzi from Njelele in the west through Idele and Uwokwu clans. Furthermore, during the early colonial period, the Izzi/Ezza were migrant-farmers/laborers who were hired mainly during the dry season for yam farming. Much of this migration movement has stopped.

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Perspectives: Understanding the Basic Elements of Igede Traditional/Indigenous Culture in the Context of African Indigenous Knowledge System The dearth of information on different aspects and forms of African indigenous knowledge remains an unresolved problem throughout the continent. Although the significance of indigenous knowledge system has continued to gain wide acceptance all over the world, including Africa, a lot still needs to be done: firstly, as an important way by which to decolonize Africa’s knowledge system; secondly, to underscore the full potentials of the different aspects of indigenous knowledge system; and thirdly, and to further demonstrate that “development is no longer the exclusive domain of western science/global knowledge” as argued in the past. In other words, information and understanding of the different ramifications of Africa’s indigenous knowledge system must be engaged in the discourse on Africa’s development process as I argued elsewhere on the relevance of African moral economy and social entrepreneurship, rather than falling back to neo-liberal approaches to the development of the African continent. It is also against this background that a systematic analysis of every aspect and form of Africa’s indigenous knowledge becomes imperative to challenge the dominance of western knowledge and ideology in development thinking as Gloria Emeagwali has aptly argued: European philosophers of science have spent an inordinate amount of time discussing the nature of rationality, objectivity and problem solving in mainstream science. We need to do the same for AIK, rejecting, accepting, modifying or adapting relevant conceptual baggage in the field, and creating entirely new constructs of analysis for understanding the phenomenon, where necessary … To correct the unhealthy imbalances, distortion, trivialization and neglect, as inflicted by Eurocentric education and governance. Tapping into the intellectual resources associated with IK is not only cost effective but also relevant and indispensable, for environmentally and ecologically sensitive activity. (Emeagwali in, Falola, 2003, p. 2)

Since the 1980s when anthropologists first began to use the term “indigenous” in academic literature, it remains more or less synonymous with “local” and “traditional” knowledge. This is in recognition of the

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ability of different cultural groups to develop some form of knowledge within the specific environment they are located. However, it is possible for different ethnic groups to develop a unique type of cultural behavior much as the same cultural behavior can spread through different forms of exchange and interaction. As Pelican has argued, the definition of what constitutes “indigenous” in the African context remains difficult due to centuries of migrations and endless intermingling of races and ethnic groups with several overlaps in different cultural elements (Pelican, 2009, p.  56). And this has been buttressed by Igor Kopytoff in the following words: African societies tend to reproduce themselves at their internal frontiers, thus continuously creating and re-creating a dichotomy between original inhabitants and latecomers along which political prerogatives are negotiated. This recurrent process does not allow for a permanent and clear-cut distinction of first nations versus dominant societies, as implied by the universal notion of “indigenous peoples”. (Kopytoff, 1987 in, Lanzano, p. 4)

Gupta further argued that knowledge can be produced locally or indigenously, or may be developed autonomously. Indigenous knowledge is thus conceptualized “as an autonomous subset of local knowledge which evolved through interaction among local communities, individuals, and their environment over a long period of time, either by way of trade or other forms of exchange” (Gupta Anil in Aarhus, 1992, p. 39). Interaction between different groups of people through trade and other forms of exchange cast doubt on the autonomy and originality in the development of indigenous knowledge in the strict sense, which is why some prefer to use the word “traditional” rather than “indigenous” in reference to development of knowledge. Among other things, traditional societies from which traditional knowledge is derived have a natural progression of maintaining values, mores and ethics and rarely change except when there is a perceived need to add or adapt the given behaviors and beliefs. They are also characterized by people who have lived together for several generations with a moral code of behavior and customs that influence most persons to conform to the extent that the civic morality autonomously motivates self-control without coercion among the people from one generation to another. Thus, indigenous and traditional knowledge systems have been popular themes among intellectuals across different academic disciplines and were, for the most part, used synonymously.

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Although they have the same connotations, they do not mean precisely the same thing. A traditional society refers to people who have evolved over several generations with a moral code that drives every community behavior in conformity to the civic morality of the society autonomously and to exercise self-control. Traditional societies also naturally follow and maintain values, mores and ethics in a progressive manner and change only when it is necessary to do so purely on the basis of the existing beliefs. That is, behavior is governed by customs and beliefs from generation to generation, and there is hardly any change in peoples’ behavior. Furthermore, social status/roles are ascribed, inherited and social mobility is restrictive because of the particularistic nature of societal value system. Above all, traditional societies are agrarian in nature and every activity is tied around the rhythm of agricultural activities which, for the most part, are weather driven. Traditional knowledge or culture as used here may mean several things to different people and very fundamental to the survival of people. Indeed, culture and people mean about the same thing and one cannot remove people from their culture. To that extent, culture is a living thing and cannot die; just as cultural genocide cannot exterminate any race. Like all living organisms, culture grows and is progressive and the range, functions and elements of culture are vast. To understand the traditional culture or the knowledge system in any society demands a careful understanding of the people in groups therein. It is impossible for an individual to develop his own culture because culture is a societal thing and develops only when people living in groups begin to learn about the workings of that society, experience and behave in specific ways over time to form cultural patterns. Culture evolves over time and continues to grow either to embrace or even drop certain aspects of the original elements, perhaps unknowingly. When two alien cultures collide, it may generate shocking responses or some kind of embarrassments. All these suggest that culture refers to the symbolic world of meanings regarding ideas, ways or procedures, expectations and values of some unique patterns that have emerged through a time of interaction in human society. For all cultures, the basic elements generally remain the same; as cognition of the known world, language, symbol, norms and values: In every culture, the cognition of the known world under which people live refers to the understanding of the milieu, elements or definite ideas about the cosmic world or even factual knowledge of everything around. This is why one species of plant or animal may be a taboo or become a remedial agent

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in the struggles of life the people may face and so on. Although science and technology has changed much of the world around us in such an unprecedented manner, supernatural interpretation of the world around remains an important part of the cognitive cultural domain while in some other parts of the world, scientific explanation of the known world prevails. In some, the cognition of the environment is supernatural, while in others, it is scientific. Language in this conference is of particular importance: It is the ability to communicate with other humans and distinguishes man from animals and between cultures. It begins at birth and lasts forever. Language has psychological undertones and affects peoples’ thinking and learning processes as well as their memory systems. It is only through language and verbalization of our thoughts that non-material culture or any concealed idea can be known/understood when vocalized. Language makes it possible for one generation to teach or transmit the past cultures by word of mouth to the next. Language is such an ingenious thing God has created, as expressed in Genesis Chapter 11, that should be both appreciated and guarded by all cultures, which the present conference represents, among other things (Holy Bible, Genesis Chapter 11). The Tower of Babel experience was the beginning of confusion in the World when human languages split apart. Let me hasten to say that “education increases our store of knowledge and most of that knowledge is stored in words, and even with little complex language ability, one can communicate basic needs and cultural ideas” (Ornstein, 1988, p. 379). Cultural symbol is closely related to the existence and development of language. Like language, only man, not animals, can use symbols to express that something stands for something else. Symbol was the first form of writing in the early Egyptian civilization. In fact, the use of symbols and sign language preceded the development of language in several parts of the world. A word, a gesture, a picture, colors and so on may be symbolic and culturally defined as representations of certain things with specific meanings and values. Cultural norms express expectations, rules and standards of behavior under which one is to exhibit a show of decorum. Some cultural norms are habitual and customary ways of behavior and may not attract sanction when violated. However, there are some that are crucial to the survival of a particular society and underpin moral connotation. These are usually sacred beliefs about standards of what is right and wrong in a particular society. These include rape, theft, murder, adultery and so forth.

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Lastly, cultural value is one of the most significant elements of culture. It is not possible to see or verbalize what a society values however, but it is easy to know what they are. In a globalized and fast-moving modernized world, some of those things may be taken for granted or trampled upon until they become extinct and nobody is conscious of them. Some of those values include individual freedom and liberty, peace, fairness, comfort and good health. These are fundamentally desirable for the survival of all societies. The foregoing essentially constitutes the basis on which to reflect on the dynamics of Igede indigenous language and how it will survive. However, it remains to add that the primacy and functions of cultures in human society largely depend on the cognitive world and are built on cultural forces which play definite roles to shape events and keep the society in motion. Ali Mazrui (1990, p. 18) identified seven basic ones which I subscribe to for the purpose of this chapter as follows: Culture provides the lenses of perception and cognition; and it is a motive force for every human behavior and reason for every response to behavior in a particular manner. Culture provides a criterion of evaluation; it is a basis of stratification in society; it is also a basis of identity to a religious, ethnic or racial group; it is a mode of communication and the basis or the nature of what a society produces and consumes. Directly and indirectly, these are what Igede culture has done to its people over time and the frontiers keep moving without notice. The principal argument here is directed toward the central elements of Igede culture and what can be done to enhance its survival for posterity. In doing so, I will demonstrate the centrality of Igede language in Igede culture and how it is responding to the dynamics of global challenges.

Understanding the Dynamics of Igede Indigenous Language in Historical Perspective According to legends, about four villages of Igede stock were left behind in the legendary Oyihu when the vast majority of Igede people left their cradle, but it is difficult to trace what Igede language sounded like back in Oyihu. This is because time has rendered them completely unintelligible or extinct after several hundreds of years. However, on arrival at Epwibila and eventually at the first Igede-nucleus settlement after their departure from Oyihu in Ipinu-Igede, (Igede forest), they adopted and integrated

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the language of the people they met called Uwobu, which later became Igede language. Uwobu language has gone into extinction, but it is generally believed that Uwobu language constitutes the basic elements of the present-day Igede language from the beginning of the British effective colonial administration in Igede area following the defeat of Ogbiloko, the Igede warlord in 1928. This includes the form, the pattern of Igede orthography and the three dialects expressed Igede central district, Uwokwu/Ainu, and Ito groups of Igede that eventually emerged after their arrival in Igede area from different directions of migration. The purest form of Igede dialect is the version spoken in Igede central district in Oju LGA. Today, Igede language is known as Igede or “Myeke” meaning, “I speak/Say” (Forde, 1970, p. 140). The basic characteristics of Igede language include its tonal sound and descriptive nature which involves going round and round indirectly to explain what one has to say. Daryll Forde (1970, p. 139) had also suggested that Igede language belongs to a sub-group of Kwa group of the Niger-Congo larger family within which several unique variations are subsumed. The language is closely linked to Idoma, Igala as well as Yalla in Cross River State and more or less a resemblance of the Yoruba language but with a slight departure from “other Kwa languages of Nigeria with a host of plural nouns, distinguished by vowel prefixes from the singular” (Forde, 1970, p.  140). According to Frampton already cited above, (1935) the present Igede language is a corruption of Igede proto language and the version spoken in Igede central area of Oju LGA represents the original form. What appears to be distinguishing the Igede language from the rest of the Kwa family is that the neighboring groups exhibit three tonal levels while Igede has four and not tied to any syntactical construction or phonetic environment (Frampton, 1935, p.  136). Forde maintained that Igede language also has “a host of plural nouns, distinguished by vowel prefixes from the singular and there is a slight dialectical difference between the speech of Ito-Igede and that of Igede proper” (Forde, 1970, p. 141). The specific origins of Igede Alphabets and the emergence of Igede orthographic traditions are not clear. However, there are several intriguing issues about the correct spellings in Igede language, the arrangements of the letters as well as the relationship between letters and vowel sounds. Somehow, Igede alphabet has a striking resemblance of the Igbo language except in a few cases which is not surprising due to their geographical proximity. The origins of Igede orthography, constituting the correct

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spellings in the language, consistencies in the arrangements of alphabets as well as the relationship between letters and harmony in vowels sounds were approved during the 1952 national population census as one of the 51 spoken languages in Nigeria. The government advocates for the teaching of the indigenous language, that is, one’s mother-tongue in schools as part of the National Policy on Education (Oboh, 2015, p. 18). Since then, the development of Igede language has been making steady progress in the following areas: phonology, syntax and semantics. The Association for Promoting Quality Education in Igede (APQEI) and the efforts of Rev John Adimah, Rev James Okah, Ogwuna Oboh, Abinya and several lecturers in the College of Education in Oju have been very useful in the promotion of Igede language. This is because, according to UNESCO, Igede language is one of the 3000 indigenous languages that may be lost by the end of the century if drastic measures are not taken to stem the tide (Oboh, 2015, p. 13). One of such efforts was the critical attention and review by John Adimah in which he classified Igede orthography into ten vowels under two dichotomies as terse and lax, called Olikpongee and Aputuja (Adimah in, Oboh, 2015, p. 18).

Underpinning the Survival of Igede Indigenous Cultural Heritage Through Mutual Interaction Between Igede Language, Igede Agba Celebration, Epwedii and Ejobi Linked to Igede language as a symbol of Igede culture, there are three other important cultural engagements acting and reacting on one another in fruitful harmony and useful for explaining Igede indigenous culture, namely, Igede Agba celebration, Epwedii and Ejobi. The synergy between these in contemporary Igede requires some elaboration. This is particularly important in the present attempt to underpin the survival of Igede cultural heritage in its complex ramifications. The four are inseparably interwoven. Igede Agba celebration is a significant aspect of Igede cultural heritage among Igede people and comes up on the first Ihigile market in September annually. It brings together all Igede people at home and in the diaspora which some non-Igede persons take for granted, though erroneously as mere new yam festival or ancestor worship. However, the occasion is significant on several counts in Igede cultural history. For instance, it is an

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occasion for reactivation of those aspects of Igede culture which are going into extinction besides the fact that it signifies cultural consciousness and recognition of Igede National Day as a people with a strong sense of history: It shows where Igede people are coming from and where they are going. It is the height of Igede cultural expression and identity. The celebration is a demonstration of the moral economy of Igede life and culture. Because what one individual has as an Igede man is regarded as commonwealth for others which could not be hoarded away from his fellowmen. Culturally, this underpins the fact that Igede society is primarily a nucleus area by nature and everybody is his brother’s keeper. And these are some of the enviable aspects of the peoples’ culture that must be kept for posterity. Igede Agba Day/new yam celebration is important for another cultural reason. It constitutes a binding force of the diverse elements of Igede history and culture traceable to a common ancestor of Agba. Culturally, it is also an occasion used for addressing so many other social-political problems. The second cultural institution called ejobi, literally meaning evening judgment or to adjudicate in the evening, is a gathering of family members, that is, otuguru ny’odod’epwa. By tradition, ejobi is a judicial and cultural practice that was well known in the pre-colonial and early colonial periods among Igede people which has nearly gone out of vogue because of modernization. After dinner, either nucleus or extended family members would sit together first to review each day’s activities, especially farm work and go further to outline the next day’s operations. The other significant thing in ejobi was for family heads to lead discussions on problems and disputes between individual members with a view to resolving them and teach children simple manners and etiquette. Sometimes, one extended family member may be in dispute with the other and this may warrant inviting several neighboring elderly persons across family lines. After expression of all matters in dispute from all sides, apologies are tendered when necessary. This happens in all Igede villages on a regular basis as a means of keeping the peace in the community of agnate groups. The third cultural institution is Epwedii, which brings together the whole Igede ethnic group to do what ejobi does at the nucleus/extended family level, but in a more elaborate manner while in session. As an all-­ Igede affair, it brings all the clans together as the highest cultural gathering. Each epwedii session is preceded by a meeting of Ada’Locheche clan to articulate the agenda or issues to be discussed. The range of issues may be quite diverse and sometimes limited.

