Philosopher urges Nigerians to embrace indigenous knowledge, languages for development — Arts — The Guardian Nigeria

21.12.16

Philosopher urges Nigerians to embrace indigenous knowledge, languages for development — Arts — The Guardian Nigeria: The first female doctorate degree holder in philosophy in Nigeria, Prof. Sophie Oluwole, made this remark at the sixth Lagos@50 Colloquium. It has as theme ‘Language, Education and Development,’ held recently at Freedom Park, Lagos.
While noting that many people, including intellectuals, ignorantly assumed that many African cultures have no history and usable knowledge due to the absence of written body of knowledge, she explained that Africa’s vast body of knowledge is transmitted orally.

According to her, a great amount of evidence about the intellectual ability of blacks and African people exists both in Yoruba intellectual and material cultural heritage. She highlighted the deep-rooted knowledge of the Yoruba in science, mathematics and metaphysics, saying the Yoruba body of knowledge is vastly superior to the western ones that Nigerians embrace at the detriment of their own.