Africa is on the brink of a ground breaking intellectual milestone as Professor Emeritus Peter Okebukola, one of the continent’s most decorated higher education reformers, unveils the African Scholarly Referencing Style (ASRS), the first referencing style conceived, developed, and owned by Africa.
ASRS is designed to fill a major gap in global scholarship. Despite Africa’s deep intellectual heritage and thousands of universities, none of the world’s 29 major referencing styles originates from Africa.
Checks revealed that existing systems such as APA, MLA, Chicago, Vancouver, Harvard, and IEEE are entirely Western in origin and structure.
Professor Olusola Oyewole, the Secretary-General of the Association of African Universities (AAU) headquartered in Accra, Ghana, said “The proposal by Professor Peter Okebukola who is AAU’s Ambassador for West Africa, is for the development of an African-origin referencing system.
According to him, this represents a groundbreaking and highly visionary contribution to Africa’s intellectual sovereignty.
“Professor Okebukola’s initiative rightly responds to longstanding concerns around epistemic colonialism, the marginalisation of African epistemologies, and the under-recognition of African scholarly traditions in global citation frameworks.”
Speaking to newsmen in Abuja, Okebukola stated that “ASRS responds to a longstanding gap in global academic practice. Although Africa has produced centuries of scholarship and hosts thousands of universities, none of the twenty-nine internationally recognised referencing styles currently in use originates from the continent.
Systems such as APA, MLA, Chicago, Vancouver, Harvard, and IEEE were all created outside Africa and reflect Western epistemological traditions. ASRS offers Africa an unprecedented opportunity to assert its scholarly identity and intellectual sovereignty.”
Okebukola confirmed that the initiative has already secured strong continental and international endorsement.
The Association of African Universities has formally expressed its support and willingness to host its development and deployment while Senior UNESCO officials and leaders of Academies in Africa have commended the initiative as timely, transformative and aligned with global efforts to diversify knowledge systems.
In addition, more than over 500 leading scholars from universities and research institutions both within and outside Africa have endorsed ASRS, underscoring its relevance and global credibility.
Among the over 500 scholars who expressed delight at the emergence of ASRS as proposed by Okebukola are Professor Jibrila D. Amin, former Vice-Chancellor of the University of Maiduguri; Professor Eyitope Ogunbodede, former Vice-Chancellor of the Obafemi Awolowo University; Professor Sola Akinrinade, former Vice-Chancellor of Osun State University and past President of the Nigerian Academy of Letters; Professor Nasiru Maiturare of Ahmadu Bello University, Zaria and former Vice-Chancellor of IBB University; Professor Anthony Kola-Olusanya former Deputy Vice-Chancellor, Osun State University; and Professor Adenike Boyo, former Deputy Vice-Chancellor (Administration), Lagos State University. Others are Professor Rosemary Obasi (Benson Idahosa University); Professor Adams Onuka (University of Ibadan); Professor Kabir Tahir Hamid (Bayero University, Kano); Professor Bolajoko Aina (University of Lagos); Professor Abayomi Adebayo (OAU, Ife); Professor Moses Akanbi (LASU); Professor Abdulaziz Hassan (ABU, Zaria); Professor Shaibu Bello (Usmanu Danfodiyo University, Sokoto); Professor Olumuyiwa Lasode (Unilorin); Professor Shehu Latunji Akintola (LASU); Professor Adebola Ehizele (Uniben); Professor Ponchang Wuyep (Unijos); Professor Eghosasere Iyamu (Uniben); and Professor Laeticia Onyejegbu (Uniport);
The ASRS proposal presents a referencing style grounded in Africa’s intellectual traditions while remaining fully compatible with global academic standards. It introduces a system that is approximately ninety-five percent aligned with existing citation formats, ensuring ease of adoption, while the remaining five percent introduces African-centred innovations.
According to Okebukola, these innovations include structured and respectful ways of citing oral knowledge, traditional custodians of wisdom, multilingual sources, folklore, community authorship, and indigenous knowledge systems. The style also provides frameworks for citing African grey literature, institutional documents, local research reports and works published in African languages.
Speaking further, Okebukola notes that ASRS offers ten specialised variants adapted from major global styles, including those inspired by APA, MLA, Chicago, Harvard, AMA, Vancouver, Turabian, IEEE, ACS and Bluebook. Each variant introduces subtle yet meaningful African perspectives while preserving the familiar structures that scholars and publishers around the world already use.
Regarding its implementation, Okebukola stated that “the implementation strategy for ASRS is ambitious and pan-African in scope. It includes a ten-year roll-out that begins with the development of the style manual, training materials and citation software tools, followed by piloting across selected African universities and journals.
Subsequent years will see expansion across hundreds of institutions and integration into thesis guidelines, journal editorial policies and university presses.
The plan culminates in the establishment of ASRS as the standard referencing system across Africa and its recognition by global indexing services such as Scopus and Web of Science. This phased implementation ensures that ASRS is not only adopted but sustained across generations of scholars.”
Okebukola emphasised that “ASRS is much more than a new citation format. It is a statement of Africa’s intellectual independence and a bold declaration that the continent is ready not only to produce knowledge but to determine the frameworks through which knowledge is organised, validated and transmitted.
“It strengthens the visibility of African scholarship, enhances the discoverability of African sources, and fosters a collective scholarly identity across the continent’s diverse linguistic and cultural regions.”
Beside ASRS, Okebukola who is the inventor of three culturally and technological-rooted pedagogies- Culturo-Techno-Contextual Approach (CTCA); Culturo-Techno-Contextual Artificial Intelligence (CTCAI) pedagogy; and Model-and-Surpass Pedagogy (MSP) is at an advanced stage of testing Africa-inspired models in research and statistics.
Speaking further to reporters on the forthcoming models, Okebukola asked Africans to watch out early in 2026 for new research designs and data analysis techniques that are homegrown in Africa. The days when Africa will be pushover in scholarship by other regions of the world are numbered.
Professor Okebukola brings decades of international scholarly leadership to these initiatives. His distinguished career includes serving as Executive Secretary of the National Universities Commission, winning the UNESCO Kalinga Prize, chairing the governing councils of several universities, leading the Global University Network for Innovation (GUNi-Africa), and serving as Ambassador of the Association of African Universities for West Africa. His credibility and influence have helped galvanise widespread support for ASRS from institutions and scholars across continents.
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