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It is not known when epwedii was instituted in Igede land. However, within the limits of living memory; most adult Igede people are aware that epwedii is one of the oldest cultural practices in Igede historical development that cannot be discarded. Regarding the frequency of epwedii, there is no specific date for convening the meetings. However, for the most part the rule-of thumb prevails, dictated by the urgency of outstanding matters and the seriousness of emerging issues. All epwedii meetings are held in Ojegbe village (epw’uturu nyal’Igede), which is the most central and original settlement of Igede people. One of the spokesmen from the eldest clans of Ada’Locheche, Ukpa (Amono) and Oye or his representative is usually directed to lead the discussion. For instance, Onwu Okpe from Oye-Ugbodu clan has directed the proceedings of epwedii several times in the past. The spokesman must always come from one of the three eldest clans (Ada’Locheche, Any’amuno [Ukpa]) and Oye (Ugbodu) or their representative who may be directed to lead the deliberations. For instance, Onwu Okpe from Oye-Ugbodu clan was appointed to direct the general proceedings or specific matters a number of times in the past. Others were Thaddeus Adikpe and Enuma Okpa from Ohirigwe Anchim clan before their death. In all matters before any conclusion is arrived at, the leading spokesman must consult other elders/spokesmen in camera. Spokesmen called adikobia were people with gift of character, eloquence, intelligence as well as a dash of economic affluence. Coupled with personal charisma and opportunities for political influence, those who had the ability of speaking well in the public are appointed the role of spokesmen in epwedii and village meetings. And this is not a common fit but highly respected. The proceedings begin first by calling God, creator of the universe and owner of earth (Ohe-Oleji) followed by the enumeration of each clan in their order of seniority, referred to as gwogbo, as follows: Ada’Locheche, Oye-ugbodu (Adikobia), Anyamono, Ogbagba (Oboru), Owo (Ochim-­ adu), Ad’inu, Aganyi (Obila-Olehe), Ada-Oto, Ori Laga (Uwokwu), Ada-­ Ogabu, Itakpa, Anya-Olepwa (Imoho) Ada-Oju Okpogo. After this, the issues on the agenda are discussed, and if there are matters warranting payment of fines, usually with live goat(s), that would be done. By way of simple consensus, Igede Epwedii has achieved quite a lot. For instance, epwedii has brought about peaceful resolutions on several disputes between several clans including Uwokwu act of taboo, Uwokwu versus Ainu, Oju versus Ibila, and Ukpa versus Ibila clan. Each of these has sworn never to go to war or kill each other. That is not to “kpan olehi jiye-­ jiye tawule”. Even when the cases were not handled properly, it was the

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epwedii that would rectify the cases. Sometimes if the cases of dispute linger on without compromise, it was the epwedii that would make them to covenant (nwiro) not to fight and kill each other. Epwedii has also done much to achieve the common will and the good of Igede nation in reverse by declaring and applying sanctions or invoking the wrath of the ancestors, that is, (golo-ehe jwa or cha’ega) on culprits and evil practices that may lead to grave consequences. Also, epwedii has considerably modified several Igede customs to suit modern social-cultural behavior such as allegations of “committing adultery with mouth”, that is, when a man speaks in an immoral manner to a married woman other than his wife, or to bury those who die in accident (through motor vehicles, climbing, falling from a tree as well as war victims). Similar customs have been modernized such as when a cockerel crows too early at night or a chicken drinks its eggs or when a pregnant four-footed animal was killed during hunting expeditions and to kill a grass-cutter that has a cut tail. In the past it was forbidden among Igede people to eat any of these, but now, epwedii has given its blessings. Be that as it may, epwedii still has so much yet to do and if the activities of Igede Day are harmonized with that of epwedii, Igede culture stands to benefit so much more. Thus, to the above catalogue of achievements, several other areas of improvements can be added: like expensive burials and marriages. The main task is to demystify Igede culture in all ramifications, removing whatever seems to be offensive and shift from certain things which blur our very existence. In this regard, one way to offset the balance of the false identity of Igede Day is to dissociate it from all inclinations and practices associated with Akpang charm. Even back in the early 1930s, not all Igede people believed in Akpang, especially early Igede Christians as a dependable protector of the people and those suspected of witchcraft. Even now it is doubtful how many Igede people still wait for the Akpang declaration before they begin to eat new yams. Indeed, for the sake of argument, if Akpang charm is still effective, why are the operations of witches in Igede land going on unabated in geometric progression with so many deaths alluded to the work of witches and evil men which Akpang could supposedly stop? Another important thing to do to promote and preserve Igede traditional/indigenous culture is to maximize the advantages of large cultural gatherings like epwedii and Igede Agba/new yam celebrations to debunk all cultural and societal misdemeanor such as incest; witchcraft; adultery;

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youth restiveness, especially cult activities; and premature deaths of the cream of Igede people at home and in Diaspora. During the annual occasions, each family should organize more articulated discussions as it were, yejobi and yella-epwa leading to the general Igede Epwedii. Furthermore, no matter how the modernization process has adversely affected the positive elements of Igede Culture, one important way to preserve and to project the culture is to integrate those elements that are worthwhile into the activities of Igede Day to make it grander and less simplistic. Apart from the foregoing, informal approaches can be used for the survival of Igede indigenous language and culture. It was through Igede language that other indigenous cultural heritages were transmitted from generation to generation in the past and there is sense in getting back to the basics of such cultural roots informally. Igede people should proudly teach the present generation what Igede culture is and what the language itself is like without shame. It is easy to see an average Igede man learned or not, speaking too much English and less of Igede language always, thereby endangering Igede language. This is a matter of worry because the fastest way to kill any language is to speak it less or not at all. In furtherance of the survival of Igede cultural heritage are several binding factors such as use of the same Igede language, intermigrations and intermarriages between clans and the need to come together to confront emerging alien neighboring ethnic groups as the basic centripetal forces which were helpful in the integration of diverse clan groups to form Igede ethnic group in remote past. However, with the gradual dispersion from the nucleus settlement (Ipinu-Igede) to other areas of Igede land, new forms of coalition and unity became necessary. This is the extent to which Igede Agba has underscored the survival and the spirit of Igede unity and community development. In the past, some of the cultural behaviors like telling of folktales, riddles, jokes and legendary stories were highly cherished. These were used for teaching the younger generation morals and what the people believed was good for them. This can be re-enacted. You can pause a little and ask yourself: how many of Igede children of school age still know what is referred to as kpibi versus Kpan, as a starting point for riddles and jokes. Also how many of these children know about what fairy tales referred to as; Oja Nyinene okwuruchi bala abia; adidogbe and so on? From such numerous cultural tales, one can derive so many lessons, yet too much of our learning and bookish disposition has made us forget them. Another poser here is that, despite all their technological advancements, the

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Chinese, the Japanese, the Germans still insist on speaking their own language rather than English, even to foreigners. The most important suggestion here is that educated people should speak Igede language more to our children. Use Igede language to communicate, to pray and to interact generally with others in the wider society. One other food for thought here is that using Igede language as an overriding means of communication will not make a child less brilliant in school. In fact, if a child is not fluent in his/her language, his/her performance in school will likely be impaired. To preserve Igede indigenous language and other cultural elements, the inevitable role of formal education is so far apparent from the foregoing. However, a more systematic approach to this is required. This is because informal gatherings, watching and copying the older generations of Igede important cultural values as was the case in the past are no longer sufficient. Igede traditional culture must be taught informally in schools as it was in classical Greek culture. This will not necessarily damage the indigenous elements; rather, it will help to preserve the essential elements. That brings us to the fundamental role and the main objective of the Association for Promoting Quality Education in Igede (APQEI) through its agencies and in different schools. Talking about Igede language and culture in the formal sense, one can say that times have changed a lot of things and it is not only by word of mouth that Igede culture can be transmitted now. This is where formal education comes in, not only in the APQEI schools, but all over the land. Just as language and thinking are linked, so are education and the development of culture. Education shapes the way one reasons and the way one thinks. But how deep is Igede language? For instance, how does the language express the idea of the past and the future? How many words can Igede language use for one thing? How is Igede numbering system? Complicated or easy to follow? How easy does Igede language translate ideas into other languages and vice versa? Or again, what are those Igede words that cannot be translated into English and from English into Igede? Or, more critically, how does an Igede person perceive things in so far as language influences thought? I always wonder why great thinkers and the learned in society keep referring back to Latin and Greece language. It is significant for Igede people to realize that they have a limited vocabulary because they have a narrow world view, and this is made worse by the continuous relegation, rather than the use, of the language. This is why it is necessary to reiterate that in the formal sector of Igede education

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system, we must endeavor to be less simplistic and get deeper into the study of Igede grammar and other forms of orthography so that the language can also respond to the intricate challenges of the time. Igede alphabets should be studied and written more carefully, specifically and by specialized individuals. Now it is a freelanced thing and no specialized agency is doing that. The bottom line is that for this century, it is imperative not only to speak more of Igede language but also to study, write and understand it more in the most organized and technical way.

Conclusion By way of conclusion, it should be reiterated that the understanding of the different elements of Igede cultural heritage is paramount to its future survival. The preservation of Igede cultural heritage is a herculean task and all hands must be on deck to achieve that. It requires formal and non-­ formal approaches and a genuine sense of history. That has been my deliberate approach in this presentation with due regard as well to what APQEI has done in the last ten years. I strongly feel that beyond the honest efforts of APQEI, ever Igede man/woman must contribute their quota to the making of Igede language and culture what they are meant to be. Igede language should be made a compulsory subject in all primary and secondary schools in Igede land as well as in the College of Education, Oju. But before all that, it must be written in standard form by those who are saddled with the responsibility of doing so. Furthermore, it should be taken as an Elective Course in the Benue State University, as well as in the University of Agriculture, Makurdi, just as Tiv and Idoma languages. Another way to fast track this is to apply to the Ministry of Education to place the language where it belongs, especially in the Benue school curriculum as part of the standardization process. Furthermore, it is necessary for APQEI to reproduce Igede language Bibles massively and distribute them freely or at subsidized prices to churches and communities as a way of promoting and enhancing use of Igede language. To facilitate this, APQEI should organize more workshops and seminars for its members and the general public and also source for funding from NGOs and individuals.

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References Falola, T. (Ed.). (2003). Ghana in Africa and the world: Essays in honor of Adu Boahen (p. 2). New Jersey: Africa World Press. Retrieved November 25, 2017, from http://Aficanworld.com. Main site: Africanhistory.net/CENTER Forde, D. (1970). Ethnographic survey of Africa: Peoples of the Niger-Benue confluence. London: Part x: Lowe & Brydone. Frampton, A. (1935). Intelligence report on Igede district of Idoma division, NAK/SNP/206. Gupta, K. A. (1992). Ethics of foreign aid: Why is it always ignored. In F. Dolberg (Ed.), Criteria for foreign aid (pp. 30–50). Aarhus: The Development Research Working Group, University of Aarhus. Kopytoff, I. (Ed.). (1987). The African frontier: The reproduction of traditional African societies. Bloomington: Indiana University Press. In, Lanzano, C. (2013). What kind of knowledge is ‘indigenous knowledge’? Critical Insights from a case study in Burkina Faso. Transcience, 4(2), 3–18. Mazrui, A. (1990). Cultural forces in world politics (p.  18). London: James Currey Ltd. Oboh, O. (Ed.). (2015). Readings in Igede language and culture. Makurdi: Microticha & Associates. Odey, O. M. (2016). Traditional judicial and administrative systems in Igede pre-­ colonial society. Paper presented at TOFAC Conference, held in Redeemers’ University from 4th–6th July. Ornstein, R. (1988). Psychology: The study of human experience (p.  379). San Diego: Harcourt Brace Jovanovich. Pelican, M. (2009). Complexities of indigeneity and autochthony: An African example. American Ethnologist, 36(1), 52–65. In, Lanzano, C. (2013). What kind of knowledge is ‘indigenous knowledge’? Critical Insights from a case study in Burkina Faso. Transcience, 4(2), 3–18.

CHAPTER 15

Yorùbá Traditional and Contemporary Cultural Perspectives on Homosexuality: Questions of Human and Minority Rights Ibigbolade Aderibigbe and Adepeju Olufemi Johnson-Bashua

Introduction The profile of the controversy surrounding the issue of homosexuality has been phenomenally raised in recent years. In the Nigerian context, the 2014 law banning homosexuality and prescribing punishment for violating it brought the issue into renewed discourse from different standpoints—condemnation from western countries and support from majority of Nigerians.

I. Aderibigbe (*) Department of Religion and African Studies Institute, University of Georgia, Athens, GA, USA e-mail: [email protected] A. O. Johnson-Bashua Department of Religions and Peace Studies, Lagos State University, Lagos, Nigeria © The Author(s) 2020 279 S. O. Oloruntoba et al. (eds.), Indigenous Knowledge Systems and Development in Africa, https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-34304-0_15

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The Yorùbá ethnic group in Southwestern Nigeria is one of the three major ethnic groups in the country. Consequently, the traditional and contemporary perspectives of this segment of the Nigerian population on homosexuality are bound to have a significant impact on the overall direction of homosexuality debates in the Nigerian nation, particularly in relation to human and minority rights questions. These perspectives have generally been characterized by two discernible positions on the reality of homosexuality in Yorùbá thoughts within both the traditional and the contemporary cultural paradigms. One school of thought claims non-existence of homosexuality in Yorùbá traditional culture and that its presence in contemporary Yorùbá society is due to foreign influence. The other seeks to identify some traces of the practice found in aspects of language, ideas, and arts indigenous to the Yorùbá culture before the influence of foreign cultures. This chapter, therefore, seeks to situate this debate within the contexts of the Yorùbá traditional and contemporary societies by addressing some salient questions. These questions include if homosexuality was part of the Yorùbá traditional culture; if it existed, in what form and beliefs; and if it did not exist, how and what were the influencing agencies and institutions. Another question to be addressed is the status of homosexuality in contemporary Yorùbá society. This is then contextualized in the changes that have taken place both within that nuclear society and the larger Nigerian society. Finally the questions of the minority and human rights with regard to the Nigerian law against homosexuality and the influences of all these in future dynamics of the Yorùbá society on homosexuality are examined. Ultimately, the objective of the chapter is to use the Yorùbá ethnic group of Southwestern Nigeria as a case study in measuring views and perspectives on laws criminalizing homosexuality with the attendant consequences for the minority and human rights concerns. This is done against the deep-rooted held cultural and religious beliefs of the people, as they transit from traditional to contemporary settings.

Homosexuality—Meaning and Conceptualities The term “homosexuality” connotes different meaning(s), subject to different communities, perspectives, and orientations. For our purpose here, it could simply be defined as sexual expression(s) or identity between people of the same sex. Traditionally, it was preserved to connote coitus interaction(s) between people of the same sex—male and male, or female

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and female. This perspective has changed with time and developments in human sexual and physiological studies. Today, the functional use of the term has been extended to incorporate the description of persons with sexual orientation(s) that cannot be accommodated within heterosexuality. Such categories of people include gays, lesbians, bisexuals, transgender, and even queer. For example, when a boy has sexual feelings for boys, and a girl is sexually attracted to other girls, they are considered homosexuals. This chapter’s usage of the term reflects both the traditional and contemporary conceptualities of the term. Central to the focus of this chapter is the significant religious influences on the Yorùbá cultural perspectives on homosexuality in both the traditional and contemporary settings. In this regard, three major religions practiced by the Yorùbá people have shaped these perspectives. While the indigenous religion exclusively informed such perspectives in the traditional setting, both Christianity and Islam now have far-reaching influences in the contemporary setting. Consequently, the contextual meanings associated with the concept of homosexuality by these religions are very pertinent in understanding the Yorùbá people’s current perspective on it. Essentially, such meanings are largely derived from scriptural and doctrinal teachings of the religions. Interestingly, a common strand of theology that designates homosexuality as a sinful act that can be prevented and cured, just like any other disease, is found in the three religions. For example, Jennell Paris (2011, p.  123), writing about Christian theology on homosexuality from the American context, states: Christian theology about homosexuality borrows from sexual identity category from American culture and then interprets and evaluates it with scripture (which was written in various cultural contexts) and with Christian theology from various places and time. (p. 123) Also in Islam, homosexuality, in forms of gayism, lesbianism, and even bisexualism, is viewed to be contrary to the Islamic theological legislation on sexual ethics. This legislation stipulates that male and female should interact (sexually) primarily for the purpose of procreation. (Adetona, 2014)

From the above, it can be argued that a generic designation/meaning of homosexuality describes a sexual concept/orientation which points to innate and physical expression of sexuality between people of the same sex, male or female. However, it sometimes describes a person’s concurrent sexual engagements with the same and opposite sex.

