Postcolonial, Decolonial and Transcolonial Approaches to Development in Africa

Main Article Content

Joseph C. A. Agbakoba
Philip Adah Idachaba
Hyacinth Emanta Ichoku
Emmanuel Okechukwu
Oluwatosin Olushola
Ifeanyi Chikezie

Abstract

In this article we attempt to think beyond the adversarial mode and imagine possibilities of concordance as a model for development in Africa. We explore the dynamics of adversariality and concordance through the stages of postcoloniality, decoloniality, and transcoloniality in African development. We argue for a shift to a reliance on concord as the basis for development. This happens to be rooted in the African notions of complementarity and harmony. We insist that theoretically and methodologically positive mindedness and a positive set of values that pursue colligation, complementarity, and overall concordance are more reliable drivers for development than the negativity that the adversarial model portends. This is part of the essence of the emerging transcolonial disposition towards accomplishing development and we think that it holds better prospects for development in Africa.

Article Details

How to Cite
Agbakoba, J. C. A., Idachaba, P. A., Ichoku , H. E., Okechukwu , E., Olushola, O., & Chikezie, I. (2025). Postcolonial, Decolonial and Transcolonial Approaches to Development in Africa. Modern Africa: Politics, History and Society, 13(2), 5–26. https://doi.org/10.26806/modafr.v13i2.525
Section
Articles
Author Biographies

Joseph C. A. Agbakoba, Department of Philosophy, University of Nigeria, Nsukka, Enugu State, Nigeria

He is a Professor of Philosophy at the University of Nigeria. A 2022 recipient of the prestigious Georg Forster Research Award, he has been a Volkswagen Foundation grantee and an Alexander von Humboldt fellow amongst others. His most recent book is Beyond Decolonial African Philosophy: Africanity, Afrotopia, and Transcolonial Perspectives, co-edited with Marita Rainsborough, and published by Routledge in 2024.

Philip Adah Idachaba, Department of Philosophy, Federal University of Lafia, Nasawara State, Nigeria

He is an associate Professor of Philosophy at the Federal University of Lafia, Nasarawa state, Nigeria. He holds a PhD in the History of Philosophy from the University of Nigeria. His most recent publication is a chapter in the book African Epistemologies for Criticality, Decoloniality and Interculturality published by Routledge (2025).

Hyacinth Emanta Ichoku , Department of Economics, Veritas University, Abuja, Nigeria

He is a Professor of Applied Microeconomics, currently the Vice-Chancellor of Veritas University Abuja, Nigeria, and a Development Micro-economist with specialisation in Health Economics, Public Finance, and Environmental Economics. He has published over fifty papers in international peer reviewed journals in the fields of health economics and development microeconomics.

Emmanuel Okechukwu , Department of Physiology, Veritas University, Abuja, Nigeria

He is a medically qualified Public Health specialist with advanced training on health quality improvement strategies from the Harvard University School of Public Health in Cambridge, USA. He has spearheaded policy dialogues and strategic programme reviews with government ministries, departments and agencies of Nigeria, multilateral organisations and development partners and civil society as well as faith-based coalitions.

Oluwatosin Olushola, Department of Economics, Veritas University, Abuja, Nigeria

He is a Development Economist and a full member of the Nigerian Economics Society (NES) and the Nigerian Institute of Management (NIM). He is also a USAID-Certified Organisational Development Consultant. Currently, he serves as a Senior Lecturer at Veritas University, Abuja.

Ifeanyi Chikezie, Department of ¨Business Administration, Veritas University, Abuja, Nigeria

He is a Health Economist and a Health Policy and System Analyst with the Department of Economics, Veritas University Abuja. A senior researcher at the Health Policy Research Group of  the University of Nigeria Enugu Campus and at the Health Systems and Development Research Group of Veritas University Abuja.  Currently he is working on a PhD thesis in Health Economics.