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LOOKING BACK TO MOVE FORWARD: RE-EVALUATION 

OF AFRICAN INDIGENOUS KNOWLEDGE AND 

TECHNOLOGY IN RESPONSE TO 21ST CENTURY 

CHALLENGES. PERSPECTIVES FROM  J.P. CLARK’S 

OZIDI  

 
1Omeje, Oguejiofor V  and 2Ezeugwu, Cindy Anene  

1. Humanities Unit, School of General Studies, University of Nigeria, Nsukka 

2. Department of Theatre and Film Studies, University of Nigeria, Nsukka 

Email: cindy.ezeugwu@unn.edu.ng  

 

Abstract 

This paper evaluates the ideology of Indigenous Knowledge and 

Technology (IKT) in Nigeria as an African cosmology. The 

younger generation is bereft of the potency of IKT because the 

colonialists termed her IKT practices unscientific. Thus, the 

development of IKTs to the advanced and exporting stage may 

have needed to be improved by colonialism and its allies - mainly 

foreign religions in contemporary Nigeria. Studies show that there 

are prospects of growing IKTs such as artificial intelligence, bullet 

and fireproofs, ethnographic medicines, orthopaedics, weaving, 

iron-smelting and pottery. J.P. Clark’s play- Ozidi used this fact by 

portraying witchcraft for self-defence and warfare. These inchoate 

IKTs are indices that Nigeria has all it takes to become a global 

technological giant if not for some colonial resentments. The 

apparent failure of modern scientific technologies to solve rising 

global challenges such as hunger, poverty, sickness, terrorism and 

general security has intensified the demand for African IKTs as 

alternatives. Adopting historical/ textual analytical design, the 

study explores the possibilities and prospects inherent in African 

IKT. The paper aims to buttress the aptitudes of IKTs for 

sustainable development and growth. It concludes that given the 

cost-effectiveness and safety of African IKTs in Nigeria, the 

phenomenon should be given a pride of place by incorporating it 

mailto:cindy.ezeugwu@unn.edu.ng


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into the Nigerian educational system to help theorise, modernise 

and remove unnecessary ritualistic encumbrances to enable it to 

compete viably, with other global technologies for practical and 

scientific purposes other than mere aesthetics which many people 

assume are ritualistic in nature.  

 

Keywords: Africa, Indigenous Knowledge, Technology, Craft, 

Development, J.P Clark. 

 

Introduction 

     Before colonial times in Africa, Indigenous knowledge and 

technology, hereafter referred to as ITK, was one of the most 

patronised arts in Nigeria. This is a result of its evaluability and 

indispensability in society. The ITKs are known to perform diverse 

functions, including but not limited to orthopaedics, artificial 

intelligence, bullet and fireproofs, ethnographic medicines, 

weaving, iron-smelting and pottery, among others. To this end, 

practitioners of ITK were held in high esteem, and IKT was one of 

the veritable tools for propagating African indigenous technology. 

Consequently, more practitioners were often being incorporated 

into the trade to reach out to more people needing one service or 

the other. During that era, the practitioners were known to impact 

society positively without religious or colonial interference. 

However, it is deplorable to note that the period when IKTs 

prospered and were highly valued has vanished and is now replaced 

by the lacklustre attitude of modern times. More worrisome is that 

Africans, supposed to be transmitters of our cultural values to 

posterity, regrettably take sides with Western technology they 

religiously follow. This act of notoriety portends the demise of 

Nigeria’s robust IKTs in the 21st century. Thus, the dwindling state 

of acceptance and patronage of IKTs is fast relegating it to the 

dustbin of history if something is not done quickly to address the 



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menace. This can be done by decolonising the minds of Nigerians 

to awaken their consciousness and stand up against this ugly trend. 