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Homosexuality in Yorùbá Traditional Cultural Settings As earlier indicated, the Yorùbá traditional perspective on homosexuality is exclusively informed by sexual ethics, which itself is conceived within the people’s indigenous religious orbit. It is within this context that questions bordering on the existence or non-existence of homosexuality, as well as perspectives on it in the Yorùbá traditional cultural setting, become germane. Questions of Existence The debate on the reality of homosexuality in Yorùbá traditional cultural setting identifies two main positions. One denies its existence and submits that its emergence is traceable to foreign cultural influences, particularly the western cultures. The other submits to its reality. This is said to be supported by traces found in different segments of Yorùbá beliefs and practices as reflected in ordinary language, oral literature, music, arts, religious agencies, and relationships. Taken as part of the African traditional culture, proponents of the non-­ existence of homosexuality in Yorùbá traditional culture, particularly in pre-colonial Africa, seem to echo the position of Lamb. According to Ben Anderson, Lamb had written an article in 1982 stating, “it is curious by Western standards that homosexuality in Africa is virtually unknown.” He is quoted to have stated further that “Africa’s traditional is rigidly heterosexual” (Anderson, 2007, p. 123). Interestingly, the overall findings of this study would rather suggest that the seeming non-existent of homosexuality in Yorùbá traditional culture arises from the “culture of silence” associated with it as an unacceptable societal practice. To buttress this position, Pa. Olajide (2014: Oral Interview), a Yorùbá traditional herbalist, said: Our fore fathers did not accept homosexuality because they saw it as a threat to marriage, family values, acceptable cultures and traditions which the Yorùbá hold in high esteem. Indeed, they regarded it as an aberration and a perversion. (Oral Interview)

The position of the reality of homosexuality in Yorùbá traditional society, prior to colonial and western influences, is further supported by our findings. These provided evidences that indicate that the Yorùbá traditional society, as in other parts of Africa, could never have been a ­“heteronormative”

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community. Consequently, the people’s sexuality reflected as, Sylvia Tamale argues: “ancient histories that live through griot, ighyuwas, imbongies, jellies, igawens, and guewels” (Tamale, 2011, p. 14). The realities of such sexual paradigms form a conspicuous part of the literary, religious, and social activities of the Yorùbá traditional society. For example, the word “Adodi” or “Adofuro,” which translates as “anus fucker” or “anal sex” in Yorùbá language, clearly explains a homosexual behavior—male-male sexual act. In addition, there are Yorùbá arts in sculptures, paintings, and drawings, particularly of Benin and Ife extractions, which celebrate the existence of same-sex relationships. Though these may not be seen as “homosexuality” in modern terms, they nevertheless suggest the reality of dualism of sexuality (Ajibade, 2013, p. 2). In addition, there are Yorùbá divinities with dual sexes. For example, ESU is regarded to be neither man nor woman, male or female. Shango, the divinity of thunder, is dressed as transvestites, wearing skirts with earrings on both ears and braided hair. Obatala, though regarded as a male divinity, has a demur that is not only subtle, but also emotional and sexual. Indeed, some Yorùbá female divinities, such as Oya and Yemoja, are reputed not just for their prowess of sexual seduction of men but also, and interestingly, an unusual desire for each other (Ajibade, 2013, p. 2). All of the above point to the presence of homosexual practices in Yorùbá traditional culture, though it might not have been explicitly discussed or identified. This position is further buttressed when the Yorùbá traditional culture is subsumed within the larger Nigerian cultural reality in the precolonial period. James Neil aptly supports this claim in his assertion that homosexuality has been found to be rooted in Nigerian traditional religious belief. For example, according to him, “members of the spirit possession cult among the Hausa in Northern Nigeria practices cross-dressing and take the passive role in homosexual intercourse” (Neil, 2013, p. 54). In addition, Lyn Ossome (2013, p. 35), in agreeing with this position, though with the whole continent of Africa as his focus, argues: The notion there is no homosexuality in Africa is a false claim…often accompanied by the similarity insidious accusation that homosexuality is a “western perversion” imposed upon or adopted by African population. (p. 35)

There are also traces of homosexual behaviors that have been documented in various communities in pre-colonial Africa. For instance, both Greenberg (1998, p.  60) and Davis have argued that there was a wide

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variety of homosexuality behavior and the use of artificial phalli between two women as a compensation for rare heterosexual intercourse. Indeed, two anthropologists have indicated the existence of not just random homosexual behaviors but actual homosexual marital relationships in pre-­ colonial Africa. One such anthropologist, William Naphy, alludes to the existence of same gender marriage through a process of paying brides in woman-to-woman marriages (Naphy, 2004, p. 23). Another anthropologist, Anderson (2007, p.  124), reports evidence of homosexuality transcending just sexual behavior to actual relationships in the practice of “Boy wives ad female husband.” This practice, according to him, practically demonstrates the reality of homosexuality in African communities prior to western influences. In addition, Oye Laguda, in his findings, subscribes to the existence of homosexual practice in Nigerian traditional societies. According to him, engagement in the practice then was to gain “power” for spiritual, political, economic, or other material purposes. In the specific case of the Yorùbá land, it was for money-making and those who engaged in it were known as Oso (money ritualists) (Oguntola-Laguda, 2013). From all the findings above, it could be arguably concluded that homosexual orientation and practice did exist in Yorùbá traditional cultural milieu. However, the obscenity and disapproval associated with it effectively precluded public conversations on and public identification with the practice. This leads to our discussion on the perspectives associated with homosexual orientation or practice in the Yorùbá traditional society. Traditional Perspective Attitudes toward homosexuality in Yorùbá traditional society were certainly not as controversial as those of determining its existence or non-­ existence. A consensus of negative perspectives toward homosexual orientation and practice was not only popular but widely approved and taken for granted. Those who engaged in it suffered severe societal ­condemnation of lacking in morals required for co-existence with “normal” members of the community. This perspective, no doubt, reflected deep-­rooted sentiments born out of religious and moral dictates regarded as bastions of promoting and preserving social ethics. Sexual ethics, which precluded same-sex (coital) relationships, was considered a fundamental part of this dynamics. It is therefore understandable that homosexuality in Yorùbá traditional culture was largely perceived to be an anathema—

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definitely un-African and most importantly un-religious and therefore un-­ godly. Pa Akinade (2014) puts this succinctly thus: From the time of our forefathers to engage in such an act is totally unacceptable. Such people are regarded as outcasts and if caught in the act, both of them are led out of the village and killed to appease the gods for desecrating the community. (Oral Interview)

Though the negative perspective and outlaw status associated with homosexuality in Yorùbá traditional culture are widely reflected in beliefs, attitudes, expressions, and other oral literary fora, the most outstanding “agency” that captures this perspective most succinctly is the “oral scripture” of Yorùbá traditional religion. This scripture, known as Odu-Ifa, is the manifestation of Olodumare’s wisdom personified in Orunmila, one of the primordial divinities who participated in the creation of the world and humans with the Supreme Being. Consequently, Odu-Ifa, as an oral scripture, could be regarded as the repertoire of Yorùbá traditional and cultural beliefs and nuances. It provides vital information on the people’s experiences and worldviews. Therefore, the moral teachings embedded in it, in relation to admonishments and expectations concerning sexual ethics—in this case, homosexuality—become very essential in gauging Yorùbá traditional perspective about the practice. Within this context, two verses of Odu-Ifa, presented below, vividly capture the undesirability and disapproval of homosexual practices in Yorùbá traditional worldview (Ifabunmi, 2014): 1. Irete Iwori   Isu ire lo se e je epo   Epo ire lo se e je isu   obinrin du-un ba sun ju   bi o ba ba okunrin sun   bii koko bii eewo bii IKU bii agbaarin   bi o ba ba obinrin sun   bii layunkun bii layagba bii ladun momo   bii ladun mo ete   dia fun Orunmila   baba nlo gba Akala omo Orisa   e ma ma te’mo Orisa   e ma ma te’mo Orisa   e tee jeje

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  e ma ma te’mo Orisa   Translation:   We eat yam with right oil   We use the right oil to eat yam   It is very sweet and enjoyable to make love   with a woman than a man   if you make love with a man   bumps, boils, mucus, and other diseases develop   if you make love to a woman   it is pleasing, sweet, and enjoyable This was Ifa divination for Orunmila when he was going to rescue Akala, the child of Oosa. 2. Iwori Obara   o do ganganna   o kan ganganna   dia fun iwori   tii ti ndo aya re looro   iwori o o de bere   ba ti se ndo ni looro d’omo   iwori o o de bere   you make love while standing   you make love while bending   this was the Ifa divination for Iwori   who always make love to his wife standing   Iwori kindly make love while lying down   It is wrong to make love while standing   (subtle reference to men being with each other)   Iwori kindly make love properly.

Homosexuality in Yorùbá Contemporary Cultural Setting: Questions of Influences and Perspectives on Legislation, Human/Minority Rights There is no doubt that contemporary Yorùbá society has witnessed substantial transformation from its traditional milieu. However, traditional values continue to influence its interpretations and dynamics of perspectives on social issues of the day. This is in tandem with Toyin Falola’s (2000) view on the content of transition from traditional to the contemporary. He submits:

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To some extent, the modern state is in competition with the traditional state. The modern state is undermining, replacing, and transforming the traditional societies and culture. Interestingly, traditional attitudes and concepts die-hard and modern state is itself subject to pressure and influence from traditional ideas. (p. 3)

While this statement is largely applicable in the transformation that has occurred with regard to Yorùbá cultural perspectives on homosexuality from the traditional to the contemporary, it should be emphasized that this transformation is subject to many more societal variables and influences. These variables and influences have to be holistically taken into consideration for any meaningful study of the Yorùbá society’s perspectives on homosexuality today, particularly in addressing questions raised in this study. Such questions include, what has changed, westernization versus advent of Christianity and Islam, legislation and the issue of minority/ human rights. As this study points out, the Yorùbá contemporary society cannot be isolated from the larger Nigerian society because of population mobility and national regulations. These have resulted in significant heterogeneous dynamics in perspectives on social issues, including homosexuality in any given part of the nation. What Has Changed—Reality of Practice Though the practice of homosexuality is still not a popular culture as in the traditional setting, this study finds that it is now more widely practiced and the culture of silence on its orientation and actual participants has significantly abetted. These developments could be said to be responsible for the need for legislation to curb the practice. Within the Yorùbá geographical space of the Nigerian nation, the presence of homosexual practices is supported by a number of events, occurrences, and locations encountered during this study. For example, a study conducted in 2011 at three university campuses—the University of Lagos, Olabisi Onabanjo University, and the University of Ibadan, all located in Yorùbá communities of Southwestern Nigeria—indicates that homosexual practices actively exist on these campuses. Six hundred university students (male and female) were sampled, and all of them confirmed the practice on their respective campuses. Indeed, 75 (representing 12.5%) of them responded that they have been

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“toasted” to be homosexual partners. However, none of them was ready to disclose whether they themselves engaged in the practice. This study is important because it clearly attests to the reality of homosexuality (lesbianism, gayism, and bisexualism) as part of the youth sexual culture in Yorùbá communities. In 2008, a Christian church, known as House of Rainbow Metropolitan Community Church, was identified as being LGBT friendly. The church was located in Lagos (Southwest) Nigeria. Not only were the leaders and members of the church physically assaulted (including women who were raped), “media wars” were mounted against the church and its homosexual practices. Subsequently, the church was forced to shut down and the Pastor, Rev. Macaulay, had to employ the use of social media such as Twitter, Facebook, Instagram, and Skype to minister spiritually to his church members (Punch Newspaper, September, 25, 2008, p. 15). In addition, though we were reliably informed of the existence of homosexual “joints” in Nigerian major cities such as Kaduna, Kano, Jos, Makurdi, Port-Harcourt, and Enugu, we were able to visit some of those located in the Agege area of Lagos and Mokola area of Ibadan. During my visits to these locations, their patrons would not allow me to interview their clients in order to protect their identity. Some members of the joints who agreed to speak with me would only do so anonymously. However, there were obvious homosexual activities on display. Both lesbians and gays were sexually expressing themselves openly. Usually, visitors who are not recognized or are non-members of the joints are screened before admittance. One of these members, Johnson (not real name), at an Ibadan location, confirmed his homosexual prostitution to me. According to him, this trade has taken him across cities in Nigeria. He also confessed that he has been arrested but never prosecuted on a number of occasions, and that on each occasion he has been bailed out by some influential men who are his clients. He also stated that some of his clients are foreigners who pay in foreign currencies, an average of 200 dollars or its equivalent for a night’s session. To attract customers, he dresses in female clothing with the complements of female cosmetic kits, various hair wigs, and female lingerie. Apart from patronizing the night clubs in Mokola, Ibadan, he also has a rented one-bed room apartment where he attends to his customers. The customers may book reservations or just walk in, and he attends to them if no one has booked him for the night. Interestingly, he also claimed that he has never been short of customers since he began the trade over five years ago. In order to prevent health-related issues, Johnson claimed that

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he retains the services of a physician who resides outside Ibadan and is aware of his sexual orientation (Johnson, sudo-name, oral interview, 2014). Finally, evidence of existence of the practice has made inroads into social networks such as Facebook, Twitter, and Blackberry Messenger. Those who engage in the use of these outlets, for homosexual identities and practices, are usually from the upper echelons of society, particularly celebrities in the music and movie industries (YNaija.com, Internet Newspaper, January 7, 2011, p. 1). Western Versus Religious Influences—Christianity and Islam Our findings clearly identify two agencies that have contributed significantly to Yorùbá contemporary cultural perspectives on homosexuality within the larger Nigerian national culture. The first, westernization, in its different facets, has acted as a catalyst of acceptance of the reality of homosexual orientations and practices. The second, religious organizations represented by Christianity and Islam, in strengthening the traditional cultural perspective, act as vanguards of rejection and condemnation of homosexual orientations and practices. The strong opinion of many people living in the Yorùbá geographical area, as indeed other parts of Nigeria, is that though homosexuality might have been present in traditional communities, it was inconsequential and was largely regarded as un-Yorùbá because of its being un-African. However, with the advent of western culture, the tide has changed and homosexuality has become a major social issue. The proponents of this position point to the involvement and intervention of western nations in the debate on homosexuality as evidence of this. The crux of this a­ rgument is clearly reflected in the statements of two Yorùbá politicians. The first, Cornelius Ojelabi, who was a member of the Nigerian House of Representatives and is now a commissioner in Lagos State, states that the practice was imported from the United States and Britain. He further argues that though he is not against the right of homosexuals, they should not be allowed to practice their act in the public space, warning that doing so will compromise the sexual ethics of the people (Ojelabi, oral interview, 2013). A second politician who is a current member of the Lagos State House of Assembly, Olawumi Edet, while not denying the reality of homosexuality in Nigeria and thus in Yorùbá land, however regards it as a foreign culture. She accused western countries of encouraging its practice by their unfortunate interventions in the debate on homosexual practice in Nigeria. According to her, the practice should not be allowed in any

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part of Nigeria because those who indulge in it are not better than “dogs”(Edet, oral interview, 2014). However, there are those who have argued against this school of thought. To them, homosexual traits and practices should be viewed as generic. Thus, all claims of being exported from outside cultures are inaccurate and products of uninformed postulations. With this reasoning, it could be arguably inferred that homosexual traits or even bisexual ones can be found in all societies, ages, and sexes. A strong proponent of this view is Anele (2013), who submits: Those standing against homosexuality in Nigeria are nothing but blind hypocrites who are incapable of informed reasoning…merely indulge in lazy reference to ancient superstitious beliefs contained in various religious texts. (p. 23)

The attempts to respond to Anele’s submission and dismiss the generic cause of homosexual and bisexual traits have produced stringent religious counter claims. These claims have clearly demonstrated oppositions to homosexuality. Such oppositions mainly from Christian and Islamic practitioners and scholars have been significantly influential in forming perspectives on homosexuality across contemporary Yorùbá society in particular, and other Nigerian societies in general. For example, a Christian, Joshua Ojo (2014), in countering Anele’s claim of homosexual or bisexual generic origin, states: The major point raised by Anele is a lengthy argument which attempts to debunk the existence of two discrete genders—male and female, postulating rather a continuum at which ends stand the male and female gender. In between supposedly; are myriads of people whose hormonal compositions and desires could be that despite their outward gender identifications as either male or female might be naturally drawn to burn with sexual passion for members of the same gender they are identified with. (Oral Interview)

In the same manner, Lateef Adetona, a Muslim cleric and scholar, opines: Based on experience, there is no bisexual that has not, at the point of maturity found one sexual organ more active than the other and the other has to be jettisoned. The level of functionality determines which sexual identity should be adopted by the person involved. There is no bisexual that has both organs working at maturity. (Oral Interview)

