What’s in a name? This is the usual phrase that comes up when referring to something people think they are familiar with. The essence of such a phrase is to dampen a narrative, probably based on what could be considered a case closed scenario.
Professing a genuine solution to the Nigerian question and its challenges, the thought of changing the prefix of the country, has led Dr Akinwunmi Adesina, Nigeria’s former agriculture minister, to suggest that a name change to the country may influence an attempt at better national integration. Dr Adesina advocates for Nigeria to be renamed the United States of Nigeria. He believes this might spur a resurgence of patriotism and tilt the country towards increased cohesion and unity.
The country presently is officially referred to as the Federal Republic of Nigeria. Initially the country started as a federation of regions, which later evolved into states governed by a more unitary constitutional arrangement after a bloody civil war.
Nigeria hasn’t gotten out of the shock of the constitutional structure which says it is a federation, but in practice is held down by a unitary structure. The erosion of identity, and regional autonomy which seems to have stifled the natural trajectory at which the different groups of Nigerians were growing within the country has created a deep sense of suspicion and resentment in some quarters. Will the change of name change, heal such feelings?
The only thing that the name change can effect may be a sense of pride in relation to the outside world, but that is part of Nigeria and Nigerians already, projected more through the country’s dominance in the arts, culture and entertainment sectors.
While some sections of the country still feel a sense of marginalisation in the political space and have been clamouring for what they see as equity, a change of name may not solve outright the issue of unity within the country.
Another major aspect which continuously divides the country is the non separation of religion from politics in Nigeria. Religion is ideally meant to be a personal issue, but the political class have chosen to embed it into national politics and the result is more division rather than unity. The low level of enlightenment and lower investment in education works against the drive for unity, within the country.
It’s more realistic looking at and finding solutions to the fundamentals which have held Nigeria back at attaining a faster and deeper sense of unity, rather than just changing the prefix and official name of the country. However, there is no suggestion that the United States of Nigeria cannot emerge from the ashes of the current situation, but that would be after the foundational work has been put in place.
Olugbenga Adebanjo
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