In light of the above, the choice of Ozidi for this study is 

informed by the period the play was set in Ijaw- one of the over 

two hundred ethnic tribes that existed before the colonisation of 

Nigeria began in the early 19th century; when the colonialists 

started introducing western democracy, alongside the formation of 

modern city-states in Africa. The storyteller in Ozidi, assuming an 

omniscient narrator, confirms the above information thus: 

“…perhaps, you think this is a quaint custom that we are propping 

up cobwebs that we ought to sweep clean out of the house with 

broom and brush. Well …aren’t we living in a free democratic 

country?”  (1-2).  This shows that the prehistoric Ijaw custom about 

to be re-enacted has been abandoned over the years, hence the 

‘quaint custom’ probably due to colonisation. Elaborating on this 

new development, the storyteller mentioned the newly created city-

states like” Lagos, Ibadan, Enugu and Kaduna where the Ijaws 

move in droves in search of wealth (big money) – these towns in 

the days of their (Ijaw) forefathers, where not bigger than mere 

cattle market” (4). Ozidi is probably one of the few literalised 

aesthetic displays in dramatic form that demonstrates just an aspect 

of a vast body of knowledge- indigenous knowledge and 

technology designated by the colonising culture as witchcraft. The 

term' craft' is of utmost interest to the researchers, corresponding 

to skill. Thus, witchcraft or wizardry is positively used to qualify 

one with exceptional professional talent. Therefore, we are often 

inundated with terms like computer, literary, mathematical wizard 

or wizard of law, and so on. Arising from the above, the researchers 

are compelled to ask, ‘When then has witchcraft hence, wizardry 

becomes a derogatory form of expressing competence of one’s 

profession’?  

 

 



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Perspectives on Indigenous Knowledge and Technology (IKT) 

Indigenous knowledge is a body of knowledge developed 

within a person or group of people before the advent of the modern 

scientific knowledge system. In the words of Senanayake S.G.J.N, 

“it encompasses many areas of importance to the society like 

security, agriculture, eco-system and so on. It is variously known 

in different parlance as local knowledge, peoples’ knowledge, 

traditional science or wisdom” (87). These names go a long way to 

buttress the idea of indigenous information, skill, and application 

for development; they give clues to the operational and 

characterising ideas of what is and how it is developed within a 

given cultural area. The difference between indigenous knowledge 

and technology and modern scientific knowledge lies in the fact 

that the latter is a product of higher institutions of learning – 

universities and research institutes while the former is generated 

orally and transmitted from generation to generation (Tharakan; 

2017, Ugboma:2014, and Senanayake: 2006).  

Indigenous knowledge and technology are empirically 

grounded, while modern scientific understanding is theoretically 

grounded. Analysis of indigenous knowledge and technology 

raises the question of appropriate technologies that a given 

community deems fit to satisfy its need. Ozidi focuses on warfare 

and the security needs of the Ijaw people at the time; within the 

precolonial era, fear was the primary agent of societal 

destabilisation. An influential person or community often becomes 

a threat to its neighbour. In addition, wild animals, natural 

disasters, hunger and diseases were significant threats at the time. 

All these threats were controlled through various indigenous 

knowledge and technology.  

       With other IKTs that existed long before independence, there 

were high hopes that Nigeria would soon become a technological 

giant beyond the shores of Africa with the creation of such IKTs 

like Kwagh-Hir puppet Theatre in Tiv, Benue State, Fire and 



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Bulletproof exhibition and Sango theatrical performances in South 

West, ‘Wonder’ masquerade theatrical performance in Enugu 

State, South East (a crane-like technology manipulated to oscillate 

masquerades to unimaginable heights, though it is not intended to 

lift objects as cranes do). Furthermore, there is the control and 

manipulation of natural forces by the Ijaws of the Niger Delta in 

the South-South region of Nigeria, as seen in J.P. Clark’s Ozidi. 

IKTs can also be found in Orthopedics (bone setting techniques), 

Medicine (herbs), Weaving, Iron smelting, Pottery, Food and Wine 

processing and Agriculture. It is important to note that all the IKTs 

are not domiciled only in one locality or state. On the contrary, as 

Senanayake avers, “they can be found in diverse forms in every 

tribe in Nigeria; either as a different knowledge of similar things, a 

different knowledge of different things, different ways of 

organising knowledge or different ways of perceiving and 

transferring knowledge” (46).  