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Adetona further submits: Sexuality is a function of biology and by extension nature. For example, you are talking of human right, no body determines his/her sexuality, it is nature that imposes it on humanity. You can also influence the sexual identity of a person that is, male or female. So, it is biological. It is also spiritual since religion (Islam) determines the way you express sexual desires. (Oral Interview)

Another Christian, Kehinde Babarinde, who is a Baptist priest, outrightly claims that homosexuality is not permissible in any guise in Christianity. According to him, the destruction of Sodom and Gomorra, in Lot’s story, was in consequence of such practices (Oral Interview). The central argument of both Yorùbá Muslims and Christians in response to Anele and pro-homosexuality supporters like him is that sexuality is spiritual based on the fact that it is constructed by God. This, according to them, removes it from the realm of debate. This spiritual identity status of human sexuality is interestingly described by Mustapha Ade Bello: Sexual identity has multiple constructions. Spiritually, God controls human sexuality by creation of male and female and how the sexuality should be used. Biologically, persons like bisexuals are medically constructed through surgery to regulate and determine their gender. Socially the environment determines, to a limited extent how we deploy our sexuality. Thus, human sexuality is 20% socially constructed, 60% spiritually determined by Allah and 20% due to biological situations. (Bello, oral interview, 2014)

For Adefoluke (2013), a Yorùbá Anglican clergy, “human sexuality is determined by God. This, according to him, is fixed and cannot be changed by human beings” (Oral Interview). One other question that has become relevant is, what should be the religious response to the reality of homosexuals in the society? Indeed, such people may actually be one’s relative, co-worker, or close acquaintance. Some of the responses we received from both Muslims and Christians, who are either scholars or clergies, are quite interesting. They are convinced that homosexuality should be regarded as a disease or sin that could be prevented or cured through religious sensibilities. For instance, Mustapha Ade Bello (2014) has this to say:

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From an Islamic point of view, LGBT is a sin. This is because Muslims’ life is regulated by laws and not by will or wishes of persons or groups. Heterosexuality is the only form of sexuality recognized in Islam. We therefore need to interact with LGBTs in the society to determine what led to their sexual orientation and also put in place programs of action to cure them of their diseases and for them to seek forgiveness from their sexual sins. Since LGBTs could be Muslims (so long as they subscribe to the Khalimat Shahadar) they should not be rejected by the Muslim communities but accepted as persons in distress that need spiritual, medical and psychological rehabilitation. (Oral Interview)

Still expressing the same sentiment, Adetona opines that homosexuals should be treated with love and care. According to him, this is the appropriate humane response considering that LGBTs are product of influences (cultures) other than Islam, thus, if Muslims want to abide by Islamic principles, they should not be influenced by any culture other than Islam, which is a way of life. They (Muslims) should show love to LGBTs to attract them to the proper way(s) of Islam. They also need to be educated on the “diseases” that are associated with this perverted sexual act. They also need reliability rehabilitation through separation from people of homosexual orientations. By all means they should not be rejected. (Oral Interview)

The perception that homosexuality results from moral and religious shortcomings that could be rectified through religious admonitions has in fact been captured by the popular Yorùbá Nollywood. In one of its films released in 2012, titled ohun egbin (dirty act), the story of a married bisexual male formed the theme of the film. His bisexual act led to a near-­ collapse of his marriage. He had to seek the help of both Christian and Muslim ministers. It was through their spiritual interventions that he was cured and his marriage restored (Nollywood, 2012). Legislation and Criminalization Perhaps the most significant factor informing perspectives on homosexuality in contemporary Yorùbá society, as part of the larger Nigerian society, is the enactment of legislations criminalizing homosexuality in different forms. Prior to the most recent Bill passed by both the Nigerian Senate and House of Representatives and signed into law by the president on January 13, 2014, there have been legal instruments against homosexual practices in Nigeria.

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Two sets of such legal instruments were actually in existence. In Northern Nigeria, where Sharia law is practiced, homosexuality is punishable by death. We do not intend to discuss this legal instrument here. The one that covered the Yorùbá geographical area of western Nigerian is the Federal penal code. This code forbids not only homosexual practice but also same-sex marriage. The relevant sections of this code are as follows: Section 214 states: Any person who has carnal knowledge of any person against the order of nature (order of nature here refers to heterosexual intercourse) … Or permits a male person to have carnal knowledge of him or her against the order of nature is guilty of felony and is liable to imprisonment for 14 years. (Nigerian Penal Code, 2014)

Section 217 of the same code states: Any male person who whether in public or private commits any act of gross indecency with another male person to commit any act of gross indecency with him or attempts to procure the commission of any such act by any male person with himself or with another male person, whether in public or private is guilty of a felony and is liable to imprisonment for 3 years. (Nigerian Penal Code, 2014)

It is this federal penal code that is upheld and significantly strengthened by the new law. It also criminalizes the advocacy and concealment of homosexuality and institutes penalties for them. In specific terms, the law contains penalties of up to 14 years in prison and bans gay marriage, same-sex “amorous relationships,” and membership in gay rights groups. The law, tagged Prohibition of Marriage or Civil Union by Persons of Same Gender (Nigerian National Assembly Bill, 2013), addresses issues of marriage contract, place of marriage, recognized marriage, offenses and penalties, jurisdiction, and interpretation in seven sections, as follows: Contract 1-(1) Marriage Contract or civil union entered between persons of same Gender is hereby prohibited in Nigeria. (2) Marriage Contracts or civil union entered between persons of same gender are invalid and shall not be recognized as entitled to the benefits of a valid marriage. (3) Marriage

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Contract or civil union entered between persons of same gender by virtue a certificate issued by a foreign country shall be void in Nigeria, and any benefits accruing there from by virtue of the certificate shall not be enforced by any court of law in Nigeria. Solemnization of Same Sex Marriage in Places of Worship 2-(1) Marriage or civil union entered between persons of same Gender shall not be solemnized in any place of worship either Church or Mosque in Nigeria. (2) No marriage certificate issued to parties of same sex marriage or civil union in Nigeria shall be valid. Recognized Marriage in Nigeria 3. Only marriage contract between a man and a woman either under Islamic Law, Customary Law and Marriage Act is recognized as valid in Nigeria Registration of Homosexual Clubs and Societies 4-(1) The Registration of gay clubs, societies and organizations, their sustenance, processions and Meetings are hereby prohibited. (2) The public show of same sex amorous relationship directly or indirectly is hereby prohibited. Offences and Penalties 5-(1). Persons that entered into a same gender marriage or civil union contracts commit an offence and are jointly liable on conviction to a term of 14 years imprisonment each. (2). Any person who registers, operates or participates in gay clubs, societies and organizations, or directly or indirectly make a public show of same sex amorous relationship commits an offence and shall each be liable on conviction to a term of 10 years imprisonment (3). Any persons or group of persons that witnesses, and aids the solemnization of a same sex marriage contract or civil union or supports the registration of gay clubs, societies and organizations, processions or meetings in Nigeria commits an offence and liable on conviction on conviction to a term of 10 years imprisonment. Jurisdiction 6. The High Court of a State or of the Federal Capital Territory shall have jurisdiction to entertain matter arising from the breach of the provisions of this Bill. Interpretation 7. In this Bill, unless the context otherwise requires—“Marriage” here relates to a legal union entered between persons of opposite sex in accordance with the Marriage Act, Islamic and Customary Law. “Court” means High Court of a State or of the Federal Capital Territory. “Same Sex Marriage” means the coming together of persons of the same sex with the purpose of

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living together as husband and wife or for other purposes of same sexual relationship. “Witness” means those who Sign, witness to the solemnization of the marriage. “Civil Union” means any arrangement between persons of the same sex to live together as sex partners, and shall include such descriptions as adult independent relationships, caning partnership, civil solidarity pacts, domestic partnerships, reciprocal beneficiary relationships, registered Partnership, significant relationship, stable unions, etc. There is no doubt that this law has not only criminalized homosexuality, but has also raised the resentments of the public against homosexuals. Also, and unfortunately, it seems to have encouraged the anti-homosexual justification for public physical assaults of suspected homosexuals. For example, the Nigeria Eye Newspaper reported that in August 2013, a man alleged to be a gay was beaten to a state of unconsciousness in Ota, a town in Southwest Nigeria (Nigeria Eye, 2013, p. 1) This was even when the law had only been passed by the Nigerian congress and not yet signed into law by the president. The fallout of criminalizing homosexual practices in contemporary Yorùbá society, as part of the Nigerian state, has raised questions of the justification as well as the humaneness of the law vis-à-vis the human or minority rights of homosexuals, be they gay, lesbians, or bisexuals. This is what we turn to discuss next.

Homosexual Minority/Human Rights Debate The question of the human/minority rights of homosexuals becomes germane in Yorùbá contemporary cultural perspectives on homosexuality based on the fact that the 2007 Pew Global Attitude discovered that 97% of the Nigerian population are against homosexuality and hold the strong belief that it should be ostracized from the Nigerian culture (Pew Project, 2007). This definitely makes homosexuals the minority with an inability to be open about their sexuality for fear of being harassed, beaten, or mobbed. This claimed denial of human/minority rights by Nigeria’s new law on homosexuality seems to be at variance with the 1999 Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria as amended. A provision in that constitution (section 17 (2) (a)) states that all citizens and residents of the nation have equal rights as well as other rights (Nigerian Constitution, 1999). However, as anti-homosexuality proponents are wont to claim, there are no specific provisions on the right of homosexuals in the constitution because homosexual practices were never considered to be within the construction of

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human nature to warrant such a right being protected. Consequently, enacting constitutional legislation to stop discrimination or harassment of people with homosexual sexual identities did not come within the preview of constitutional consideration. Though the overwhelming majority of Nigerians, and by extension, the population of Yorùbá southwestern Nigeria, support this law and obviously do not see its criminalization of homosexuality as a denial of human/minority rights, there has been a lot of push back both locally and internationally. At the individual level, reactions to the law have been swift and pungent particularly in relation to violation of the rights of homosexuals as humans and minorities. For example, a Yorùbá confessed gay, Bisi Alimi, now living in Britain to escape harassment in Nigeria, roundly condemned the anti-gay legislation in Nigeria even before it was signed into law. He would want to fight the law and seek the help of everyone who could fight it. In pursuit of this objective, he stated: I wish I was there to help fight. I would say that I am “getting by” learning to make my way but I haven’t set my eyes on my family in 6 years and I miss them. I know if I go back, I will mess up the opportunity for asylum for other gay men suffering around the world … I just want to be sure we are not quiet. I urge everyone around the world to make sure the bill doesn’t pass. (Omisore, 2013, p. 19)

Other Nigerians who have negatively reacted to the new law before it was signed into law by the president include Ifeanayi Orazulile. According to him: No one is agitating for right to marry or placing demands on the Nigerian government to legalize homosexuality, but to criminalize sexual right advocacy is a shock. It is a bad situation not only for the gay community but for the organization providing assistance to them. (Omisore, 2013, p. 19)

A surprising criticism of the law when it was passed by the Nigerian lawmakers came from Wole Soyinka, a Nobel Laureate and an acclaimed promoter of Yorùbá culture. In condemning the Bill passed by the national assembly, Soyinka opined: The problem with legislators is that they fail to distinguish between personal bills and interventions in private lives. That is the problem. I see no reason why they should intervene in the private lives of adults. What people do in their bedrooms is no business of mine. It should not be the business of legislators. (p. 15)

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He admonished the lawmakers to have a better understanding of the distinction between public and private sexual relations by going back to school. If they do this, they would not have wasted their time on what people do in their private bedrooms. However, Soyinka was quick to make two clarifications. The first was that his opposition of the Bill is not about recognizing same-sex marriage but private same-sex relations, which he thinks results from biological, rather than social, dynamics. Second, he also chastised western countries condemning the Bill by stating: But at the same time, I think other countries who are pointing fingers should look inwards and see whether they also do not practice the same kind of discrimination. That is where I disagree, but I think it is important we learn to distinguish between what is a public affair and what is a private affair. (p. 15)

Soyinka’s critic of the Bill drew immediate dissenting responses to his position. However, the most pungent and emanating from a prominent Christian leader came from Dr. Sunday Ola Makinde, the Prelate of Methodist Church, Nigeria. In a statement released by the Church’s Media and Public Relation Officer, the Rev. Oladapo Daramola, Makinde, viewed Soyinka’s comments as an attempt to psychologically bully the lawmakers into giving approval to an unreligious non-cultural act. He described Soyinka’s comments as unfortunate and regrettable, stating: When I read the statements credited to Professor Soyinka, I was taken aback. His comment is an affront on our socio-cultural and religious values which I find as highly unfortunate. When people look up to us as role models in the society, we must see it as a public trust, which must be guarded jealously. I have had times to agree with him but this is a point upon which I completely disagree with him. (p. 15)

He, thereafter, offered his total support for the legislators and asked Soyinka to apologize to them in the following words: I urge members of the National Assembly not to be dissuaded by this kind of comments and insults hauled on them by Professor Wole Soyinka rather they should base their actions on the clamor by majority of Nigerians, which is overwhelmingly against same sex marriage. He should apologize to the Legislators for telling them to go back to school. Let me ask; is Professor Wole Soyinka or any of the advocates a product of same sex marriage? I wonder if the conventional marriage had not been upheld as passed down by our fathers, how many of those who are proponents of this “evil” agenda will be in this world today. (p. 15)

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At the local organizational level, some non-government groups in Nigeria have extended legal services and training in advocacy to homosexuals. One of such groups is Global Rights and the Independent Project. Another of such groups is the Youths 2gether Network, which provides access to information and services on social health and rights of homosexuals. Internationally, the United Nations Human Rights Council, a UN agency, to which Nigeria belongs, has a provision that clearly prohibits the abuse of human/minority rights. Indeed, Nigeria, in 1994, became a signatory to the (UNHRC) covenant that guaranteed a right to privacy and equality as well as political rights. This Agency clearly submits that laws criminalizing consensual same-sex activity violate the right of people. This is because these laws interfere with privacy rights regardless of whether they are activity enforced by driving marginalized communities underground (American Journal of International Law, 1994, p. 89). Thus, the agency has recommended that such laws be repealed and member nations bring their laws into conformity with the covenant. The United Nations (UN) and many western nations, who are major aid donors to Africa, have not only condemned Nigeria but also threatened withdrawal of such aids if the law is not rescinded and the rights of homosexuals protected. In the pursuit of advocacy assistance to homosexuals in Nigeria, various platforms have sent huge amounts of money to Nigeria. Indeed, some have claimed that not less than five billion naira (1.7 million dollars) is involved (www.churcharise.org/a and www.macfound.org/site/c). In conclusion, there has been a huge wave of social media advocacy in support of the rights of homosexuals, largely sponsored by both local and international individuals and agencies. However, with all the above manners of opposition to the law criminalizing homosexuality in Nigeria and the stringent call for its repeal, our study finds that this will be an uphill battle. This position is informed by, first, the unprecedented and fanatical support the government enjoys for enacting the law. Second, the fact that a majority of Nigerians do not view the new law as a violation of anyone’s rights. Rather, they strongly hold that it is the necessary panacea for eradicating the scourge of offensive and immoral sexual practices in the Nigerian nation. There is no doubt that these developments are largely informed by seemingly unanimous positions of the three religions—Christianity, Islam, and African Traditional Religion—practiced in Nigeria. Furthermore, it is quite obvious that these dynamics have significantly influenced contemporary perspectives on homosexuality in Nigerian culture in general and the Yorùbá culture in particular.

