UNN’s Professor, Agbakoba Wins Prestigious Georg Forster Research Award

Nigerian academic, Prof. Joseph Chemeka Achike Agbakoba has been announced as recipient of the 2022 Georg Forster Research Award by the Alexander von Humboldt Foundation of Germany.

Agbakoba, of the department of Philosophy at the University of Nigeria Nsukka (UNN), was a pioneer researcher and teacher in the field of development philosophy and ethics for Africa.

According to a statement, the professor has to his credit over 60 publications in reputable national and international journals and publishing houses, and was the first African philosopher to receive this award.

He is one of Africa’s foremost advocates of the place of philosophy in discourses of development.

Georg Forster Research Awards are given each year to not more than six scholars and scientists in any discipline from 137 countries of the developing world (comprising Africa, Asia, Latin America and Oceania). It is in recognition of outstanding lifetime work in research and teaching.

“It is heartwarming to be recognised for one’s humble contributions. Coming from the Humboldt Foundation makes it a special treat. I dedicate this award to all teachers and researchers in Nigeria currently seeking to make our universities more globally competitive,” Agbakoba, said in obvious reference to a seven-month long dispute between lecturers and government over funding arrangements for Nigeria’s public universities.

Agbakoba’s latest book, ‘Development and Modernity in Africa: An Intercultural Philosophical Perspective,’ was published in 2019 in Köln, Germany, by Rüdiger Köppe Verlag. The book is widely acclaimed for its groundbreaking insights into why African cultures reacted the way they did to the slave trades and to European colonisation.

In the book, the author applies the tools of philosophy to diagnose the causes of Africa’s underdevelopment, counter-development and disadvantages in the race to modernity. He called time on academic African philosophy’s decades-long preoccupation with what he calls ‘identitarian’ concerns. In its place, he advocates for a shift to ‘developmentarian’ concerns and transcolonial constructivism.

“Agbakoba’s argument is hinged on the view that African philosophy must engage the question of modernity and development without jettisoning the best of its indigenous values and in the process construct a viable hybrid world.

“His other books include Philosophical Issues in Development, published by Fourth Dimension Publishers, Enugu in 2003, and Theories of Mind: A Case for Interactionism, which was published by University of Nigeria Press, Nsukka,” the statement added.

Born in Owerri, to Engr. Vincent Agbakoba and Mrs. Josephine Agbakoba, a school teacher who later became a dressmaker, Agbakoba attended Santa Maria Primary School Enugu and Christ the King College (CKC) Onitsha.

He then proceeded to Obafemi Awolowo University Ile-Ife for undergraduate and master’s degree studies, after which he enrolled at the University of Nigeria Nsukka for his PhD.

Agbakoba has been visiting professor and scholar at Goethe University Frankfurt and the University of Cape Coast and has held a number of international scholarships and research fellowships. He has also served as Head of Department of Philosophy and Dean School of General Studies at the University of Nigeria as well as Deputy Vice Chancellor at Madonna University, Nigeria.

He is a former president of the Nigerian Philosophical Association; member of the Committee of Directors, International Federation of Philosophical Societies (FISP); Regional Coordinator (Africa), Council for Research in Values and Philosophy (CRVP), Washington DC; Vice President for Africa of Conférence Mondiale des Institutions Universitaires Catholiques de Philosophie (COMIUCAP).

He would join other Georg Forster Award winners to be honored at an event to be held later in Germany.

Winners are also invited to conduct a research project of their choice at a research institution in Germany in collaboration with specialist colleagues.

The Alexander von Humboldt Foundation, sponsor of the Georg Forster Award, was established in 1953 by the German government to enhance international scientific and scholarly development and collaboration. The foundation sponsors some of the world’s most prestigious fellowships and research awards and has supported a large network of top flight scholars globally, including 57 Nobel Prize winners.