By independence, it was assumed that Nigeria had extricated 

herself from all forms of economic, political, social, cultural and 

religious censorship by the colonisers. Nigeria could now chart her 

developmental course without the interference of any document 

from the West. With these high hopes and aspirations, writers like 

Clark, Achebe, Soyinka, Rotimi and others were optimistic that 

within a short period in Nigeria, there would be a harvest of 

technological breakthroughs, knowing the level of attainment 

already in existence in the country. This dream was so evident that 

Soyinka concluded that Nigeria had arrived, compared to her 

African counterparts. But Soyinka soon realised and lamented 

these aliens' inimical nature and attitude towards African cultures' 

innovative and creative roots, which caused a tremendous loss of 

African skills (xvii). Chinua Achebe submits that “during the early 

years of Nigeria’s independence, high hopes of rapid developments 

was evidenced as a declaration of ambition to become an advanced 

nation preferably by the year 2020 was made” (9). By this 



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declaration, Nigeria is expected to be among the comity of world 

powers within forty years of independence in 1960. Apart from oil 

wealth and Agricultural products, what assured Nigeria of 

greatness is her reliability on IKTs.  

But, while Leopold Sedar Senghor of Senegal laments the 

reduction of African IKTs as mere myth, Areole Oyebola  insists 

that; 

black people need an absolute legend translated into 

concrete achievement in science and technology, industrialisation 

and military strength, not a tale of futility and irrelevance, 

characterised by profuse displays of ritual and bare-breasted dances 

during national entertainment international shows. In the series of 

coups that snowballed into a civil war (119). 

 

Oyebola further laments that “Nigeria missed a unique 

chance in history to tap the resources of her local geniuses after the 

civil war” (120). Nigeria did not use the experience and creative 

talents of men and women of the Research and production institute, 

who, during the civil war in desperation, produced Nigeria’s first 

rocket from rusty milk pipes. Thus, Nigeria was progressing rather 

towards Senghor’s vision of achievement. Nigeria was generally 

believed to be enveloped by an assurance of endless possibilities of 

unbridled destiny and overwhelming excitement about life 

determination uninhibited by any knowledge of providence. There 

was untainted optimism about Nigeria achieving this greatness in 

every sphere of human endeavour compared to Ghana. It is on the 

bases of Oyebola’s lamentation that the researchers stand to insist 

that while the chances for achieving this greatness are still rife, the 

old inferiority attitude, the lack of self-confidence to reach the goal, 

religious interference, ethnic politics and corruption have 

continued to militate against the lofty IKT advancement in 

contemporary Nigeria.  

 



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An Overview of Indigenous Knowledge and Technology in the 

Pre-Colonial Era  

         Oyebola stated that “the level of IKTs from the pre-colonial 

era was very high that before the civil war ended in 1970, Nigeria 

scientists were known to be improving on their design for the 

production of a ten-mile rocket” (119).  During the war, it is on 

record that the Biafran side invented nearly a five thousand feet 

range anti-aircraft rocket. Within the restriction of the war, Nigeria 

also invented explosives, beer, and batteries, among others (119). 

It shall be noted that Nigerian ingenuity to produce all these 

technologies were not developed within just seven years – from 

1960 of independence to 1967, when the civil war broke out, and 

up to 1970 when the war ended. In other words, craftsmanship in 

Nigeria started long before the independence without the aid of the 

colonising agents.  

Confirming that there are un-methodized scientific 

trappings in many African indigenous therapeutic, herbal or 

medicinal practices, Ola, Oloidi notes that “all instruments or 

infrastructure for existence and development were already in place 

before colonisation” (34). This means that Europeans did not bring 

new ideas but new methods or approaches to improve existing 

ones. Oloidi noted, “Apart from these modern pure sciences that 

are very foreign to African or Nigerian indigenous traditions, all 

modern disciplines in the universities or colleges are directly or 

indirectly made operational from the people’s local traditions” 

(34).  