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Final Reflections From our findings in this study, a number of issues on the perspective of Yorùbá traditional culture as well as the contemporary one on homosexuality are revealed. First, it is established that though homosexual orientations and practices might not have been widespread in the Yorùbá traditional milieu, they did exist. This position is quite evident in various oral and non-oral societal agencies. In addition, the reality of homosexuality during this period is supported by expressed disapproval of such acts as found in the verses of Ifa, which is regarded as the epitome of Yorùbá moral and religious worldviews. Secondly, the transition of Yorùbá perspectives on homosexuality from the traditional to the contemporary has been shaped by a number of variables. These include the continued influence of traditional moral and religious dictates on sexual ethics, westernization, and the advent of Christianity and Islam. Thirdly, population mobility in Yorùbá communities, which have become cosmopolitan, as part of the Nigerian nation, has introduced significant heterogeneous perspectives on homosexuality. Fourthly, and perhaps the most influential catalyst in shaping contemporary perspectives on homosexuality in Nigeria in general and Yorùbá land in particular is the recent anti-homosexual law enacted by the Nigerian government 2014. The criminalization of not just homosexual practices but also its advocacy has opened up a flood gate of supporters and opponents of the law. The major issue of contention centers on the violation of the rights of homosexuals. Within the context of all the above, our findings from interviews and relevant literatures show that though there may have been better “understanding” of homosexual traits in Yorùbá contemporary society as well as diverse perspectives on it, a majority of the Yorùbá population are negatively disposed to the practice. This position, we believe, has been significantly advanced by the strong religious nature of the people. All the three religions—Traditional Religion, Christianity, and Islam—practiced by the people consider homosexuality to be immoral, satanic, and unnatural. It is regarded as a sinful act from which those who engage in it must seek forgiveness. Consequently, there has been an overwhelming support for the anti-homosexual legislation, which is regarded as justified in order to, at the minimum, discourage homosexuality and ultimately eradicate it from the society. Finally, our study shows that in spite of the law criminalizing homosexuality and its practice, it is still quite prevalent, particularly among youths. However, it is evident that persons with homosexual orientations

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and identities will remain unable to “publicly” express their sexuality. This is considered “prudent” if they want to avoid being legally penalized or publicly harassed, mobbed, or molested. In addition, it will be very difficult for homosexuals to have their rights protected under the current majority dispositions. This is because the Yorùbá contemporary culture is largely made up of an overbearing negative perspective on mere homosexual orientation not to talk of amorous relationships or same-sex marriages. It is therefore difficult to imagine that this situation will change in the near future. Consequently, the findings of this study completely agree with Ajibade that the religious and cultural bias of the Yorùbá, as far as homosexuality is concerned, renders any modern repackaging of it for societal acceptability highly unlikely. Thus, for the contemporary Yorùbá society, the future of homosexuality as an acceptable cultural practice is uncertain (Ajibade, 2013, p. 1). This conclusion does not in any way underestimate the contemporary dynamics of rapid changes in societal perspectives on social issues. The particular case of same-sex marriage in the United States is noteworthy. Same-sex marriage has become legal nationally with the US Supreme Court decision of 5–4 delivered in July 2015. This scenario would have been unimaginable ten years ago. However, one must take cognizance of the differences in cultural and religious environments of the United States and Yorùbá Land in particular and Nigeria in general in making such projections.

References Adefoluke, G. (2013). Oral interview, August 21. Adetona, L. (2014). Oral interview, July 14 Adewale Ifabunmi. (2014). Oral interview, July 29. Ajibade, G.  O. (2013). Same-sex relationship in Yorùbá culture and orature. Journal of Homosexuality, 60(7), 2. Akinade, J. O. (2014). Oral interview, July 22. Anderson, B. (2007). The politics of homosexuality in Africa. Africana, 1(1), 123–124. Anele, D. (2013, January 29). Homosexuality and its enemies. Vanguard Newspaper, p. 23. Bello, M. (2014). Oral interview, July 23. Edet, O. (2014). Oral interview, July 24. Falola, T. (2000). Tradition and change in Africa: The essays of J.  F. Ade Ajayi (p. 3). Asmara: African World Press Inc.

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Greenberg, D. (1998). The construction of homosexuality (pp.  60–61). Chicago: Chicago University Press. Johnson, (Anonymous Name). (2014). Oral interview, July 28. Naphy, W. (2004). Born to be gay: A history of homosexuality (pp. 23–24). Stroud: Tempus Publishing Ltd. Neil, J. (2013). The origin and role of same sex in human societies (p. 54). Jefferson: McFarland Publication. Nigeria Eye Newspaper. (2013, August 10). p. 1. Nigerian Federal Penal Code. (2014). Nigerian National Assembly Same sex Marriage (prohibition) Bill. (2013). Oguntola-Laguda, O. (2013). Appraising homosexuality debate in Nigeria in the context of globalization. Unpublished paper presented at African Studies Institute 2nd International Conference, University of Georgia, Athens, USA, 3–5 November, p. 10. Ojelabi, C. (2013). Oral interview, July 30. Ojo, J. (2014, July 30). Homosexual advocacy in Nigeria: In response to Dr. Anele. ARISE—Christian Bi-Monthly Newsletter, 7. Retrieved from www. churcharise.com. Olajide, J. (2014). Oral interview, July 21. Omisore, B. (2013). African connection: Nigeria legislates against gay marriage advocacy. Ebony News, 19. Ossome, L. (2013). Postcolonial discourses of queers activism and class in Africa. In S.  Ekiene & H.  Abbas (Eds.), Queer African reader (p.  35). Nairobi: Pambuzuka Press. Paris, J. M. (2011). The end of sexual identity: Why sex is too important to define who we are (p. 123). Illinois: IVP Books. Pew Global Attitude Project. (2007). Tamale, S. (2011). African sexuality: A reader (p. 14). Nairobi: Pambazuka Press. The American Journal of International Law. (1994). Vol. 88, No. 4, p. 89. The Nigerian. (1999). Constitution as amended. The Punch Newspaper. (2008, September 25). p. 15. YNaija.com, The Internet Newspaper for Young Nigeria. (2011, January 7). p. 14. Yorùbá Nollywood Film, Ohun Ebgin, released. (2012).

CHAPTER 16

Recognizing the Value of the African Indigenous Knowledge System: The Case of Ubuntu and Restorative Justice Mofihli Teleki and Serges Djoyou Kamga

The ideals of globalization, depending on context and various settings, may serve as a predicative tool in how countries manage their affairs in spite of the fundamental differences in cultures, philosophies and thought (Kellner, 1998, p. 23). The latter variables, that is, cultures, philosophies and thought, are arguably the ontological makeup of various societies around the world (Merriam-Webster.com, 2016). There have been much debates and scholarship which explicate to how certain ontological and epistemological concepts that are non-western in nature can be applicable in the context of nuances and notions of globalization This chapter aims to tap into the current discussions on several thoughts and ideas (or body of knowledge) on specific non-western philosophies,

M. Teleki Commission for Gender Equality, Johannesburg, South Africa S. D. Kamga (*) Thabo Mbeki African Leadership Institute (TMALI), University of South Africa (UNISA), Pretoria, South Africa e-mail: [email protected] © The Author(s) 2020 303 S. O. Oloruntoba et al. (eds.), Indigenous Knowledge Systems and Development in Africa, https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-34304-0_16

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which have made a significant impact on the discourse of jurisprudence and human rights, namely the Ubuntu philosophy found in Africa. Ubuntu as epistemological concept was used for purposes of restoring social order in ancient African societies and, with the passage of time, this concept became a living principle upon which ordinary citizens adhere to. The shift in paradigms from colonial systems entrenched in non-western societies made it possible for ancient and indigenous methods to find expression in African countries in present times. In other words, this concept was arguably dissipated during the eras of colonialism (Mbembe and Rendall, 2002, p. 241). The philosophy of Ubuntu carries specific elements that are almost identical to the nuances of restorative justice, a concept that has since emerged within the era of globalization. It is therefore ideal to interrogate how Ubuntu found ways and means of creating social order within the full or partial application of contemporary legal systems. The importance of this interrogation lies in the fact that while countries try to find solutions for maintenance of social order various social strata, perhaps some of the much-needed solutions could lie in the already existing epistemological philosophies of non-western countries. In other words, it is worth exploring how the notion of Ubuntu could be of assistance to current legal instruments in dealing with current problems. There are ways and means of interpreting the functions of non-western concepts, and the disposition that prevails in this chapter posits that one cannot interpret non-western theory by simply comparing it to western thought. In other words, the chapter will not compare but rather explicate the utilization and practical application of Ubuntu. Part of the reason why it may not bear any fruit in attempting to comparatively place western and non-western concepts beside each other for an assessment of their usages is largely due to the fact that the environments of western and non-western worlds are not the same. In essence, the discussions in this chapter contribute to additional knowledge on Ubuntu in how its purpose could be in the current spheres of societies but more importantly in the global world. The question as to how an ancient epistemological concept is applied in current times is partly what this chapter will achieve. In other words, the illustration of the applications and shortcomings of the application referred to are important. The shortcomings in the application of this ancient notion are lessons for other countries that are still grappling with applying ancient concepts in current times. In certain respects, the ancient and

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­ on-­western concepts such as Ubuntu also find expression in the legislan tive frameworks of countries that acknowledge their existence (Mokgoro, 1997). Even though the application of these concepts may find expression in the legislative frameworks, there could perhaps be a need for further evaluation of their outcomes in society at current times. In terms of structure, the chapter is divided into seven parts including this introduction. The second part examines how the African cultural system was silenced and it reemergence. The third part explores how Ubuntu was operationalized in ancient Africa to prevent conflict. The fourth part focuses on the practical application of Ubuntu in contemporary time. It looks at its role in seeking justice and conflict resolution. The fifth part of the chapter examines the challenges facing Ubuntu in its search for truth, reconciliation, and conflict resolution. The sixth part attempts to relativize these challenges by examining their contexts and the final part concludes the chapter by calling for the recognition of the value of African indigenous knowledge system with strong emphasis on the need to move to “pluriversalism” (Falola, 2016, p.  265) and not universalized western values.

Silencing and Re-emergence of African Cultural Systems It is important to note that cultural systems have even had an impact on education systems which were a result of colonial thought, making it difficult to convey socio-cultural perspectives of African thought during and after the period of colonization (Dei, 2012, p. 103). Eurocentric systems of education during colonial times were important in the broader scheme of the colonial project as a means to framing consciousness that was contrary to teachings of African systems. In this way knowledge systems were singularly accepted as that of European thought even in non-western or European states such as those in Africa. In turn there had been vast information and knowledge as a source of power that was utilized to create claims of social realities which were any other thing other than African (Dei, 2012, p.  104). Indigenous systems were once considered a threat to the colonial project due to how they were used to justify resistance to invasion of African life by industrial capitalists (Shahjahan, 2005, p. 215).

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The old cultures of Africans similarly to other non-western states were dissipated and in turn there was no other existing epistemic discourse that would challenge colonialism and hence over time the shift from anti-­ colonial discourse for the creation of agency and liberatory knowledge production for freedom from colonial rule (Shahjahan, 2005, p. 215). The ancient non-western cultures were excluded from mainstream knowledge in order to suppress other sources of social reality, thereby creating hegemonic systems that were linear in nature (Shahjahan, 2005, p. 215). Shizha (2013, p. 08) argues that the silencing of African systems and knowledge concerned a great effort and systems that were to supplant other ways of thinking, especially knowledge that was transposed onto society through missionaries and related institutions: Deconstruction of colonial school curriculum requires rupturing the hegemonic structures of Western defined knowledge. From this perspective, school knowledge is transformed, reconstructed and rewritten to celebrate difference, diversity, pluralism, multiplicity and heterogeneity without portraying any one form of knowledge as the culture of reference (Jacques Derrida, quoted in Lemert, 1999). In many African schools, European education continues to distort, misappropriate and misrepresent African realities, their lives, experiences and thoughts. Since independence, there has been little significant shift from Eurocentric definitions of official knowledge and school pedagogy. However, attempts to Africanize or indigenize school curriculum were made by some African governments. (Shizha, 2013, p. 8)

The dissipation of knowledge and information about non-western people and their silenced voices was largely centered around the ideal of re-­ determining the moral discernment of non-western people of the colonized countries (Lorenz & Watkins, 2001, p. 2). Zeleza (2006, p. 16) further opines on this latter point in the following manner: Conquering Western narratives, beginning with Greek stories about Africa, through the colonial library, to contemporary postmodernist discourses, have radically silenced or converted African discourses. African intellectuals, he argues, have been reacting to this ethnocentric epistemological order, itself subject to the mutations of Western material, methodological, and moral grids, with varying degrees of epistemic domestication and defiance, in the process of which Africa’s identity and difference have been affirmed, denied, inverted, and reconstituted. (Zeleza, 2006, p. 16)

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The growing movement of liberation in former colonial countries in post-colonial periods led to the pressing need of liberation psychology which involved restorative justice, accompanied by dialogue, re-imagining and re-claiming lost history and heritage (Lorenz & Watkins, 2001, p. 5). This is similar to the events of South Africa where Ubuntu became a rallying point to re-imagine a free country. In this instance of South Africa, apartheid was a symbol of de-historicizing tool of the person or personhood in that silencing voices of non-white South Africans was a means of biological absoluteness toward non-white people (Smith & Wobst, 2005, p. 5). In other words, the pillar of coloniality as a mental frame of reference was a function of essentializing race with respect to superiority. The above assertion by Smith and Wobst (2005, p. 5) is supported by Zeleza (2006, p. 16), who argued the following: Attempts at explicating the “cultural unity” of “sub-Saharan Africa” often sound, at least to a historian like me, mystical. Unless culture is coded in skin color, the homogeneity or heterogeneity of cultural practices in Africa, or elsewhere for that matter, should not be assumed a priori in so far as these are historical processes. Take language and religion, two critical attributes of culture: the Hausa of West Africa had more in common with their neighbors to the North than with the Zulu of South Africa with whom they had no intensive and sustained contacts despite the affinities of skin color. The Hausa and their neighbors in North Africa traded with each other for centuries, shared religion—Islam—and a script—Arabic—and their languages are part of the Afro-Asiatic family. This familiar material, moral and mental universe should count for something, certainly more than melanin. (Zeleza, 2006, p. 16)

The post-colonial era of non-western states has sought to determine a movement that was not grounded in the deconstruction but re­ construction of knowledge systems within the education systems. Lorenz and Watkins (2001, p. 1) argue that there is evidence that points out the effects of colonial disinformation about non-western people became the rallying point of liberation movements to fashion their notions of liberation around the psyche or consciousness of non-western people about their past and heritage. The resistance of colonial knowledge has in recent times come into fruition in different shapes or forms. There are pockets of new knowledge production that include indigenous epistemologies informed by l­ anguages,

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social inquiry, social values, and interpretation of cosmologies (Dei, 2012, p. 105). Several means of reigniting information and African systems of yesteryear continue to find expression through current social capital systems through civic movements but more so in the cleavages of equality (Englebert, 2000, p. 4). This has helped to shape the focus on re-visiting past ethics derived from culture as the basis to justify adequate governance systems.

