BACKGROUND:
In her book, Socrates and Orunmila: Two Patron Saints of Classical Philosophy, (Lagos, Nigeria: Ark Publishers 2017), Sophie Bosede Oluwole discusses pre-colonial philosophy and draws very remarkable parallels between Orunmila, an African philosopher, and Socrates, the ‘father’ of European philosophy. For some contemporary thinkers, African history begins with European colonization and, for others, Africa has no history at all, as a consequence of which it cannot lead the world.

METHODS:
Personal reflection and further inquiry suggested that the natural path of African development that should have followed an Orunmilan paradigm was de-routed by the colonial impact including: colonization, colonial education, conversion, indoctrination, proselytization, and colonial culture and ways of doing things. A brief reflective look at an African traditional practice of identifying at birth and ritually handling specially gifted children (geniuses) confirms the pertinence of the need for an appropriate paradigm and protocol for modernizing traditional potentials or raw materials for Africa’s development and the benefit of the world at large.

RESULTS:
Culture is important and indispensable. Africa cannot make contributions to world history and well-being, let alone to her own development, from the point of view and perspective of an imposed foreign culture. Africa needs to recover the abandoned foundations of its authentic history and culture to be able to genuinely develop and to make effective contributions to the well-being of the world it shares with sundry other peoples and cultures.

CONCLUSIONS:
Decolonizing Africa is an important and crucial task today, not only for its own sake but for the sake and welfare of the world at large.