Critical thinking; the father of all disciplines

Looking at the history of philosophy, one will see that philosophy is often credited with the attributes of critical thinking, hence, critical thinking is always discussed as a tool of or the same as philosophy. Whereas it seems almost impossible to find philosophy or philosophizing without critical thinking, it may not be true to say that they are the same. This work therefore, demonstrates that philosophy and critical thinking are very complementary, but are not same, and critical thinking is not a tool of philosophy. It agrees that philosophy is the mother, but show that critical thinking is the father, of rational enquiries. For long, critical thinking and philosophy have served to produce results of rational enquiry hence the identification of the critical thinking DNA as is found in all the results of rational and creative thought. Adopting the method of critical analysis, this work concludes that critical thinking should be seen and appreciated for what it is and that it is better for all disciplines to emphasize the need and role of their paternal (critical thinking) DNA as it is what brings them to their pragmatic utilitarian value.

The socio-economic importance of Calabar Carnival on the economic development of Cross River State

The study investigates the socio-economic importance of the Calabar Carnival on the economic development of Cross River State, Nigeria. To establish the relationship between the festival and the development of Cross Rivers State, hypotheses were formulated based on the identified major independent variables namely: employment creation, income generation, and infrastructural development while the dependent variable is the Calabar Carnival Festival. Literatures related to the major variables of the study were reviewed. To generate data for hypotheses testing, questionnaire was used; survey research design was adopted for study while utilizing the convenience sampling technique to select the respondents (300) for study. The generated data were statistically tested at a 0.05 level of significance using Pearson Product Moment Correlation Coefficient analysis. The analysis showed that the Calabar carnival has significant relationship with job creation, income generation, and infrastructural development in Cross River State. Based on the result of the findings, the study recommended the need for tourism industry be fortified with security and as well be privatized. Also, the study recommends that youth development should be a cardinal point in the carnival as a promotional strategy in other to accelerate the state's socio-economic development.

Liberal democracy and globalized capitalism in Africa: Perspective from Heidegger

This paper sets out to defend a set of mutually inclusive theses. First, it argues that liberal democracy’s sojourn in Africa is not political but economic. Secondly, that there is nothing natural about capitalism, rather capitalism was forcefully globalized in order to create the false impression that man is by nature motivated by self-interest or profit. But this paper demonstrates the historicity of capitalism. Finally, the paper employs Martin Heidegger’s ontological analysis to show that liberal democracy is just the political manifestation of what he calls “the nihilism of Western metaphysical thinking”, a thinking that is expansionist, dominating and ultimately “enframing”; (controlling). Using the expository, historical, analytic and critical methods, the essay demonstrates that the liberal democratic march in Africa is to provide the enabling conditions for capitalist exploitation. Thus, it argues that without the political ground- clearing capacity of liberal democracy, the economic domination and control by capitalism in Africa would be very difficult. In conclusion, the paper draws from the actual experience of liberal democracy and the thrust of capitalism in Africa to demonstrate their ontological ambivalence.

A critical discourse analysis of selected news reports of South Africa xenophobic attacks of Nigerians

The incessant xenophobic attacks of Nigerians and other foreign nationals in South Africa have generated a unique discourse in the Nigerian media and in fact, other mainstream media on the African continent and international scene. These attacks are viewed by the international community as incompatible with 21st century civility. This paper therefore, engages the reports of selected news media in Nigeria, South African and other media houses with a view to explicating the ideologies that underpin each report seeing through the insight of Van Dijk, Norman Fairclough and Ruth Wodak’s models of Critical Discourse Analysis. A total of 10 report on the 2015-2019 xenophobia were purposively selected from the online outlets of these media houses. The study therefore found that the use of language by the Nigerian media shows that the polarisation tilted towards emphasising the positive ‘in-group’ description of the heinous acts visited on innocent Nigerians in South Africa whereas the South African and other news media brought to perspective the negative ‘out-group’ description of “some” Nigerians who are engaged in illegal businesses in their South Africa. The lexical choices contribute in significant ways to show the ideologies each reporters represent. The study submits that, these attacks by South Africans on fellow African Nationals are nefarious, iniquitous, atrocious and roguish perhaps because of their colonial experience.

A stylistic study of selected poems in Jide Balogun’s ‘The Desert in the River’

Every society in a quest for nationhood undergoes series of stages, which are inevitable and necessary for its growth. Nigeria’s pursuit for legitimate growth and development has been hampered by certain hindrances which have brought the nation to disrepute and slow development. This paper explores, from a linguistic perspective, the varying thematic issues that have impeded the growth of the nation. The paper x-rays the thematic nuances as discussed in Jide Balogun’s ‘The Desert in the River’ using stylistic tools. Five poems were purposively selected from the collection. The selection is done across the five parts of the collection. The study found that, the theme of corruption and bad leadership pervade the texts and the duo stood as the hydra-headed monster to the growth and development of the nation. Also, the theme of power and unity are evident in the text. The author posits that unless power is appropriately dispensed and unity is fostered among different divides, development is a mirage. The study therefore concludes that, beyond the frantic quest for industrialisation, proper attention must be devoted to dealing with corruption in the land, bad leadership, creating avenue for unity and ensuring proper dissemination of power and justice.