Aware of these potentials since 1949 in Nigeria, Zik decrying the 

‘logic of imperialism’ buttressed by a false belief about the 

incapacity of the colonised Nigerians to develop initiative, declared 

that “… it is our considered opinion that factors of capitalism and 

imperialism have stultified the normal growth of Nigeria” (159). 

Confirming Zik’s view, Margaret Ugboma believes that “Zik’s 

position about the logic of imperialism and its effect on the 



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colonised to develop initiative is true considering that IKTs have 

not been given the rightful position in development initiatives” 

(14).  

Zik’s declaration was motivated by the potential wealth in 

vast human and natural resources like gold, coal, tin, iron ore, 

tantalite, lead, diatomite, uranium, and lignite, among others; a 

great majority of Nigerians still live in abject want. Zik continued 

to criticise imperialism as;  

                A crime against humanity because it enables any 

section of the human race which is armed with the techniques of 

modern scientific knowledge without justification to dominate a 

less fortunate area of society, simply because the latter are unequal 

to the task of resisting the force and which buttresses such 

domination (158). 

Zik’s view about imperialism above shows that the 

relevance and potency of  ITK in Nigeria, as in many other African 

countries, were largely suppressed by the Europeans in the bid to 

promote their technologies. We shall investigate the efficacy and 

manifestations of ITKs in the study text. 

 

      Synopsis of Ozidi 

      Ozidi is an encounter with a group of practitioners in witchcraft. 

They displayed the knowledge of the craft mainly for self-defence, 

warfare and general security purposes.  

The people of Orua – an imaginary kingdom in Ijaw, in the 

Niger Delta area of the present South Southern Nigeria are about 

to crown their new idiot King. A human head is needed to cleanse 

the throne, but the people of Orua do not deem such sacrifice fit for 

their silly king. But seeing it as a task that must be accomplished, 

they conspired against the King’s only brother, a warrior called 

Ozidi and killed him. This sets the pace for the first encounter with 

the IKTs in the play.  

 



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Manifestations of Indigenous Knowledge and Technologies in 

J P Clark’s Ozidi 

The challenge with most IKTs as can be seen from Ozidi is that 

they existed in mythical and ritual forms. That is, they are shrouded 

in rituals, mysticism and esotericism; but their values cannot be 

overestimated because as we shall soon see, there is every 

likelihood that modern technologies evolved from such myths. 

Indigenous knowledge here means the know-how for the 

production and control or manipulation of various devices 

otherwise known as charms for various purposes. Some of these 

devices and their uses as found in Ozidi include: - 

 

Bulletproof (Odeshi). This is a charm that protects an individual 

from any object that can inflict physical wounds such as tearing or 

cutting of the flesh. It could be a charm worn over the body or it 

could be conjured or injected into the body as immunity against 

bullets, matchet cuts, stones or any harmful object. In the play 

Ozidi, Oreame took Ozidi - her grandson - to Bouakarakabiri to 

invest bulletproof charm for him. Even though Oreame also knows 

the full recipe of the charm, she would not do it on her grandson 

for an Ijaw adage has it that ‘the housewife often has no stomach 

for her broth’ (Ozidi,44). This means that no physician can 

successfully cure himself.  

       When Ozidi was ready for the headhunt, we learnt from the 

stage directions of the play that he fortified himself with his 

battledress - ‘a brief white skirt mounted with bells and cowries 

and cap flying seven feathers of the eagle (Ozidi, 21). This attire 

may look simple or weird but it is vested with Bulletproof (Odeshi) 

an indigenous/local protective charm/mechanism. 

The conspirators know that Ozidi is so protected, thus, their leader 

Ofe gives the following instructions to his men that the only way 



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open to get rid of Ozidi is to beat him till he dies. So he confirms 

the potency of the charm thus:  

 

OFE:  For remember that bullet in contact with the man 

turn to water, spears splint off him; and do not let it 

stick in your eyes that not only do blades go blunt 

on his skin but arrows bounce off his body (Ozidi, 

22).  

