A South African scholar and professor of philosophy from the University of South Africa, Mogobe Benjamin, has won the $5,000 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, with the theme: “Nigeria: 100 years After Amalgamation: Philosophical Issues and Perspectives,” has scholars, researchers and academics from Cameroun, Ghana, Ethiopia and South Africa in attendance.
The President of the Nigerian Philosophical Association, Prof. Joseph Agbakoba announced that Benjamin won the prize for his work titled: “African Philosophy Through Ubuntu,” at the ceremony witnessed by the Deputy Vice Chancellor, Academic and Research of the University of Lagos, Prof. Babajide Alo, 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 Africa descent every year.
An elated Benjamin, who later gave a very thought provoking acceptance speech, was full of high praises for the late sage philosopher in whose honour the prize was instituted, adding that 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.