Reliance on Ubuntu to Prevent Conflict in Ancient Africa At the onset of this section, it is important to note that Ubuntu can be associated to what is known in modern times as restorative justice. Our illustration is significant as it follows the questions asked by many scholars in relation to the question of alternative forms of justice that can be explored in conflict situations. Fritz (2005, p. 4) argues that restorative justice is a growing movement that seeks to be inclusive of grass roots issues, promoted by individuals in an effort to encourage alternatives to non-retributive justice. In as much as we intend to illuminate non-western instruments that are almost identical to the current or modern-day elements of restorative justice, it is also pertinent that we note that the concept of restorative justice in the western world has not yet been actively promoted in western countries even though an attempt has been made to drive the movement of restorative justice in western courts (Fritz, 2005, p. 4). What is critical to note is that non-western countries have thus lived according to the philosophies that seem to have been less promoted in the current western dispensations. In other words, elements of restorative justice which seem to be less promoted in the western world had actually been part of the lives of Africans since a timeless era (Kamga, 2018). Apart from interpersonal conflicts and group-related problems, Fritz’s (2005, p.  4) assertion on restorative justice is aptly supported by other scholars (on the same topic) such as Liu and Palermo (2009, p. 49): The restorative justice movement has grown rapidly in the past twenty-five years. It has been estimated that there are about 1,000 restorative justice programs in the world and at least eighty countries have adopted some form of restorative justice program in response to crime problems. As an i­ mportant

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initiative for criminal justice reform, restorative justice has predominantly taken place in countries with Western legal systems, particularly those with common law and civil law traditions as a response to the limitations of the conventional Western criminal justice system

The discourse on restorative justice is found in current scholarship of law and thus the world is bound to find mechanisms or methods that are necessary to apply them in different settings. What is currently missing from these discussions is the scholarship and studies on non-western countries, and this should be viewed with a considerable amount of concern. Liu and Palermo further assert this notion in the following manner: “The fact that in the past few decades the restorative justice movement has developed faster in Western countries indicates the possibility of different path-ways under different political and cultural contexts. The motivation or impetus for restorative justice may be different in Eastern countries” (Liu & Palermo, 2009, p. 50). The differences in the world—views on the methods applied or the manner in which restorative justice finds space in world societies—should therefore be interrogated outside of the common thought around issues of globalization, wherein people of world nations are either seen to be the same or where the practices non-western countries have not yet been assessed thoroughly in order to bring about a variety of meanings in different contexts. The concept of justice in the African sense, for instance, differed with the western way of law, inclusive of how the law was actually enforced in ancient times. For example, historically, the concept of a typical prison was almost non-existent in the African setting in the way it is understood today, be it from the perspective of corrections or reformation. The concept of prisons modeled in times of colonialism reflected the common colonial strategy wherein colonialists built structures that were meant to confine people into specific spaces for their wayward behaviors (Nagel & Cortland, 2014, p.  2). Ntsebeza argues that the colonialist ideal in this instance negated the concept of traditional reconciliation which ancient Africans had practiced and that the harshest punishment (as can be compared to the death penalty) was exile or banishment as opposed to death. In ancient societies in non-western countries, restitution or restoration to victims and their kin took priority over retribution of the alleged offender by virtue of the fact that the creation of peace and harmony was

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deemed of paramount importance in non-western cultures (Choi & Severson, 2009, p. 400). The philosophy of reconciliation among Africans was not only a state of mind but it was practically put in place in symbolic rituals to create a top of mind in regard to the actual practice of reconciliation as a concept. For instance, the Acholi peoples of Uganda used a ritual from which a victimizer would consume a bitter herb to symbolize that the act of the victimizer was bitter toward his/her victim and it was believed that this act would help to let go of the bitterness as well as possible resentment from victims (Allen, 2008, p. 48). The common understanding of attainment of justice around the world has always been based retributive justice and in many ways, those who fall outside the moral order and codes could be punished for their acts. The more the gruesome the crime, the more society responds in a retributive manner. This is rather interesting because the stance on individual rights has always been placed on the corpus of individual rights and as such individual rights have found expression in constitutions which are highly regarded, like in the case of America. The other critical issue in relation to western jurisprudence is that the prosecution process may thwart any possibility of reconciliation to take place between the victim and the offender. In recent post-colonial conflicts in the African continent, it has been accepted as the norm that the national concern for past national atrocities should be dealt with through reconciliation. The one common challenge associated with retributive justice is that it is believed that it is in certain instances the arm of law might be too long and costly, even though in the end those who have faced the might of the law are eventually punished for their own deeds. For Choi and Severson (2009, p. 400), The practice of restorative justice offers an opportunity to highlight the humanity of both the victim and the offender, highlighting the victim’s experience within a process that is both personal and justice-oriented. The victim’s voice is at the fore, and the centrality of the interpersonal dimension—that relationships among people are important, particularly the relationship between the offender and the victim—is at the heart of the process” When one looks into the current concept of restorative justice in the way that is understood today, one could closely link this concept to certain elements of Ubuntu. In the context of Ubuntu, it is said that there is an u ­ nderstanding

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from those who have long practiced Ubuntu that compassion, is one of the ingredients of the ethic of Ubuntu.

As for Ubuntu, it would almost seem incomprehensible that “vengeance” would apply in scenarios that Ubuntu functions by virtue of the fact that compassion falls directly opposite to the notion of avenging a crime, a bad deed or action that seems untoward within society. Within the setting from which Ubuntu is practiced, it could be argued that the principle of an eye for an eye would probably negate the principle of being compassionate. The same principle of an eye for an eye has been used globally in legal and justice systems of various countries. There has been a call for the reformation of this principle within the human rights arena, that is, the idea that ordinary people are to be given opportunities to restore peace and relations between themselves in a conscious manner. This principle is steeped in the current understanding of restorative justice. In current and recent years, restorative justice has come about more often than not as the justification for truth commissions and development of transitional justice in certain African countries. In previous times, truth commissions were never formed on the basis of restorative justice (Frederiksen, 2008, p.  3). The African continent has had a number of truth commissions that were largely aimed at restoring order in post-­ conflict situations and in some cases these truth commissions were able to lay foundations for the establishment of transitional governments. According to Ntsebeza, restorative justice prioritises beneficence to victims and survivors. What was different in these truth commissions is that the victim-centred justice required Truth Commissions to approach even the task of listening to victims accounts of their suffering with care and dignity, and in a manner that restored to the victims of human rights abuses the dignity which they had lost in their previous dealings with officialdom.

Human dignity, care and humaneness are deemed important for the advancement of Ubuntu as a living principle practiced by those who believe in it. As the world progressed and the world nations began to create interdependency, mutual cooperation and control over social problems were to become common, leaning on the principle of globalization or the idea that all nations around the world are the same in spite of their locations or roots belong to one common universal village (Liu, 2009, p. 1).

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As the idea of globalization continued to soar around world nations, applications of some of these non-western concepts of restorative justice then found expression into transitional forms of disputes and in some cases some of these ancient, non-western concepts are even used as alternative dispute resolution methods (Hamlin, 2014, p. 43). Having cited this ancient principle of Africa in the justice arena, it could beg the question as to why it serves any importance for this concept to find expression and application in the current realms of law. In an attempt to answer this question it becomes important to highlight the fact that over time, several paradigms have existed from which norms were created and cemented in the ideologies of governance and law worldwide in at least the last hundred years or so. The colonial era has, for instance, provided a certain frame of thought from which those who were colonized were forced to adapt to world—views and philosophies that did not reflect their cultures and ontological way of being. Within the past eras of governance, especially those of the colonial times, several mistakes, or problems were created willingly and unwillingly by those who were in the forefront of systematizing colonial rule. As the paradigms shifted, it was acknowledged that the manner in which the human order was organized at the time of colonization was undesirable and therefore remedies were to be applied in order to redress the mistakes of the past colonial rule in many respects. For this to happen, it was important for the world to acknowledge these mistakes and problems. This is then followed by the question of whether corrections are made to redress or restore order in countries that were affected by colonial problems. Meiring (2002, p.  730) argues that forgiveness seems to be an ideal consonance to restoration of past problems or mistakes in post-colonial dispensations. As to whether countries who unduly benefited from these past mistakes play part in the redress of those that they took advantage of will differ from one country to the next. In certain countries, reparations were paid for the past atrocities which framed the colonizer in a negative light within the context human rights issues, while in some countries, after forgiveness, joint efforts follow in rebuilding countries that suffered from colonial rule as a means of redress. This aptly makes reference to the need for redress and restoration on key fundamental issues that cut across the nuances of undoing the things that were done in the past, especially in non-western countries. There are several examples from which we find that world leaders for one reason or the other were forced to seek forgiveness for their countries’

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role in past atrocities. Former chancellor of Germany Willy Brandt knelt at the Warsaw War Memorial as an act of confession and repentance for German offenses against the Polish nation in 1970 (Giesen, 2009, p. 1114). In 2006, former minister of the law and order of South Africa Adriaan Vlok was forced to apologize for the bombing of Khotso House (headquarters of South African Council of Churches) as well as his role in the planned assassination of political activist Frank Chikane (Boswell, 2012, p. 5). In 1976, former president of the United States Gerald Ford made an apology to people of Japanese descent on the humiliation suffered by Japanese-Americans in response to the Pearl Harbor attacks (Stone, 2006, p. 1324). As Ntsebeza remarks, retributive justice does not give one an opportunity to offer forgiveness to those who are victims in the justice system. This then arguably forces the world to find other means or methods of restoring order and dignity of those who had been wronged in the past. Restorative justice makes this possible. However, context is important. In the context of Africa, the method used in paving the way for restorative justice was to find mechanisms, concepts and epistemological concepts that were steeped in cultures of respective countries in applying specific elements of restorative justice. Firtz asserts that “restorative justice encourages the collaboration and reintegration of both victim and offender, rather than the use of coercion and isolation, to make right the wrongs. Violations create obligations for all stakeholders in the criminal justice system, including communities. The most important of these obligations is the need to put right the wrongs”.

Practical Application of Ubuntu in Contemporary Time: Its Role in Seeking Justice and Conflict Resolution There are many descriptions, definitions and ways or means of explaining the concept of Ubuntu. A number of scholars make several assertions and dispositions on the meaning of Ubuntu and we shall look into a number of them. “Ubuntu” is a word found among the Bantu peoples in countries such as Tanzania, Southern African region, Angola and Mozambique, among others (Hailey, 2008, p. 23). The obvious interpretation of the meaning of the word is “people” or human beings (Mucina, 2013, p. 21).

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The Role of Ubuntu in the Truth and Reconciliation in South Africa Ubuntu was used as a tool to examine the truth about human rights violations in post-apartheid era in South Africa. The post-apartheid era in South Africa was a period of reflection, and a time at which the country was to interrogate the past in order to establish the truth about human rights violations that occurred during the apartheid period (Kamga, 2018). Ubuntu was used as a tool to encourage the perpetrators of human rights abuses in South Africa to speak about their acts in the public domain through hearings that were attended by families of victims and the perpetrators. The perpetrators were both black and white South African counterparts who participated willingly or unwillingly in the human atrocities that were instigated by the former white regime in order to (among other things) suppress anti-apartheid activism and to infiltrate liberation parties locally and internationally. The instructions of the then state, particularly the security branch and other state intelligence organs, were maiming and torturing people from the period of the banning of liberation movements in South Africa. After the fall of the apartheid system in South Africa, the state established the Truth and Reconciliation Commission (TRC) in order to eke out information about the extent of the human rights abuses as well other important information that ought to be hidden. The TRC used the principle of Ubuntu as a guiding principle to attain the truth, encourage reconciliation, and healing to both the victims and the perpetrators. Swanson points out that in this context, Ubuntu as an African philosophy was used beyond the “forensic” functions of fact—finding about the atrocities committed by the former regime (Swanson, 2007, p. 55). The TRC was able to impress upon the perpetrators to express themselves in a dialogical forum for the purpose of reconciliation families of victims and perpetrators. The TRC was not similar to a typical court in that through Ubuntu people or perpetrators were encouraged to divulge the truth in return for amnesty. The notion of Ubuntu in this case was used to promote goodwill among participants, especially those who would have been found guilty in a court of law for their deeds. The TRC in South Africa extolled the merit of Ubuntu ethics, wherein all participants of the TRC were encouraged to acknowledge that by virtue of the fact that their lives were inextricably linked, it was important to

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ensure that forgiveness becomes a key factor in finding reconciliation and in this context, Nagel and Cortland (2014, p. 3) argue that this is a universal practice of indigenous justice worldwide. In the same way that apartheid dissipated the African indigenous systems and the traditional forms of the African being, the same system of Ubuntu was what the oppressed people of South Africa held onto during the time of apartheid and fought collectively and against the then-­ repressive regime. The post-apartheid period in South Africa was imbued with a climate of reconciliation, peace, forgiveness with the understanding that this is done in goodwill. The opposite of this would have arguably been a spirit of vengeance, a divided nation and a possible civil war. It is possible that had the opposite occurred further human rights abuses may have occurred as it is the case in many civil wars that have occurred elsewhere in the continent. Subsequent to South Africa’s first democratic elections, the interim constitution of South Africa was drafted with the backdrop of Ubuntu in order to pave the way for socio-political transformation. Mokgoro (1997) remarks, “the interim constitution of South Africa created a historic bridge between the past of a deeply divided society, characterized by strife, conflict, untold suffering and injustice, and a future founded on the recognition of peaceful co-existence for all South Africans”. In the same manner that Ubuntu was used a concept in paving the way for transformational justice and restorative justice in South Africa, the principle was also applied in Rwanda.

The Role of Ubuntu in Seeking Justice and Reconciliation in Rwanda In the subsequent weeks, following South Africa’s successful democratic elections, further afield, in Rwanda, President Juvenal Habyarimana died in an airplane crash. His death sparked a genocide from which it was believed that Hutus were indifferent to the prospects of sharing power in governance with the Tutsis. The killing spree of Tutsi culminated in what is now known as the fastest recorded genocide with over 900,000 Tutsis killed in a short period of time, that is, in three months. In the months that followed the genocide, it became apparent that the Tutsi-led Patriotic Front had defeated the remnants of the interim government and as a result the conflict subsided (Graybill, 2004, p. 1120).

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In pursuit of justice Rwandans demanded punishment through the International Criminal Tribunal of Rwanda for the genocide. However, a number of challenges or problems had befallen the Rwandans in pursuit of justice and it was therefore necessary to first attempt to solve the eminent problems which were linked to the justice system prior to the bringing perpetrators of the conflict to book. One of these problems was that after three months to genocide, Rwandan prisons were full to the brim and it proved difficult to bring to book thousands of prisoners who were linked to one massive crime, that is, genocide. A resolve was to only take those who were masterminds of the genocide to the western judicial system. As for the rest of the perpetrators of the those who committed the killings were tried in the traditional gacaca courts. The approaches used in the truth commissions in South Africa and Rwanda were similar in that they opted for remembering the past. “Rwandans became disenchanted with ‘international justice’ and resurrected a reconciliatory kind of justice, gacaca, which shares many features associated with Ubuntu”. The gacaca courts were traditional village courts which had been used in pre-colonial times to solve major and minor disputes between villagers. The courts were modest in that laypersons who presumably understood the culture of Rwandans became judges during the period of the Truth Commission in Rwanda (Chakravarty, 2005, p. 134). These very courts were to meet the needs of both restorative and retributive justice into one setting in dealing with their own problems in a peaceful manner (Clark, 2007, p. 7). In their inception, there was great support from the public, and this was motivated by the fact that it was believed that the method to be used wherein the perpetrators were to ask to forgiveness was symbolic by shifting power relations from the perpetrator to the victim. It is recorded that the turnout for the court proceedings was an overwhelming 90% and thus 87% of the public expressed their eagerness to participate in the process. From this process, it was expected that once the perpetrator apologized for the crime, there would then be amnesty granted to the victimizer (Graybill, 2004, p. 1123). By re-opening the gacaca courts Rwanda took into account cultural institutions within the process of reconciliation in their country, and thus through this process, traditional leaders were brought together in order to unite people who are within the grassroots of the country. “While the gacaca process in Rwanda could certainly use some modifications because of inherent flaws, it is a great example of how a country managed to use

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an existing cultural institution to aid in reconciliation and justice on a more personal, individual level” (Sowers, 2008). The gacaca courts were legitimized by government processes in 2001 wherein government and other civil society organizations made an effort to re-educate citizens of Rwanda about its functions, purposes and intended outcomes as Clark (2007, p. 7) asserts: Soon after passing the gacaca Law, the government, with the assistance of the DCHR, ran a nationwide education campaign explaining the new law to the population. Once the government believed that the population was sufficiently sensitised, it ran a pre-gacaca programme of displaying genocide suspects before their home communities in what was billed as a dress rehearsal for a more fully-fledged gacaca to be activated countrywide in 2002. Various local and international NGOs were permitted to observe the hearings and to provide analyses for further government consideration.

The Rwandan genocide occurred as a result of ethnic cleansing and in the process of reconciliation through the gacaca courts, very little was taken into account in relation to the ethnic issues which had divided the country in the first place (Sowers, 2008, p. 3). In this instance, Tutsi victims were given the platform to confront their abusers (who were largely the Hutus) but the Hutu victims were rarely allowed to face their own victims who were Hutus (Sowers, 2008, p. 3). The end result of the Rwandan peace and reconciliation process was the culmination of the Arusha Peace and Reconciliation Agreement by “promoting a national inter-ethnic resistance front” and in the process associations that promoted ethnic discrimination were banned. The Arusha agreement was by and large a regional process which included other countries such as Burundi due to the shared ethnic heritage and relations between the people of Rwanda and that of Burundi. The scenario of Rwanda typified the relationship between justice and reconciliation. There are those who believe that reconciliation efforts were never well received at first by virtue of the fact that Rwanda had been a country that was regarded as “lawless” and many people felt that forgiveness was never possible (Meiring, 2002, p. 727). Apart from the reconciliation aspect of the gacaca legal system, the issue of compensation or reparation was also added on the system and this emanated from the traditional system which had stood the test of time. Those who were found guilty were therefore ordered to pay reparations

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which were structured into a fund that was controlled by the government. What is even more interesting is that those who had destroyed houses were to rebuild houses that were destroyed during the genocide (Graybill, 2004, p. 1128).