 

They waylay Ozidi, and pummel him with clubs and fists 

until he dies, but the problem is that no cutlass could cut his skin 

whether dead or alive unless the secret of the indigenous 

knowledge to soften his body is revealed. This they got through 

Ozidi’s wife before his head could be severed from his body.  

 

Ballistic Missile/Drone 

On several occasions, Oreame sends thunderbolts to 

destroy her targets. For example, when Azezebaife was set to fight, 

Oreame takes Ozidi to the shrine where she made prayers to Ayi 

Oyin Tamara for guidance, protection and victory for Ozidi, this 

results, according to the stage direction, “to a sudden clap of 

thunder which breaks across the clear morning sky. As Oreame 

hears it, she performs certain rituals inform of homage to the 

thunder by touching the ground with her forehead and with thrown 

arms …”(Ozidi, 76). That is not all as Ozidi is about to engage Ofe 

in another battle, we read that: “Three sharp claps of thunder break 

suddenly overhead, racing one another across the sky. All wince 

visibly, but the effect upon Oreame was like a bell to action” 

(Ozidi, 87). The implication of this is that Oreame has the 

indigenous knowledge that could deploy Thunderbolt for specific 

purposes. Immediately Oreame receives a signal from the thunder, 

she prompts Ozidi to attack and kill Ofe.  Another incident that 

points to Oreame’s power to control thunder is that after Ozidi 



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killed Tebesonoma, Oreame feels that Tebesonoma’s sister and her 

little child would be a threat to Ozidi in future. So Oreame takes 

Ozidi to Tebesonoma’s sister’s house. Her husband Agonosin had 

gone to the bush to attend to his fish pond. Before the woman and 

her son died, Oreame had sent thunder to kill Agonosin in the bush; 

and a neighbour narrates what happened thus:  

 

Neighbour: A terrible thing has happened! A terrible thing! Out 

of the clear sky fell a thunderbolt at one stroke, it 

ploughed a path, all the way to where Agonosin 

stood by a point, moving him down to earth. If 

you’ll come out, all the bush is burning about him 

and not the entire town bearing pots of water can put 

out the fire (Ozidi,105-106).  

 

In modern science, a rocket or missile has a launching ground from 

where the projectile takes off; but in this case, Oreame uses a 

magical hand fan as a launching pad for the thunder; though, it is 

not that she puts the missile on the magic fan before igniting it. The 

magic fan is already configured to activate any purpose it is meant 

to achieve. As their common weapons of warfare, Azema carries a 

crown of violence on her hands (Ozidi,112), and Oreame carries a 

thunderbolt in the hollow of her hands too (Ozidi,113).  

 

Special Fan  

The special magic fan used by Oreame is a multi-purpose 

device. It is used as a source of energy to affect the strength flow 

of a person or thing. For example, when Ozidi is too weak to 

engage in a fight, Oreama beats him lightly but briskly all over the 

body with the special fan. This action energises him and spurs him 

to fight (Ozidi, 77 and 105).  



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At other times, it is used to: - stir up the wind (p. 79), neutralize 

Ofe’s disappearing acts mechanism (p. 86), dry up the water in 

Ozidi’s dream (p. 92) and other spiritual effects.  

 

Artificial Intelligence  

Artificial intelligence should not be viewed in this sense as a 

machine. The notion of a machine invokes the idea of modernity. 

Artificial intelligence should be seen as any device that has the 

ability or power to perceive its environment and can take the 

necessary actions required of it with little or no human effort. For 

instance, it can perceive a threat within a given location or 

environment and maximize or repel it successfully. Oreame has a 

mirror which serves as a camera that can pick up and send pictorial 

information to her. At a point when Ofe wanted to avoid directly 

engaging Oreame and Ozidi in a duel, he employs every strategy 

including feigning cold; but Ewari reminds him that Oreame will 

not believe that because she sees everything in that mirror glass 

(Ozidi, 82). Sometimes, through its rays which serve as infrared 

light, Oreame injects, induces or feeds her enemy with poisonous 

substance inform of magical food; as she did to Ofe (Ozidi,87) and 

Tebesonoma (Ozidi,100-101). This weakens the enemy and 

renders him susceptible to defeat. With this mirror, Oreame sees 

when Ozidi is in trouble and subsequently makes an appearance on 

the scene.  

