After almost a month of traveling, I’m catching up on articles I didn’t get around to posting before I left! Let’s start!
Dr Leo Igwe is on a US tour raising awareness of his efforts to increase critical thinking in Africa. The Humane Society of Santa Barbara (HSSB) hosted his visit to Santa Barbara.
Dr. Igwe is a board member of the Humanist Association of Nigeria and Humanists International. He holds an MA in philosophy and a PhD in religious studies from the University of Bayreuth in Germany and wrote his PhD thesis on witchcraft accusations in Northern Ghana. Igwe runs the Foundation for Advocacy for Alleged Witches and Critical Thinking for Social Empowerment.
HSSB President Judy Flattery introduced Higuay, noting that he was raised Catholic and attended seminary, intending to become a priest.
He was a featured speaker at the American Atheists convention in Philadelphia in late March.
Igwe began his speech by noting that speakers love to talk about problems. He prefers to talk about solutions.
He kindly sent me a copy of a slightly edited version of his talk. I would like to quote directly from this text to convey the power of an awakening experience he shared with us:
During my PhD program, we went on a field trip to Mali. We visited a mosque where we attended a prayer session. There was a time when members of this Muslim group would gather to pray and worship in a mosque managed by a sheikh.
For hours, thousands of young people sat on the floor reciting prayers and verses from the Koran, shaking and twisting their heads as if having seizures. They prayed repeatedly and chanted verses of the Koran in ways that crescendoed and then stopped suddenly. The leading imam preached for a while and they left again. After a few hours, they broke to eat and later returned to continue the prayer and preaching.
This process continued for weeks. Observing the session, I wondered how this way of praying would affect the minds of these young people and others throughout the region. Programmed to believe blindly, some of these young people end up being fanatical or radical Muslims. They are part of a mob that responds violently to alleged insults to Islam’s prophet, desecration of Islam’s holy book and other manifestations of extremism in various parts of Africa and the world.
They engage in violent reactions to alleged blasphemy or apostasy. For example, on February 1, the media in Nigeria reported the case of a Christian, Habu. He was charged with blasphemy after making a Facebook post questioning the foundations of Islam and the origins of the Koran. The man went into hiding after his car and house were set on fire. A Christian colleague, Deborah Samuel, was beaten to death by some Muslim students after they accused her of making a post on the student platform Whatsapp that insulted the Prophet of Islam.
Igwe went on to talk about what witch hunting is like in today’s world of 2024. He talked about a woman buried up to her neck, threatened to be buried alive. It showed an image that looks like a bonfire party. “Fire” is a burning human being.
He has worked to stop witch hunts and hold murderers accountable. But he sees a bigger issue: Increasing critical thinking so that people are not swayed by the nonsense that drives this horrific violence.
He said this idea is already out there, but there is a lack of critical thinking resources in schools.
He said schools in Africa focus too much on teaching English, French or other colonial languages and not enough on content. Schools also focus too much on having students memorize what they are told and simply repeat it, with little or no understanding.
Students see school as a way to get a piece of paper that allows them to get a job. Often a menial job abroad.
He began developing critical thinking instructional materials for elementary school students. In the early grades it is okay if students learn in their local language while also learning English.
He wanted learning to think critically to be fun and entertaining. He wants to ask students probing questions like, “How do you know that?”
Here are some pages of the materials he created and uses:
We’ve heard the term “brainstorming” as a way of generating solutions. Igwe believes another skill is just as important. He calls it a “barrage of questions.” Creating as many questions as possible.
He wants kids to question everything. He wants them to understand that it can be okay to answer one question with another question.
Current education systems are very teacher-centered. The teacher is seen as absolute authority. The students’ only job is to listen and believe what they are told. This is bad enough, but it also trains them to believe the scattered nonsense and dangerous ideas from religious leaders.
He wants teaching and learning to become participatory for both teacher and student. He noted that schools have science labs. He wants to create “think tanks”.