Challenges in the Application of Ubuntu with Truth Commissions as Vehicles From the previous sections of this chapter, it has been clearly ascertained that Ubuntu can be used as a vehicle to motivate for the practical application of restorative justice. It should also be noted that a number of elements of Ubuntu directly relate to the nuances of restorative justice, in a prevailing conflict situation and thereby seek to create social order in society. The South African and Rwandan scenarios from which edifices of Ubuntu and restorative justice worked hand in glove present situations where Ubuntu was the means to the end for restorative justice even though Ubuntu as a concept contains elements that can be equated to those of restorative justice. There are a number of challenges that were prevalent in the implementation of Ubuntu principles which gave way for the practical implementation of restorative justice. For both South Africa and Rwanda Ubuntu as a driver to notions of restorative justice occurred in settings and climates from which retributive justice and western courts were functioning as a result of colonialism. This means that the prevailing climate and environment of jurisprudence were adapted to western philosophies over time. It can be argued that in both instances, elements of hybridity became normalized in situations of conflict resolution. For instance, in as much as South Africa implemented the Ubuntu principles, this was done using a hybrid system wherein cultural, ontological concepts were used as well as the contemporary legal instruments. The same can be said about the Rwandan scenario, wherein the gacaca courts existed alongside. There are several theories and studies that suggest that the perceived notions of reconciliation in Rwanda and South Africa were far from being achieved in post–Truth Commission periods. This then begs the question as to whether the aspect of truth in restorative justice, especially in the application of Ubuntu, leads to reconciliation as a means to restore social order in society. Gibson (2004, p.  215) posits that among white South Africans (who were believed to be the benefactors of apartheid) there is a

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common belief that “truth leads to reconciliation, but those more reconciled are also more prepared to accept the truth. Thus, truth and reconciliation go together, but the causal relationship appears to be reciprocal. Still, among whites, accepting the truth does indeed contribute to reconciliation. Among blacks, truth does not lead to reconciliation; nor does reconciliation lead to truth”. Gibson (2004, p.  215) further states that this poses a disappointing scenario many white people “feared that the revelations of the TRC would harden black attitudes toward whites, making coexistence in the New South Africa even more difficult. That the truth and reconciliation process seem not to have had a negative influence among Africans, while having positive influences on whites, Coloured people, and those of Asian origin, indicates that the process has clearly been a net benefit to South Africa”. The fact that there would seem to be a disjuncture in relation to how racial groups in South Africa perceive the notion of reconciliation in post– Truth Commission period, and this remains a concern due to the fact that there is an absence of common thought in relation to the notion reconciliation. This concern is heightened by the fact that the Ubuntu principles were meant to create social order between the various racial groups that form part of South Africa’s populace by the struggle against apartheid was itself a struggle from which there was beneficiation of the country’s resources by white people while the majority of the black African population, coloreds and Indians became disenfranchised. The disparities on the country’s beneficiation to wealth became part of the discontent and uprising to fight apartheid. This notion is supported by other scholars such as Mbembe and Rendall (2002, p. 5): After the formal abolition of apartheid, South Africa is no longer what it used to be. It is coming out of the dark age of white supremacy … To a large extent, this involves deracializing the ownership of assets and cultural capital while reconciling the principles of equal protection, affirmative action, and nondiscrimination. This experiment’s chances of success cannot be ruled out. But nor can they be taken for granted, so paradoxical and contradictory are, in this instance, the relations between the “forces of capital and cultural production known as globalization and the processes of subject articulation known as racialization

It is therefore argued that the lack of reconciliation as a living principle that ought to reverberate throughout South Africa among all racial groups

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could lead to further discontent as a result of the fact that there was either little reconciliation achieved through the TRC or reconciliation itself did not extend to other forms of social spheres that affect humanity, that is, poverty alleviation, equity of resources, to name but a few. The notions of restoring order in pre-democratic elections of South Africa only addressed an element of social order which was largely to ensure that there was peace prior to the democratic elections in South Africa, and that former perpetrators of the apartheid regime told the truth about their acts in order to be granted amnesty. What did not happen was the process from which other possible forms of discontent that could have emerged from the pre- and post-apartheid dispensations were arguably not addressed in the TRC. For instance, the truth about how land was illegitimately moved from the black to white populations was never addressed in an orderly fashion, but was only part of the sunset clauses from which the entire country was never part of. The practical application of gacaca courts in the judicial system bears almost similar challenges to those of South Africa. There are a number of factors that negatively affected the functioning of the gacaca courts. The gacaca courts were reportedly fraught with corruption, a number of key witnesses were killed during the period of court proceedings and those who survived or managed to give evidence in the courts faced harassment and intimidation (Le Mon, 2007, p. 17). Outside of the gacaca courts, the citizens of Rwanda faced criticism from the state that the population became disloyal to the state during the court proceedings and as such “gacaca courts have not led to the sort of ‘democratic dialogue’ between the governed and the government that they might otherwise have fostered” (Le Mon, 2007, p. 17). Nevertheless, strides were to ensure that the gacaca process produced some form of restaorative justice. For example, in the seven-year period during which the gacaca courts were in operation, there were signs “that harsh, retributive punishment is not the way forward. After many decades of impunity, Rwanda has embarked upon a course of transitional justice that seems committed to leaving no serious crime unpunished” (Schabas, 2005, p. 890).

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The Importance of Nation State in Implementing Epistemological Concepts The challenges presented above, pertaining to the implementation of Ubuntu, could exist as a result of the lack of nation statehood among the countries that practice these ancient concepts. Looking into South Africa for example, the concept of Ubuntu is one that has been part and parcel of African life and society and there is very little evidence to show that the concept was borrowed from either Europeans or any other continent for that matter. Ubuntu as an African concept is thus originated and owned by Africans and possibly not by South Africans of European descent. This reality is a testament to the fact that nationwide concept was applied to a populace that differed in terms of thought and frame of reference and it is arguably the reasons why black Africans would therefore perceive the attainment of reconciliation in the context of racial issues will differ from the view of their white counterparts as we have explored in the previous section of this chapter. The same could be said about Rwanda whose genocide was started by conflict that divided the nation along ethnic lines. The fight over Rwanda’s polity prior and subsequent genocide occurred as a result of the struggle for power along ethnic lines. This, of course, does not necessarily reflect a scenario where unity became the precursor in the application of gacaca courts in Rwanda. In other words, there ought to have been a common vision that should have united the nation of Rwanda prior to the application of gacaca courts in the same way that there ought to have been a common vision that is clearly identifiable by all citizens (and not only a fragment of majority) before the implementation of Ubuntu in post-­ apartheid era in South Africa so that citizens clearly understand the objective of applying Ubuntu. Meyer et  al. (1997, p.  145) argue that the cognitive and ontological models of reality specifying the nature, purposes, technology, sovereignty and control of countries ought to be carried by a typical nation state. He claims that these models ought to give direction and adequate functioning of nation states and that these same models tend to be more cognitive than expressive. Robinson (1998, p. 65) ascertains that nation state paradigms give a description of how movement occurs in a set of ancient structures from one point to the next. In other words, the ontological comprehension of fundamental transformation in the historical structures upon which the analysis of motion is predicated through the movement of ancient

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s­ tructures. Therefore, this means that the movement of ancient structures could require movement from thought to practice over a period of time. It is therefore argued that the successful transposition of thought to practice may be critical in any nation state, though it still remains important for the citizens of a country to be united in common thought in an effort to see transformation of thought into practice in real life. Meyer et al. (1997, p. 146) further state that state action reflects inherent needs and interests; culture is largely irrelevant, though it may be invoked to explain particular, often historically rooted, patterns of policy or behavior. Therefore, the notions of nation state can make sense “only if nation-states are understood as, in part, constructions of a common wider culture, rather than as self-directed actors responding rationally to internal and external contingencies”. The state would be an actor that seeks to drive the vision of country toward a certain trajectory on behalf of the people, with a common understanding (from the state and citizens) of the goals and visions of that state in its totality. It is also in this context that states who are defined as nation states hold the power formal rules and rights of a citizenship and to shape institutions that provide differentiated access to participation and belonging (Bloemraad, Korteweg, & Yurdakul, 2008, p. 153). The Rwandan case in this instance becomes important as we have described elsewhere in this chapter that power plays a key fundamental role in the running of any nation state and that if the country is divided between ethnic lines in relation to who holds the power to implement ancient concepts, the situation might present undesirable results. If, for instance, the minority of ethnic groups cannot be given adequate participation in societal issues that ought to shape the vision of the state, then this means that adequate access to participation which could lead to a sense of belonging will not be a reality. Bloemraad et  al. (2008, p.  158) posit that the relationship between rights and community membership is also at the core of theoretical debates on multiculturalism, which ask to what degree rights should inhere in individuals or be granted to ethnic, religious or other culturally differentiated groups within the nation state. The nation state therefore ought to ensure that there is adequate participation in social issues of a country, that there is adequate access in that participation by all citizens and that for this to become a reality if common constructions of culture of a country are identified. The project of nation- and state-building in South Africa took place with the existence of the TRC (Wilson, 2001, p. 1). Mangena argues that

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within the three normative theories of morality (Universal Law, Respect for Persons and Kingdom of Ends), Ubuntu seems to be the only suitable for African moral requirements through dialogical systems in the consolidation of state power in South Africa (Mangena, 2016, p.  2). In other words, the concept of Ubuntu becomes transferrable in society through dialogue in traditional systems of Africans (Mangena, 2016, p.  2). This was discernible during South Africa’s TRC process from which the promotion of dialogue was encouraged to solve South Africa’s past social problems (Swanson, 2007, p. 58). It was in this vein that the tone and ethos of the TRC were meant to enable the recovery of truth telling in a manner that is ethical, this with the intention of “state-building” processes. The transposition of the moral (moral good of individuals) philosophy of Ubuntu into the government systems intended to create peace in a country such as South Africa (through the TRC) is sometimes classified as ethical considerations in the usage of Ubuntu in a social setting. For example, the notion of “doing good by others” as a moral consideration of Ubuntu creates an impression that Ubuntu is an ethic that provides a guide on how people in society ought to behave in “doing good by others” (Metz, 2011, p. 539). Even though there is a disposition among scholars on the moral objectives of the concept of Ubuntu, steeped into the spiritual framework of Africans, there is also a belief that the moral values ascribed to by those who are advocates of Ubuntu are universal in nature. To position Ubuntu as a concept that promotes common moral position of people in state-­ making processes, the ethical grounding of Ubuntu could convey similar aspects of post-modern Western theories of “Aristotelian eudaimonism, Platonic justice, Kantian deontology and Hobbesian egoism”, among others (Mangena, 2016, p. 5). The exploration on Ubuntu’s contribution on global issues could mean that there are attempts to compare Ubuntu to existing non-African frames of thought to find ways and means of justifying why Ubuntu needs to be defended as a global or universal concept whose philosophical aspects are found in Universal Declarations of the United Nations. This exploration could perhaps become important in dealing with the challenge of attempting to locate, reshape, reframe the ancient African practices such as Ubuntu in current times, where life has evolved from the epoch to a more globalized form of life (Louw, 2010, p. 5). The connection and proceeds of Ubuntu through its application in post-apartheid South Africa could elicit varying perceptions in terms of

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meaning. There are those who question the application of Ubuntu in current times due to the fact that Ubuntu is an ancient African concept (Tshoose, 2009, p. 13) which may lose its relevance if it is not applied in line with the vision of a nation state (Louw, 2010, p. 6). It can be argued that what would have been common in the application of Ubuntu would have been a practice that was synonymous with African ontological aspects but not those of South Africans of European descent, hence the disjuncture in thought and practice of the concept of Ubuntu in the South African social system. Based on the above discussions, in the process of attaining principles of democracy in South Africa’s state-building (post-1994), the country used an African concept to do so. In the consolidation of power in South Africa, nuances of peace and reconciliation were advanced with the framing of Ubuntu in the texts that helped to shape peace and reconciliation. Apart from the framing of Ubuntu into quasi-legal and human rights corpus of South Africa (Kamga, 2018), it is important to note that its theories became important in the building of the “new state” (post-1994) through national policy. Ubuntu has been used as a stimulus in South Africa’s public service policies through which its values were referenced in order to improve public services to ordinary citizens (Moodali, 2009, p. 10).

Conclusion Social order, harmony, equality, and inclusion are some of the key ingredients found in the principles of jurisprudence and democratic states. These very same elements have been reflected upon as we illustrated the ancient principles of Ubuntu. Although the world is globalized, non-western countries are still applying their own epistemes in their legal frameworks, in a manner that suits their environments. The possible mistake that could be made in various settings of scholarship is to compare the non-western concepts when environments differ. It is rather important to recognize the value of each system and provide a conducive environment for its efficient application. In other words, it is imperative to recognize “pluriversalism” (Falola, 2016, p. 265) and not universalize western approach to life.

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Index1

A Abinya, 270 Acacia senegalensis, 40 Academic Staff Union of Nigerian Universities (ASUU), 10, 87, 104, 106 Accra, 174 Achebe, Chinua, 61, 66, 85–86, 94, 190 Action Group (AG), 65 Ada’Locheche, 271, 272 Adamawa, 64 Ada-Ogabu, 272 Ada-Oto, 272 Addis Ababa, 177, 178 Adebayo, Aduke, 82, 86 Adegbenro, Dauda, 232 Ademola Dasylva, 63 Adeolu Akinsanya, 63 Adepeju Olufemi Johnson-Bashua, 13 Adetona, Lateef, 281 Adimah, Rev John, 270

Ad’inu, 272 Adunlawo Ijo Orunmila, 198 Afghanistan, 173 Afolayan, Adeshina, 26 African Americans, 27, 46, 73 African diaspora, 6–8, 10, 20, 25–27, 57, 61, 73 African Doctoral Academy (ADA), 10, 112, 113, 116 African epistemologies, 32 African history, 23, 32, 60, 74, 84, 91, 179, 213 African knowledges, v, vi, 1–14, 22, 52, 109, 124, 135 African migration, 39 African Peace and Security Architecture (APSA), 143, 144, 166, 167, 176, 178 African Union (AU), 11, 12, 137, 142, 144, 145, 147, 148, 161, 164–167, 169–171, 174–178 Afro-pessimism, 3, 136, 137

 Note: Page numbers followed by ‘n’ refer to notes.

