**The Misguided Quest for Intellectual Supremacy** As Nigeria continues to grapple with its own version of the "Athens of West Africa" narrative, it's time to reexamine the implications of celebrating Fourah Bay College as a bastion of intellectual excellence. At the heart of this inquiry lies a fundamental question: why must African higher education be measured by the standards of classical antiquity? Is it not time to look beyond the Eurocentric lens and acknowledge the rich intellectual traditions of the Atlantic and Sudanic worlds that shaped our educational landscape? Fourah Bay College, a pioneering institution in West Africa, was founded on the back of the Atlantic slave trade. Its intellectual history is intricately tied to the legacies of slavery, missionary influence, and colonial governance. By invoking the metaphor of "Athens of West Africa," we are, in effect, importing a civilisational symbol that is inextricably linked to the exploitation of enslaved Africans. This is not merely a matter of intellectual primacy, but a reflection of the racialised hierarchies of knowledge that have long plagued our continent. The notion of classical Athens as a paragon of intellectual excellence is built on shaky ground. At its core was a slave society that relied on the forced labour of thousands to sustain its democracy, philosophy, and intellectual pursuits. To abstract Athens from its slave past is to engage in historical amnesia, detaching ideas from the material conditions that enabled them. This elision becomes particularly problematic in the context of contemporary calls for decolonisation. Decolonisation, we are told, is about curricular reform, symbolic redress, and epistemic inclusion. But if decolonisation is to be taken seriously as an epistemological practice, it must also interrogate the metaphors that authorise and legitimise knowledge. The "Athens of West Africa" narrative, for instance, reinforces the notion that classical Europe is the benchmark against which African intellectual achievements must be measured. This reinforces a Eurocentric worldview that marginalises our own intellectual traditions and reinforces the dominance of Western epistemologies. It is time to reimagine our intellectual history and celebrate the rich cultural heritage of Africa. By acknowledging the Sudanic and Atlantic worlds as equally significant sources of knowledge, we can begin to dismantle the Eurocentric narratives that have long shaped our understanding of ourselves. The "Athens of West Africa" narrative may have been a well-intentioned celebration of intellectual excellence, but it has