 

Aero Dynamics 

In the opening scene in the public square where Ozidi and 

Azezabife are interlocked in mortal combat, drumsticks are left 

suspended in mid-air (Ozidi,78) and Oreame is sighted scurrying 

in the clouds as she monitors the atmosphere of war preparation in 

Ofe’s compound.  

 

 



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Aerial Trapping Device  

Seeing that Oreame can also fly in the air, Sigirisi develops special 

net technology with which to capture her (Ozidi, 83-84). Though 

he succeeds in enwrapping Oreame with the net midair, it is of no 

effect for no sooner had the net hung over Oreame than she shook 

her shoulders and the net fell off her.  

 

Transfixing Devices  

Oreame uses special IKTs to transfix people, thereby demobilising 

them. She applies it to the old wizard Bouakurakarabiri (Ozidi, 43) 

and Tebesonoma ( Ozidi, 99).  

 

Disappearing Acts  

This indigenous knowledge is often used by Ofe (Ozidi, 86) to 

escape being captured but Oreame has it too. She uses it to perform 

espionage, leading to the successful digging up of Ofe’s protective 

pot of herbs buried in his garden (85). In addition to the act of 

disappearance is that Oreame has the art of turning into a tsetse fly 

(113) or any other creature at will. Alfred Alex. Anedo posits that 

this charm sometimes affects the  “ability to vacate or remove the 

user from the scene of danger unhurt. Not only does it assure the 

user of safety, but also saves him from being trapped by sending 

the person far away from danger zone irrespective of the 

suddenness or swiftness of the incident” (39).  

From the foregoing discourse therefore, one can agree with 

Oloidi that “nearly all the disciplines or courses taught in colleges 

and universities were, and are still popularly or informally 

represented or practised…”(32). He listed among other disciplines, 

Medicine, Engineering and so on, of which, we have sieved from 

Ozidi. It is worth noting that even the acclaimed Western 

technological advancement started in this mythical form. 

Advancing on this, Segla Dafon Aime, while encouraging Africans 

to follow the example of what took place in the West, in the days 



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of Renaissance and the Enlightenment, insists that Africa “must 

maximize the myths yet at the same time, start with the said myths, 

extract from the intuitive, tacit and implicit knowledge for 

analytical and speculative study given establishing the foundation 

for innovation and modern development” (32).  

There is no gainsaying that Africa, especially Nigeria has a 

lot of innovative acumen emanating from her indigenous 

knowledge and technological myths and the proof, that such 

innovative skills abound in Nigeria is part of the 21st Century 

challenges which this paper showcases. Moving away from Ozidi, 

IKTs are currently in vogue despite the campaign against the 

practice. In Igboeze South Local Government of Enugu state, in 

Nigeria, it is a common practice to invoke the Ube deity to recover 

stolen items and subsequently punish the offender through 

(induced suicide by hanging). If these acts were inactive, people 

would have abandoned them long ago. Before we conclude this 

paper, we must refer to the three most recent incidents bordering 

on African IKTs within the last quarter of 2020 and the first quarter 

of 2021 in Uwasota town in Edo and Ogwashi Uku town in Delta 

state; both are in South Southern states of Nigeria. The third 

incident is in the Ezeagu Local Government Area of Enugu state. 

These references will show how important it is that in-depth 

research is done in the field of African IKTs for it to achieve global 

visibility and deployment for the solution of humanitarian 

problems. 

In a video that went viral in November 2020 in Uwasota 

town in Benin City, Nigeria, the Master of Ceremony for the 

wedding reception explained that as soon as the bridal dance was 

ready to commence on a bright November dry season afternoon. 

