Abstract
Right from traditional African philosophy, down to
its modern and contemporary era,
there has been a strong link between African philos
ophy and language, underlined by the
principle of complementarity. This is not disconnec
ted with Placid Tempels’ employment
of force to explain being, and Alexis Kagame’s NTU,
as the underlying principle of
reality. Pantaleon Iroegbu explained being as belon
gingness. In the thoughts of Innocent
Asouzu, Ibuanyidanda, was used to explain the compl
ementary nature of reality. In the
face of ever growing complexities, African philosop
hers have continued to employ African
categories for the search for solutions to African
problems. At a time like ours when many
African governments have failed in national develop
ment, especially in their ability to
improve the social welfare of her people through th
e provision of social amenities like
quality education, portable water, transportation,
good roads, good medical amenities,
security of lives and property, basic infrastructur
e, etc., this work employs Igwebuike
philosophy, another African category, as a framewor
k for Africa’s development. It
develops a model of development which is inclusive
and wholistic, and traces Africa’s
problem of underdevelopment to the employment of no
n-inclusive political and economic
institutions. For the purpose of this research, the
hermeneutic and Wholistic indigenous
method of
inquiry was employed.