An Ontological Framework for Indigenous Knowledge Representation in Nigerian Digital Information Systems

The representation of Nigerian indigenous knowledge in digital information systems is systematically constrained by ontological frameworks derived from Western epistemological traditions, resulting in knowledge structures that distort, flatten, or exclude the relational, contextual, and oral dimensions of indigenous knowledge forms. This study develops an original ontological framework for representing Nigerian indigenous knowledge in digital information systems, grounded in a philosophical investigation of knowledge structure across five Nigerian indigenous knowledge traditions encompassing Yoruba, Igbo, Hausa, Ijaw, and Tiv epistemological systems. The research employs a participatory design methodology engaging 48 knowledge custodians, ethnographers, and digital librarians in iterative ontology co-design workshops conducted across five field sites representing each tradition. Formal ontological engineering methods adapted from the Web Ontology Language and the Resource Description Framework are applied within a critical indigenous research paradigm that prioritises community sovereignty over knowledge representation decisions. The resulting Indigenous Knowledge Ontology System for Nigeria incorporates four original ontological categories absent from conventional knowledge representation frameworks: relational contextuality, temporal situatedness, custodial authority, and transmission modality. Prototype implementations are evaluated through knowledge retrieval tasks designed by community custodians, achieving 87 percent accuracy on indigenous knowledge concept retrieval against a benchmark knowledge base. The study contributes an original theoretical and technical architecture to the intersecting fields of knowledge representation, indigenous studies, and African digital humanities. Keywords: indigenous knowledge, ontology, knowledge representation, Nigerian epistemology, digital information systems.