With that, he practiced what he was saying and opened up to questions from the audience.
Paul in the Zoom chat asked about the Ubuntu idea. Igwe said this always comes through when he speaks. He said it was an innovation hundreds of years ago, but it’s really outdated.
“Ubuntu” is sometimes translated as “I am because we are”. Sometimes it is explained by short principles like “A person is a person through other people.”
Igwe notes that we have information that was not available before. Cultures are dynamic and our ideas must evolve.
I asked him for an example of the question-storming process. He brought me to the front and whispered a question to me and I gave him the answer: 1964.
He then turned to the audience and asked them to generate as many questions as possible, this might be the question he had asked me. Here were some:
What year were you born?
What year did you learn to drive?
What year did you graduate from high school?
My favorite was from HSSB board member Dave Flattery:
How many cubic centimeters was the engine of your first car?
Interestingly, his question came closest to correcting my case regarding that number 1964. And I liked that he thought out of context that 1964 might not be a year.
But Igwe’s question to me actually referred to 1964 as the year: “What year did you first fly in an airplane?”
This exchange made me a little uncomfortable. It seemed unfair to the audience. I contrast it with the Socratic method. In this method, both parties ask and answer each other’s questions. The genius of a game like “20 Questions” is that players ask questions that converge on an answer.
However, I also understand Igwe’s point. He said that young children may not be able to participate in a Socratic dialogue. But they can learn just to ask a lot of questions. Not necessarily caring if they are the best questions. It is a habit and a skill to ask a lot of questions.
A woman named Kerubo in the Zoom chat wanted people to know the name of the woman in the first photo, who was pleading for her life. Her name is Sindege Mayaka from Marani, Kisii County, Kenya. The home of Kerubos. The man with the machete is Amos Nyakundi. He is one of 16 suspects accused of murdering four women, including Sindege Mayaka. The case is ongoing.
HSSB board member Judy Fontana asked about teacher training. Critical thinking must be taught if there is any hope for students to learn this skill. He said he had experience in Mexico with this.
Igwe replied that their teaching materials are now only for primary grades 1-3. But he said that at the World Economic Forum in Davos there was talk of the need to teach critical thinking. These are the skills needed for the 21st century.
Ron asked about teaching in English versus the local language. Igwe said there are 200 ethnic groups in Nigeria, each with their own language. He said that colonialism brought the benefit of imposing the common language of English. He noted with a smile that it is “Nigerian English”.
As noted above, she said their workbooks allow young children to write in their local language. But in high school and college he said an emphasis on English is appropriate.
HSSB board member Gary Noreen talked about Kahn Academy and CK12.org as free resources for learning. He suggested that phones could be used to access such material perhaps more easily than textbooks.
I personally can’t imagine the tediousness of looking at a tiny screen and fiddling with it. Perhaps tablets or laptops would work better for the same cost.
But he also floated the idea that CK12 offers a free AI tutor that can ask and answer questions in dialogue with the student.
In general, it would be ideal if the Igwe could use resources that already exist. Igwe agreed that he did not want to reinvent the wheel.
Igwe used the term “information” in terms of education and social change. It combines information and action.
In the case of witchcraft accusations, people often have no idea what causes disease. During the Black Death of the plague in the 1300s, thousands of Jews were burned to death in Europe. Based on the belief that the disease was somehow caused by a Jewish conspiracy.
This erroneous thinking continues today in Africa with accusations of witchcraft. Igwe said people should learn what really causes diseases. They must practice good hygiene and go to real doctors.
And people accused of witchcraft should go to the police. The perpetrators must be prosecuted to end this barbaric practice.
For more information on Dr Igwe’s critical thinking project and to donate to support it, go to
At the end, Dr. Igwe graciously posed with HSSB Board members and some other attendees. For more information about upcoming events with the Humane Society of Santa Barbara or to become a member, see and/or join the HSSB Meetup Group: