TheCable

Mogobe Benjamin, a South African scholar and professor of philosophy from the University of South Africa, has won the $5000 Emmanuel Onyechere Osigwe Anyiam-Osigwe Prize for best Philosophy book at the Nigerian Philosophical Association’s International Conference going on at the University of Lagos.

The conference is themed ‘Nigeria: 100 years After Amalgamation: Philosophical Issues and Perspectives’ is being attended by scholars, researchers and academics from Cameroun, Ghana, Ethiopia and South Africa.

Joseph Agbakoba, a professor and president of the Nigerian Philosophical Association (NPA), announced that Benjamin won the prize for his work titled African Philosophy Through Ubuntu.

The prize-giving ceremony was witnessed by Babajide Alo, a professor and deputy vice chancellor (academic and research) of the University of Lagos, and other leading professors and teachers of philosophy from various universities in Nigeria.

The prize, which has its inaugural edition at the 2014 NPA conference, is an annual endowed prize by the Osigwe Anyiam-Osigwe Foundation and will be given to any deserving philosophy scholar of African descent every year.

An elated Benjamin who later gave a very thought-provoking acceptance speech was full of praise for the late sage philosopher in whose honour the prize was instituted, saying Emmanuel Anyiam-Osigwe will forever remain a reference point in original philosophical postulations and ideas that are relevant to solving some of the developmental challenges facing Africa as a whole.

“I am happy for this prize and I am sure it will inspire me and my other colleagues to continue with our philosophical enquiries,’’ he said.