Fair-minded critical thinking: Towards a reconciliation of the self and the other

This work examines the role which fair-minded critical thinking can play in the attempt to reconcile the self with the other. It argues that much of the problems encountered in human relations arise from either uncritical thinking or unfair-minded critical thinking. This happens as a result of the enthronement of both the individual and social ego, on account of the weakening of the fair-minded critical thinking faculty on the one hand, and the strengthening of that of the unfair-minded critical thinking, on the other. The overall result of this is the lack of peace and cooperation among men as well as between man and nature. This work, therefore, identifies fair-minded critical thinking as a missing link in previous attempts to reconcile the self with the other and recommends its cultivation as a veritable tool for the achievement of any meaningful measure of success in such attempts at reconciliation. It also shows how much humanity stands to benefit from the conscious and deliberate cultivation of the principles of fair-mindedness in all relations between the self and the other. The work adopts critical analysis in its discourse.

Women, marginalisation and politics in Africa and Asia

Across the world, women are on the fringes in all facets of life endeavours- economy, education, governance, and politics compared to their male counterparts. Irrespective of the geographical location, women are culturally and socially disadvantaged. They are systematically deprived of individual choices, economic opportunities, political rights, political power as well as intellectual recognition. Women are on the lower incomes ladder compare to their male counterparts. Feminists have argued that women’s fivefold role – mother, wife, home-manager, informal educator, and family nurse is responsible for women’s impediments in life. As a beast of burdens, women have obstructed them from pursuing their aspirations at the same speed as their male counterparts. Consequently, women are marginal in the scheme of mainstream issues of life as politics and economy. Using secondary data and applying the radical feminist theory, women marginalization in Nigeria and India was investigated. The paper revealed some forms of women marginalization in these countries and their similarities to show that women marginalization is a universal phenomenon, cutting across culture, race, and continent. While the concept of marginalization may vary according to the historical and socio-economical context of societies like Nigeria and India, its impact on the marginalized remains the same across cultures, peoples, and continents. To address this gender imbalance and disparity in opportunities between men and women, there is a need for a rotund education for a large majority of women in these continents to accelerate the empowerment of women in every aspect of life.

An investigation of the effects of ethno-religious conflicts on security in Taraba State, Nigeria, 1991-2020

Since independence, Nigeria has been experiencing high level of violence, crime and criminality in all geo-political zones, posing great threat to national security, and social, political and economic development. Such disturbing phenomena include the political crises of the First Republic; the religious crisis of the 1980s; the ethno-religious crises of the post-1999 era; the activities of Oodua People’s Congress (OPC) and Bakassi boys; the Niger-Delta crisis; to the insurgency in the North-Eastern region and armed-herdsmen violence, particularly in the Middle-Belt region. All these phenomena have created disturbing security challenges to the peoples of the immediate environments of the incidents, and the whole nation, thus affecting nation-building. This paper adopts a multi-disciplinary approach, examines the security challenges posed by ethno-religious conflicts, particularly in Taraba State of Nigeria. The research interrogates the challenges posed by the phenomena mentioned, and finds, among other things, that in the past 60 years, the incidents have significantly contributed to the slow pace of social, political and economic developments in the area. The paper suggests, among other things, tolerance and responsive governance, to curtail envisaged security challenges facing Taraba State, and Nigeria in general.

Rereading Psalm 121 in an African (Yoruba) context

This article is an attempt to reread Psalm 121 in an African context with reference to the culture of the Yoruba people of Nigeria. The study considers certain Eurocentric interpretation of the Book of Psalms which Africans maintained do not meet their social, physical and spiritual aspirations. An African interpretation of the Bible is an interpretation which adopts the African world view. In this study, Psalm 121 is interpreted in the light of help and protection which are the greatest needs of the African people. The study adopts the African Biblical Hermeneutics. The central focus of this approach is to provide a useful lens to reread biblical text in African context. It was discovered that as early as the third century Christian era, worshippers in the temple chanted, and sung on a regular basis from Psalms. The Psalms were popular in the fourth century with the rise of monasticism as monks chanted the psalms as daily prayer not only for personal guidance but also for spiritual warfare against demons. The ancient Israelites who were the original authors of the Psalter wrote from their experiences. Many biblical scholars and members of African indigenous churches in Nigeria, see the Psalter as divine and potent words. Psalm 121 can be used to invoke help and protection on those who desire them in the same way as words of incantation (ogede) are used among the Yoruba ethnic group of Nigeria. It is hoped that the Psalms and the entire Bible will be properly contextualized to address the challenges that Africans are currently facing.

Conflict resolution in Nigerian partisan politics: Insights from the quest for leadership in Markan narratives

The quest for leadership, request to secure the foremost seats of influence at the side of Jesus (as done by James and John), is evident within Markan narratives. After this indecorous request, conflict crept into the camp of Jesus’ twelve disciples as the ten other disciples fumed over James’ and John’s bid to outflank them in prominence. Extant literature has focused on the event surrounding their request and the quality of the greatest in God’s service to the neglect of Jesus’ strategy of resolving the conflict, its contribution to the success of Jesus’ ministry and its relevance to resolving conflict in contemporary partisan politics. This paper, therefore, examines the quest for leadership in Markan narratives (9:33-37 and 10:35-45), with particular reference to Jesus’ strategy of resolving conflict. This is with a view to establishing its relevance to resolving Nigeria’s partisan political conflict. Fuchs’ theory of the New Hermeneutic was adopted. Data were subjected to exegetical analysis. Findings will have implication on conflict prevention and/or conflict resolution in human endeavours.