ABSTRACT
This chapter presents an empirical and curricular analysis of the origin of academic philosophy in the first generation of Nigerian universities—University of Ibadan, University of Ife (now Obafemi Awolowo University, University of Nigeria, and the University of Lagos. The argument of the chapter is that the philosophy syllabus has refused to evolve with the changing circumstances and conditions that define postcolonial and post-independence Nigeria. And the reason, according to this chapter, has to do with the contradiction embedded into the inaugural conception of what philosophy is in Nigeria and in most African countries. Thus, once philosophy is conceived as a “universal” discipline, then those who founded the philosophy departments in Nigeria had reason to create a philosophy curriculum that is decidedly Western.
