Thursday 15th June 2023 will remain eternally indelible in the minds of some but, more especially in that of the Ikegbu’s of Umuchima Okwu village of Ikeduru LGA of Imo state, and this is in respect of her illustrious son, Ephraim Ahamefula Ikegbu, a Nigerian legal practitioner and university teacher who was recently and formally announced as a latest professor of philosophy.
Ikegbu who began his voyage into research, teaching and learning at tertiary education level (at the University of Calabar) beginning from 1994 where he was enrolled as an undergraduate student in the Department of Philosophy to 2008 where he was recruited as a teacher and was eventually announced to have attained the apogee of his research and teaching career as Professor of Leadership Philosophy and Gender Studies by the senate of the University of Calabar headed by Professor Florence Banku Obi the vice chancellor of the University (UNICAL).
Professor Ikegbu holds a Bachelor of Arts (B.A), Masters of Arts (M.A in Political Philosophy) and Doctor of Philosophy (Ph.D in Philosophy of Law) in Philosophy as well as a Master of Public Administration (MPA), Bachelor of Law (LL.B) degrees from the University of Calabar, and a Barrister at Law (B.L) from the Nigerian Law school, Enugu Campus.
Professor Ikegbu is a well-read prolific researcher who has authored 65 articles which are published in both international and local journals, and one book.
He has attended academic conferences in well over three continents, namely, Africa, Europe and North America especially in such countries as Ghana, South Africa, Rome, Portugal and Canada etc.
He has also participated in a workshop/sector statistics meeting for concepts harmonisation in ECOWAS member states in Lagos and Togo.
Professor Ikegbu is a scholar of praxis who does not only dwell in the realm of ideas. Accordingly, he is consultant to CLEEN Foundation, a leading development organisation in Nigeria nay Africa, and is a member and Nigeria Coordinator of Together International.
He founded the following theories and concepts: ‘Ahamefula as logic of unity and identity’, ‘Cologenderism’, ‘Neo cologenderism’ and ‘Genderocracy’.
Ahamefula: the theory argues that the use and application of foreign logic to address local circumstance remains a misdirection, rather the internal logic of the people which is their identity is the appropriate instrument (Ejiri Mara) to address their challenge.
Cologenderism as a concept implies the statistical and numerical strength to determine the extent of marginalisation and oppression between men and women. The concept disparages the overbearing assumptive notion that men always marginalise women rather men do oppress women and women do oppress men depending on statistical structuring or numerical strength of a particular sex.
Genderocracy posits that leadership should be anchored on equality of men and women. Leadership should be tenurial/rotational /sharing between men and women on equal basis. The concept dislocates the ideology of exclusion or inclusion. Non is to be excluded and non is to be included. Rather, leadership between the two sexes should be on tenure based.
Professor Ikegbu is married to Precious Nneka Ikegbu, and the union has 5 children.
Efio-Ita Nyok, aicmc is the editor of NEGROIDHAVEN. He writes from Calabar, Nigeria.
