Professor of History and African Studies at the University of Austin , Texas , Professor Toyin Omoyeni Falola has intimated that it is about time African Scholars and researchers and policymakers develop solutions to existing local challenges by using their established bodies of knowledge .
His call comes on the back of the Merian Institute for Advanced Studies in Africa at the University of Ghana holding the 2024 Wilhelm Anton Amo Lecture.
Thé well attended and colourful ceremony which drew a large participation that cut across academia ,policy makers ,students , media practitioners and the general public was held on the University of Ghana on October 15, 2024.
The Lecture was on the theme “ Ancestral Knowledge For Contemporary Transformation “.
The Anton Wilhelm Amo Lecture is an annual event organized by the Merian Institute for Advanced Studies in Africa in collaboration with the Institute of African Studies and the Department of Philosophy and Classics at the University of Ghana. Named after the 18th Century Ghanaian Philosopher , Wilhelm Anton Amo who taught in Halle and Jena in Germany and is aimed at preserving his scholarly works , achievements and legacy among generations after his time .
Speaking at the Distinguished Lecture Series, Professor Falola underscored the need for African Scholars and researchers to leverage on the existing body of knowledge complemented by centuries old ancestral customs and traditions to be able to find relevant solutions to the teething challenges bedeviling the continent .
“ Before the onset of colonization, pre existing ancestral customs and practices served as a timely guide to shape and develop African societies and promote inclusive governance and economic growth across all sectors .
Any progressive society must be able to localize its own challenges and be willing to use contemporary wisdom blended with our time tested practices and traditions to get proper solutions that acknowledge our limitations as a people whilst fostering sustainable growth and progress in our societies ,because truth be told until we get to understand that we cannot use wholesale Westernized concepts to settle our homegrown issues ,we are going nowhere as a continent in today’s ultra competitive world”.
Also, Professor Toyin Falola reiterated that accountable and ethical leadership across all sections of our lives must be centered on critical and shared values concretized in the African Belief Systems inculcated in us by our culture and unadulterated customs which makes us unique from any part of the world in general .
“ If we as proud Africans , must be bold to inculcate our time tested values and shared history to be able to add up to creating an atmosphere of accountable leadership which inspires hope and change in today’s generation and others that will follow.
We are a unique people in the sense that we did not impose our culture on others we came into contact with unlike the Arabs and Europeans and as such ,we must tap into the positive energies of our pre existing ancestral knowledge that marks our unmistakable identity if we want to create a time tested invaluable niche for ourselves on the world stage . That remarkable achievement we must be proud of as a people and by so doing guard jealously in order to transmit effortlessly to today’s generation to transmit effortlessly to today’s generation and those yet unborn amidst a contest of values and traditions in the comity of nations “.
Toyin Falola is a Nigerian Historian and Professor of African Studies and a Fellow of the Historical Society of Nigeria , and of the Nigerian Academy of Letters , has served as the President of the African Studies Association .
He is currently the Jacob and Frances Sanger Mossiker Chair in the Humanities at the University of Texas , Austin .