Suddenly, the weather became overcast, thunder and lightning rent 

the atmosphere and heavy downpours took over just within the area 

of the reception event. In less than thirty minutes, the breeze has 

blown off the canopies, the seats, the musical amplifier burnt, the 



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arena flooded with water and thereafter, the sun reappeared again 

as the rain mysteriously receded (Opera News, 2020). 

 The second incident which took place in January 2021, is 

a video of a trader who sold bags of rice worth hundreds of 

thousands of naira to an unknown customer who paid cash. Shortly 

after the customer drove off with the goods, the whole money he 

paid the vendor turned into white papers the size of naira currency 

notes (Linda Ikeji Blog). It was also reported in the same video that 

this type of incident is now rampant in Edo state. The last incident 

is a scenario in Ezeagu local government area of Enugu state where 

“palm wine was being poured into a porous basket without it 

leaking”( Patience Adama).  

These are typical African IKTs which are often relegated to 

metaphysics, magic or others akin to modern science and 

technology. For this reason, people resent further inquiry into it and 

the practitioners take advantage to keep the knowledge secret 

further. The researchers argue that most modern sciences and 

technologies started as a figment of one’s imagination, something 

like magic and then developed from the unknown to the known 

state. They insist that until African IKT is given scholarly attention, 

the practice will continue to exist in its present state.  

 

Conclusion  

The superiority of African IKTs could be sought in their 

durability, economy and precision, and we can use surveillance 

devices to explain this. Several factors can make modern 

surveillance devices to fail. For example, an expert can dismount 

or cover the lens of a modern surveillance device, several factors 

can make the device’s power supply malfunction, it could raise 

false alarms when an animal instead of a human being crosses the 

boundary and so on. But all these cannot apply to African 

indigenous technological surveillance devices. Its function is direct 

to the target, for example, if it is deployed to protect a yam barn 



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from theft; for instance, any thief that gets into the barn and 

attempts to steal the yam gets stuck in the barn until the owner 

surfaces. It does not stop people from trespassing. Its main function 

is to safeguard the yams from being taken away by unknown 

person(s). This does not mean, however, that there are no demerits 

of African IKTs but that they are minimal compared to modern 

ones. 

 The abandonment of IKTs over time and the need to return 

to them for the yoke of modern technological backwardness to be 

broken in Africa is yet another 21st Century challenge. Chinweizu 

affirms that “one of the wonders of our time is that African 

indigenous knowledge has captured the interest of the imperialists. 

They now sponsor studies of what they profoundly despise. But 

why”? (40). Chinweizu’s question here needs an in-depth critical 

examination. For example, why have Western pharmaceutical 

companies suddenly become interested in African herbs and their 

uses? These were the same plants our ancestors developed and used 

to maintain their health over time, and when the colonialists 

invaded Africa, they derogated these traditional practices and 

attempted to outlaw most of them. Today they have developed a 

new interest in them to the extent that many Western academic 

institutions sponsor programmes for their development. This 

sudden interest is tricky and poses a further threat because a lot of 

successful experimental works on African IKTs have been done by 

African intellectuals as ‘Impact Factor papers’ with their results 

domiciled in Western countries, journals and libraries. They may 

modernize and then sell them back to Africa at huge costs. 

        The researchers are worried about this perceived ugly trend 

and therefore recommend that Nigerian ‘the giant of Africa’ should 

pioneer the incorporation of IKTs into her educational system and 

curriculum to theorize, modernise and remove unnecessary 

ritualistic encumbrances so that they can viably compete with other 



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global knowledge in terms of science and technology for practical 

and scientific purposes other than mere ritualistic aesthetics.  

 

 

Works Cited 

 

Achebe, Chinua. The Trouble with Nigeria. Enugu: Fourth 

Dimension Publishing Co., Ltd, 1983. 

 

Aime, Dafon Segla. “Belief and Knowledge: Revisiting Number 

Concept in Yoruba History and Cultural Changes in a 

System of Knowledge”.  In Indigenous Knowledge and 

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