1

© The Author(s) 2020 S. O. Oloruntoba et al. (eds.), Indigenous Knowledge Systems and Development in Africa, https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-34304-0

329

330 

INDEX

Aganyi (Obila-Olehe), 272 Agriculture, 68, 191, 214, 247, 254 Agronomy, 38, 41–46 Agwulele, Augustine, 24, 25 Ahmadu Bello University (ABU), 4, 95 Ake, Claude, 4, 22, 93, 101, 103 Akinsade, J. O. (Chief), 236, 241 Akintoye, S. Adebanji, 59 Akinwumiju (Chief, Jomu), 237 Akinwumiju, Jomu, 237 Aksum, 49 Aksumite Empire, 40 Aksumites, 49 Akure, 232 Akwa Ibom, 12, 13, 208, 209, 211, 213, 218, 221, 224–226 Akwa Ibom area, 207–226 Akwa Ibom state, 12, 208, 209 Albert, Isaac Olawale, 11 Alfred the Great, 212, 215, 216 Alhaji Abubakar Tafawa, 63 Aluko, Sam, 105 Amen, 49 AmenRa, 49 Anglo-Saxons, 212, 215, 216, 226 Angola, 40, 136, 313 Annang, 208 Any’amuno (Ukpa), 272 Anyamono, 272 Apedenak, 49 Apophis, 49 Arab League, 171 Arab Spring, 163 Arba Minch, 173 Armstrong, Robert P., 59 Arochukwu, 41, 209 Ashante, 213 Askiya dynasty, 41 Association for Promoting Quality Education in Igede (APQEI), 270, 275, 276

Ausares (Osiris), 49 Auset (Isis), 49 Austin, 8, 20, 21, 73, 74 Awa, Eme, 105 Awolowo, Obafemi (Chief), 58, 59, 61, 63, 65, 66, 105 Ayandele, Emmanuel A., 86 Ayida, Allison A., 68 Ayittey, George, 170, 171, 182n31 Azikiwe, Nnamdi, 61, 63, 65, 66, 105 B Babangida, Ibrahim Badamasi, 208 Babban Gwani, 21, 22, 24 Bambulu, 188, 189, 194, 195 Bassey, Joseph Robert, 12 Bauchi, 64 Bello, Ahmadu, 63, 65 Bello, Mustapha Ade, 291 Benin, 213, 236, 283 Benue State, 13, 261–276 Bible the, 193, 194, 199, 200 Blombos, 50 Bob Marley, 61 Boko Haram, 71, 72, 163, 173 Bonn, Moritz Julius, 133 Borno, 64, 71 Botswana, 171 Brandt, Willy, 313 Brazil, 39, 49 Buah, F. K., 212, 229n45 Buba, Malami, 6, 19, 21, 30, 32 Bulunkutu, 72 Burkina Faso, 173, 177 Burton, John, 149 C Caesar, Julius, 49 Calabar, 220 California, 222

 INDEX 

Cambodia, 163 Camp Lemonnier, 173 Candomble, 49 Cape Town, 10 Central African Republic (CAR), 162, 168, 174 Central Benue Valley, 209 Centre for the Study of the Sokoto Caliphate (CSSC), 30 Chad, 162, 168 Chesterfield, Lord, 192 China, 39, 40 Christianity, 191, 281, 287, 289–292, 298, 299 Church Mission Society, 66 Claude, Meillasoux, 3 Cliff, Jimmy, 61 Coca Cola, 40 COIN environment, 172 Cold War, 3, 132, 136, 140, 162 Communitarianism, 38 Cone, James, 61 Congo, 39, 40 Conrad, Joseph, 2, 19, 189 Constantinople, 212 Cote d’Ivoire, 40, 167 Council for the Development of Social Science Research in Africa (CODESRIA), 4 Cross River State, 208, 263 Crown Colony, 216 Cuba, 49 Currey, James, 26, 27 D Damba (Chief), 188, 189, 195, 202 Dar es Salam, 4 Darfur, 163, 168 Davidson, Basil, 3 Déby, Idriss, 168

331

Decolonization, 1–14, 28, 103, 131–150 Dike, Kenneth, 22, 84 Dipo Fashina, 105 Directorate of Food and Rural Infrastructure (DFFRI), 254 Djibouti, 173 Dufuna, 50 Dussel, Enrique, 4 E East Timor, 163 Ebira, 64 Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC), 70 Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS), 11 Edet, Olawumi, 289, 290 Ediene, 220 Ediene Kingdom, 214 Edo State, 196, 202 Efik, 218 Eghagha, Hope, 87 Egypt, 40, 41, 49, 83 Ejagham, 218 Ejobi, 262, 270–276 Eket, 208 Ekoi, 218 Emeagwali, Gloria, 6, 7, 27, 37, 38, 264 Entebbe, 173 Enugu, 227n8, 288 Enuma Okpa, 272 Environmentalism, 38 Epistemicide, 2, 3 Epwedii, 262, 263, 270–276 Epwibila, 268 Equatorial Guinea, 40, 169 Eskor, Toyo, 105 Ethiopia, 41, 46, 49, 173, 177, 178 Euro-American Empire, 2

332 

INDEX

Eye Ordeal, 243–244 Eyres of Macclesfield, 222 Ezulwini Consensus, 164, 178, 180n17, 181n18 Ezza, 263 F Facebook, 288, 289 Falola, Toyin, v, vi, 4–8, 17–33, 41, 49, 50, 52, 57, 59–61, 64–69, 72–76, 81, 105, 125, 127, 264, 286, 305, 324 Faluyi, M. A., 188, 189, 195 Fara Adeed, 172 Fela, Anikulapo Kuti, 46, 61 Fela Kuti, 46 Fitola, 50 Food and Agricultural organization (FAO), 248, 254 Food and Drug Administration (FDA), 193 France, 49, 166, 168, 170, 216, 226 G Gabon, 40, 170 Gaddafi, Mohammar, 168–170 Galanter, Marc, 198, 199 Garvey, Marcus, 18, 27, 61 Gbagyi, 250 Genger, Peter, 11, 140 Germany, 49, 226, 313 Ghana, 4, 10, 26, 40, 41, 106, 175–177 Giza pyramid, 49 Gombe, 64 Grace, 46 Gramsci, Anthonio, 97 Gramscian terminology, 94 Greece, 49, 275

H Hale, Matthew, 217 Harold, Godwinson, 216 Hausa, 13, 32, 33, 41, 64, 65, 248–252, 255, 256, 283, 307 Hausa/Fulani, 64 Hausaland, 13, 41, 247–257 Henry VI, 225 Henshaw, James Ene, 12, 187–205 Hodgkin, Thomas, 3 Homosexuality, 13, 279–300 Hook, Sidney, 57 Hountondji, Pauline, 86, 89 House of Rainbow Metropolitan Community Church, 288 Hunhui, 19 Huntington, Samuel P., 67 Hutus, 166, 315, 317 I Ibadan, 74, 84–86, 242, 288, 289 Ibeno, 208, 209 Ibibio, 208, 209, 213, 218 Ibigbolade Aderibigbe, 13 Ibila, 272 Ibom, 12, 13, 207–226 Idele, 263 Idoma, 64, 213, 269, 276 Ifa, 13, 286, 299 Ifeanayi Orazulile, 296 Igala, 64, 269 Igbo, 41, 64–66, 213, 219, 269 Igede, 13, 270–276 Igede Agba Celebration, 270–276 Igede Day, 262, 273, 274 Igede people, 13, 261–263, 268, 270–275 Ijebu, 232 Ile Eko Sango Osun Mil’Osa, 49 Imam Imoru, 252

 INDEX 

Independent Corrupt Practices Commission (ICPC), 70 India, 39, 93 International Criminal Court (ICC), 159, 163, 164, 171, 174, 176–178 International Monetary Fund (IMF), 162, 176 Ipinu-Igede, 268, 274 Iraq, 173 Islam, 30, 281, 287, 289–292, 298, 299, 307 Islamic, 30, 71, 72, 123, 173, 281, 290, 292, 294 Islam/Muslim, 292 Itak, 214, 220 Itakpa, 263, 272 Italy, 49 Itu Mbonuso, 208 Izzi, 263 J Jabbi, Umar Muhammad, 13 Japan, 60, 176 Jomu’s court, 236–241, 243 Jos, 288 Jukun, 64, 213 Justice and Equality Movement (JEM), 168 K Kaduna, 288 Kagame, Paul, 143, 148 Kambari, 250 Kamga, Serges Djoyou, 14, 308, 314, 324 Kano, 72, 288 Keita dynasty, 41 Kenya, 74, 171, 173, 174, 190 Kenyatta, Jomo, 61

Khartoum, 168 Khotso House, 313 King Alfred, 215 King Edward, 216 King Henry II, 212 King Ja Ja, 218 King William, 221 King, Martin Luther Jr., 61 Knowledge dissemination, 18, 25–28, 89 Kogi, 64 Koloro, 188 Kontagora, 250 Kony, Joseph, 173, 174 Kufena, 249 Kwara, 64 L Lagarde, Christine, 176 Lagos, 216, 235, 288 Lamu, 173 Leaf ordeal, 243 Leiden University, 203 LGBT, 288, 292 Liberia, 11, 40, 162, 168 Libya, 40, 91, 167–171, 173 Limpopo river, 50 Lobun’s Court, 234–235 Locke, John, 58 Logbosere’s Court, 236, 240 London, 211, 221, 225 Lord’s Resistance Army (LRA), 173, 174 Lorna Elliott, 220 M MacDonald, Claude, 214, 216 Mafeje, Archie, 4, 6, 9 Maiduguri, 71, 72 Makerere university, 4, 113

333

334 

INDEX

Makurdi, 276, 288 Malawi, 26, 177 Malcolm X, 61 Mali, 26, 41, 49, 50, 163, 167, 168, 173, 174, 177 Mamdani, Mahmood, 4, 102 Mandela, Nelson, 61 Mapungubwe, 50 Marwick, Arthur, 207 Marx, Karl, 76 Mauritania, 40 Mazrui, Ali A., 4, 61, 76, 136, 138, 148, 149, 268 Meroe, 41, 59 Methodological pluralism, 38 Middle Ages, 59, 211, 212 Middle East, 173 Mignolo, Walter, 2, 4, 5 Mobutu Sese Seko, 168 Mogadishu, 166, 172 Mokola, 288 Moller, Bjorn, 165 Monsanto, 46 Muhammed, Murtala, 208 Mumuye, 250 Mutuntaka, 19 N National Council of Nigeria and the Cameroons (NCNC), 65 National Food Programme (NAFPP), 254 National Indigenous Peacemaking Commission (NIPC), 147–149 Nazi war criminals, 164 N’Djamena, 168 Neteru, 48, 49 Netherlands, 203 Neves, Walter, 39 New Royal African Company, 191 Newton, John, 191, 192

New York, 113, 222 Ngugi Wa Thiong’o, 31, 61 Niamey, 173 Niger, 173, 248, 249 Nigeria, vi, 4, 8, 9, 11–13, 26, 40, 46, 49, 62–72, 76, 84–89, 93–106, 163, 168, 170, 173, 174, 187, 193, 196, 200, 204, 207–209, 218, 226, 232, 247, 249, 254–256, 261–276, 280, 283, 287–290, 292–300 Nigerian Stored Product Institute (NSPRI), 256 Niger River, 66 Nizara, 173 Njelele, 263 Nkrumah, Kwame, 4, 61 Nobel Prize, 192 Nonye Onyima Blessing, 10 Norman Conquest, 212, 215, 216, 221, 226 Northern Guinea, 249 Northern Peoples’ Congress (NPC), 65 Nsibidi, 218 Nubia, 40, 41, 49 Nupe, 64 Nuremberg trials, 168 Nyerere, Julius, 4, 61 O Oba Ajilobioje, 235 Obama, Barack, 174, 175 Obaro Ikime, 61, 86 Obasanjo, Olusegun, 67, 68, 70, 101, 102 Oboh, Ogwuna, 270 Obolo (Andoni), 208 Ochonu, Moses, 23, 24 Ode Ondo, 232, 235 Oden of Ediba (Chief), 218

 INDEX 

Odera Oruka, H., 61 Odey, Mike, 13, 261 Ogbagba (Oboru), 272 Ogbogbo, Chris, 8, 9, 86 Ogundiran, Akin, 20 Ogunfeyimi, ‘Leke, 12 Ogungbemi, Segun, 7, 8, 76 Ogun state, 232 Ogwa, 196, 202 Ohe-Oleji, 272 Ohirigwe Anchim, 272 Ojaide, Tanure, 20, 21 Ojelabi, Cornelius, 289 Ojo, Joshua, 290 Oju, 262, 263, 269, 270, 272, 276 Okpokpo, 261 Okuku Udo Etuk Essien, 220 Okuri (Chief), 218 Oladapo Daramola, 297 Olodumare, 48, 285 Oloruntoba, Samuel Ojo, 1, 4, 9, 10, 102, 103 Olubi Sodipo, J., 61 Omoluwabi, 19 Omotayo, Charles Kolawole, 12, 13 Ondo kingdom, 232, 233, 236–240, 242 Ondo people, 13, 237–239, 241, 242, 244 Ondo state, 69, 74, 232 Onwu Okpe, 272 Operation Feed the Nation (OFN), 254 Opobo, 218 Organization of African Unity (OAU), 136, 147, 164, 166, 169 Orisa, 48, 49 Oro Village, 209 Oron, 208, 218 Osemawe, 232–234, 236, 237, 242 Osofisan, Femi, 86 Osundare, Niyi, 86, 88

335

Ouagadougou, 173 Out-of-Africa, 39 Owena River, 232 Owo (Ochim-adu), 272 Oye, 263, 272 Oyihu, 268 P Pan-African, 7, 10, 17–33, 109–127 Pan African Doctoral Academy (PADA), 10, 112–114, 116, 122 Peace and Conflict Studies (PACS), 134 Peace and Security Council (PSC), 166 Pedra Furada, 39 Pepsi Cola, 40 Perham, Margery, 209, 210 Pidgin English, 64 Pluriversalism, v, 5, 19, 20, 33, 305, 324 Pojman, Louis, 70 Pope Gregory, 49 Port-Harcourt, 288 Portugal, 49 Post-Cold war, 162 Postcolonial Africa, 3, 5 Prince of Wales, 222 Princess Kudaro, 188 Puerto Rico, 49 Pupupu, Oba, 234 R Ra, 49 Racism, 189, 192 Reciprocity, 38, 215 Regional Economic Communities (REC), 11, 12, 142, 166, 167, 174–178 Responsibility to Protect (R2P), 12, 163, 164, 167, 170, 177, 178

336 

INDEX

Rev. Adodo, 204 Rev James Okah, 270 Rodney, Walter, 22, 61 Roman Empire, 212, 213, 215 Rotimi, Ola, 12, 187–205 Rwanda, 39, 143, 148, 163, 166, 177, 315–318, 320, 321 Rwandan genocide, 132, 317 S Sahara Desert, 91 Sahel Savanna Zone, 249 Santeria, 49 Santos, Bouaventura de Sousa, 2, 4 Sashere’s Court, 235 Sasswood or ‘Obo’ Ordeal, 243, 244 Sata, 49 September, 3, 70, 171, 208, 270, 288 Seychelles, 173 Shari’a law, 72 Shaw, Malcolm N., 210 Shekau, Abubakar, 71 Shivji, Issah, 4 Sierra Leone, 11, 40, 162, 168, 191 Socrates, 75 Sokoto Caliphate, 29, 30, 32 Sokoto Manifesto, 30, 31 Somalia, 136, 148, 166, 170, 172, 173 Songhai, 41 South Africa, 10, 74, 106, 113, 116, 148, 170, 307, 313–316, 318–324 South African Council of Churches, 313 Soyinka, Wole, 61, 86, 94, 101, 105, 136, 296, 297 Spain, 49, 222 SPSS Consultant, 122 Stelae Park, 49 Structural Adjustment Programme (SAP), 162

Sudan, 40, 162, 163, 167, 168, 249 Sunday Ola Makinde, 297 Switzerland, 49 T Talata Mafara, Sheikh Muhammad Isa, 32, 253 Talatar Mafara, 253 Tamuno, Tekena, 22, 61, 86 Tanzania, 4, 177, 313 Tehuti, 49 Teleki Mofihli, 13 Thaddeus Adikpe, 272 Tilly, Charles, 162 Timbuktu, 213 Tiv, 64, 263, 276 Tobago, 49 Toyin Falola Annual Conference (TOFAC), 74, 75 Toyin Falola Institution Building (TFIB), 7, 51, 52 Toyin Falola Knowledge Production (TFKP), 7, 51 Trans-Atlantic slave trade, 218, 226 Trevor-Roper, Hugh, 59, 213 Trinidad, 49 Trump, Donald J., 62, 75 Truth and Reconciliation Commission (TRC), 314, 319, 320, 322, 323 Turkur, Mahmud, 105 Turunku, 249 Tutsis, 315 Twitter, 288, 289 U Ubuntu, 14, 19, 140, 146, 148, 303–324 Udoma, Udo, 210 Udung Ikot, 220 Uganda, 4, 40, 102, 113, 173, 174, 310

 INDEX 

Uhuru Kenyatta, 174 Ukpa (Amono), 272 UN Charter, 165, 170, 178 UNESCO, 270 United Kingdom/Great Britain, 20, 50, 170, 214–217, 221, 226, 289, 296 United Nations (UN), 11, 141, 160, 161, 163, 164, 166, 175, 248, 298, 323 United States of America (USA), 161, 166, 172–174, 176 Uwobu, 269 Uwokwu, 262, 263, 269, 272

337

William the Conqueror, 212, 216 Wiredu, Kwasi, 61 World War II, 164, 168 X Xenophobia, 75

V Von Savigny, Friedrich Carl, 223

Y Yalla, 263, 269 Yauri, 250 Yemen, 167 Yoruba, 13, 41, 62–66, 171, 203, 213, 231, 233, 269, 279–300 Young, Tom, 59, 60 Yugoslavia, 163 Yusuf, Mohammed, 71

W Warren, Steve, 173 Warsaw War Memorial, 313 Watson, James, 192 West Africa, 41, 48, 50, 59, 114, 116, 162, 307 Western modernity, 2, 11, 133 Western Sahel, 163

Z Zaghawa, 168 Zamfara, 253 Zazzau, 249 Zeleza, Paul, 4, 26, 27, 95, 99, 100, 103, 306, 307 Zimbabwe, 26, 50 Zulu, 307