PhD, African Philosophy
Specialisation in the Philosophy of African Language
Very Rev. Fr. Prof. Ikechukwu Anthony Kanu, O.S.A.
Professor Ikechukwu Anthony Kanu, O.S.A., is an Augustinian priest of the Order of Saint Augustine, Province of Saint Augustine of Nigeria, and a scholar whose intellectual engagement spans African philosophy, religious studies, theology, education, and sustainable development.
He is Professor of African Philosophy and Religious Traditions in the Department of Philosophy at Veritas University, Abuja, where he also serves as Provost of the College of Postgraduate Studies.
His career has been shaped by an unusually wide reach — across academic, administrative, ecclesiastical, and scholarly life — and by a sustained commitment to bringing African philosophical categories into serious international discourse without severing them from the worldview that produced them.
Scholarly profiles
ORCID
0000-0003-1977-202X
Google Scholar
h-index 40 · i10-index 148 — as at July 2026
Scopus Author ID
59076627600
Web of Science ResearcherID
AAE-6630-2020
ResearchGate
researchgate.net/profile/Kanu-Ikechukwu
Igwebuike Philosophy
Professor Kanu is the pioneer philosopher of Igwebuike, a philosophical orientation through which he articulates the significance of complementarity, communal relationality, and the unity of being within African thought.
He conceives Igwebuike as the operative condition underlying the thermodynamics of African science, philosophy, theology, religion, and culture.
Through a substantial body of published work, he has contributed to the articulation, systematisation, and contemporary development of African philosophical categories — making them accessible to broader intellectual discourse while keeping them rooted in the African worldview.
Academic formation
Professor Kanu holds three doctorates, four master's degrees, and a range of professional certifications — a breadth that reflects the interdisciplinary character of his work.
PhD, Religion and Human Relations
Specialisation in African Traditional Religion
PhD, Climate Change and Sustainable Development
Specialisation in African Indigenous Environmental Conservation Strategies and Climate Change Mitigation
Master's degrees
- Master of Arts, Philosophy — Metaphysics
- Master of Arts, Religion and Human Relations — African Traditional Religion
- Master of Arts, Theology
- Master of Education — Higher Institution Administration
Further qualifications
- Post-Graduate Diploma in Education
- Bachelor of Arts, Philosophy
- Bachelor of Arts, Theology
Professional and executive training
- UNESCOCertification in E-Learning
- London Graduate SchoolNew Trends in Education
- Harvard University, MassachusettsAdvanced Negotiation Strategies
- Wesleyan University, MiddletownCreative Writing
- University of Michigan Business SchoolLeadership
- HEC Paris International Business SchoolLeadership
- University of Illinois Chicago, College of BusinessLeadership
Appointments and service
Current
- Provost, College of Postgraduate Studies, Veritas University, Abuja
- Professor, Department of Philosophy, Veritas University, Abuja
- Governing Council, Claretian Institute of Consecrated Life in Africa
- Founder, Association for the Promotion of African Studies (APAS)
- Editor-in-Chief, IGWEBUIKE: An African Journal of Arts and Humanities
- Editor-in-Chief, IGWEBUIKEPEDIA: Internet Encyclopedia of African Philosophy
Previously
- Member, Governing Council, Veritas University, Abuja
- Rector, Villanova Polytechnic, Imesi Ile, Osun State
Adjunct appointments
- University of America, Temecula, United States
- Tansian University, Umunya
- University of Jos
- Saint Augustine's Major Seminary, Jos
Fellowships and honours
Fellowships
- Fellow, Association of Professional Philosophers of Nigeria
- Fellow, Nigerian Academy of Letters
Awards
2021
Louis Althusser Golden AwardEudoxia Research Institute, India
2020
Kwame Nkrumah Transformational Leadership MedalAfrican Institute for Public Administration, Ghana
2018
Distinguished Academic of the YearSociety for Research and Academic Excellence, University of Nigeria, Nsukka
2018
Patron of the Arts AwardFaculty of Arts, Nnamdi Azikiwe University, Awka
2018
Oracle of Wisdom AwardDepartment of Philosophy and Religious Studies, Tansian University
Honorary doctorates.
Three honorary doctorates conferred in Education, Public Administration, and Metaphysics
by institutions in London and the United States.
Books published in his honour
Three festschrift volumes were published in 2019 in honour of Professor Kanu's contribution to African philosophy.
Igwebuike Philosophy: An African Philosophy of Integrative Humanism
Perspectives on Igwebuike Philosophy
Igwebuike Ontology: An African Philosophy of Humanity Towards the Other
Inaugural lectures
2021
Igwebuike: An Operative Condition of African Philosophy, Religion and Culture — Towards a Thermodynamic Transformative OntologyMaiden Professorial Inaugural Lecture, Tansian University, Umunya, 18 February.
2022
African Christological Construct: Towards an Inculturated and Contextualized TheologyProfessorial Inaugural Lecture, The University of America, Temecula, California, 19 November.
2022
African Philosophy and the Issue of Self-Determination: The Nigerian ExperienceSaint Albert Institute, Kagoma, Kaduna State, 25 November.
2023
Right Rev. Monsignor Prof. JohnBosco Akam: The Immortality of a Quintessential MortalMemorial lecture, Tansian University, Umunya, 7 February.
2025
Nigeria's Bittered and Embittered Trajectory: A Critical Rethink of 'Renaissance' and a Strategic Embrace of 'Akiism'Augustinian Institute, Makurdi, Benue State, 28 October.
Arondizuogu
Professor Kanu is a native of Arondizuogu, an ancestral homeland long regarded as a historic centre of ancient civilisation. He draws substantially on the cultural and intellectual heritage of his origins.
His academic vocation is therefore not only an individual pursuit of intellectual excellence, but part of a broader commitment to the preservation, interpretation, and advancement of Africa's philosophical, religious, cultural, and intellectual patrimony.