BY TONY OKAFOR
As we build and develop our society, it is crucial that we reflect on the values and principles guiding our actions.
A pervasive practice in our country is naming public institutions after individuals. This trend must be stopped.
Public institutions, built with our common resources, serve the collective good, not individual legacies.
Funded by taxpayers’ money, their purpose is to provide essential services to the public. Naming them after individuals privatizes public goods and undermines collective ownership.
This practice creates a cult of personality, elevating one individual’s achievements above others.
It perpetuates a culture of sycophancy, where officials curry favour with powerful individuals by naming public assets after them.
The process is often arbitrary, lacking transparency, and prone to favoiritism and nepotism.
Furthermore, naming public institutions after individuals can be divisive and exclusionary. It creates a sense of ownership and entitlement among the individual’s family and supporters, excluding others who may have made equally significant contributions.
Instead, we should focus on naming public institutions after values, principles, or geographical locations that reflect their purpose and identity.
This approach depersonalizes public institutions, reinforcing the notion that they belong to the people, not individuals.
The recent Federal Executive Council decision to rename the University of Abuja as Yakubu Gowon University is a case in point.
We urge the National Assembly not to endorse this proposal. Instead, they should support a policy promoting the naming of public institutions after values, principles, or geographical locations.
Let’s build a better society where public institutions serve the people, not personalities. We owe it to ourselves, our children, and future generations to get this right. We call on the government to issue a policy directive prohibiting the naming of public institutions after individuals.
Together, we can build a Nigeria where public institutions are truly public, and where the collective good is paramount. The time to act is now.
