COUNT down to Nigeria’s 100 years of existence as an amalgamated country, former Vice Chancellor of Nigeria’s premier Ivory tower, the University of Ibadan, Emeritus Prof. Tekena Tamuno, has advocated a change of name for the country.
He recommended that rather than continuing to refer to Nigeria in its current form — the Federal Republic of Nigeria, it should be referred to as The Commonwealth of Nigeria.
The 81-year-old eminent scholar made the suggestion on Thursday at the 2013 edition of the Annual Lecture organised by the Nigerian Academy of Letters (NAL) at the auditorium of the National Universities Commission (NUC), Abuja.
However, the proposal did not find support with several other eminent Nigerians, who disagreed on the concept. In fact, they were unanimous that what was required is a fundamental reformation of the people rather than a name change.
Prominent among those who shared the latter views were Emeritus Profs. Ayo Banjo and Ayo Bamgbose; Culture and Tourism Minister, Edem Duke, as well as the President of NAL and one-time Executive Secretary of the NUC, Prof. Munzali Jubril, who argued that it would be difficult to decree a name of a country into existence after about 100 years of operation.
Duke, who chaired the forum, believed that the change of name was not necessary, noting, “Whether we change the name or not, the character still remains; there would be no effect on the character.
“I feel we should lay more emphasis on character change rather than the name change being advocated.”
With the theme: Nigeria’s First Century: Critical Pluses and Minuses, Prof. Tamuno, in a 34-page paper, noted his study in the past six decades had shown a backlog of errors of judgment, prominent amongst which was the name of the country.
He was quick to admit that a name might not be the total reason for the failure of the system.
Other suggestions he tabled included the need to effectively end corruption by ensuring that corrupt public officials are severely dealt with in such a way that people are taught the lesson that it does not pay to be corrupt.
“Put simply, corruption must be effectively sent to the solitary confinement before it has a chance of doing so to Nigeria at the earliest opportunity,” he said.
“Simultaneously, criminal barons, multi-billionaires of grime, shall be made to stop their stranglehold of Nigeria with or without tacit support from regular law enforcement agencies of the land.
“Accordingly, whoever is found guilty, by new Court or Tribunal, one elected by the people and for the people of stealing what belongs to the people shall be made to vomit it or face serious sanction.
“Furthermore, any loot found at home and abroad, shall be promptly returned to its rightful owners, the erstwhile people of Nigeria.”
According to Tamuno, it is a common knowledge that Lady Flora, wife of Sir (later) Lord Lugard, Nigeria’s first Governor-General, was the person that gave the name of Nigeria (and) the legitimacy of the name child became a centre of acrimonious disputes well after the event.
He said so because “some people have hijacked the country; politicians, criminals, experts in crime and so on, they have not made our country.”
“And what I’m saying is that up to the 31st of December, 2013, we will do some clean up of the existing country, particularly with regard to crime, corruption and those vices,” he said.
“Thereafter, we must enter a new century with clean hands, clean slate and that would be a commonwealth of everybody where people will reign supreme; peoples’ power would be seen activated in a manner I described it.”
The octogenarian academic went metaphorical, saying, “If you want coconut, rather than waiting for coconut to fall, go grab it and eat it.
“That is the country I call The Commonwealth of Nigeria — everybody’s country, not just for a few people. We have seen in one century and we don’t want that to repeat itself in the second lap of the journey.”
Tamuno emphasised, however, that he was not advocating a break up of the country, stressing the proposed name should be the commonwealth of all people.
“And that is why its name is Nigeria; it is not another name. Nigeria is Nigeria for all of us. Nigeria has to be retained because I have not written off Nigeria,” he said.
However, Prof. Bamgbose, the pioneer President of NAL and Banjo, another former VC of University of Ibadan, do not believe that the change of name option should be of priority to the country at the moment.
According to Bamgbose, “I’m not sure whether a change of name would mean a change of people. If you listen to the lecture very well, the lecturer did say that sometimes you change names, it doesn’t change the people. So, really, what is important is changing of the people.
“So, when he said the Commonwealth of Nigeria, it is just a fastidious way of saying we need to go in a different direction. What is important is that we must concentrate on changing the people.”
For Prof. Banjo, the changes that the country requires were more profound than name change, even though he admitted that such could be a good idea.
Insisting that it was not possible to change the name of a country over night, he believed there should be serious attitudinal reforms of Nigerians, rather than emphasising on the change of name for Nigeria.
Prof. Munzali held that there was no fundamental difference between the proposed Commonwealth of Nigeria and the current Federal Republic of Nigeria.
“If there’s a flaw with the name Nigeria, the best thing to be done is to completely delete the name, Nigeria, altogether,” he said.
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