What's In A Name?

From the day I started existing on earth, there has never been a time not even a moment I came across a thing without a name, not even one. A name is a word or in same cases a group of words used for identifying a human being, animal, place, thing, feeling, emotion, existing or dead, superstition or real, myth or legend, etc.
Little wonder everything I have come across has a word used in identifying them whether collection of a particular thing or that thing itself. According to the Holy Scriptures, naming started from the beginning when God named the first man Adam. This man was give power of naming. He also named the first woman and also animals, Lion, Tiger, Gorilla, the ones creeping and the ones flying, those that feed on grass, flesh and both flesh and grass among others. This power of naming flows in our veins as we use it almost regularly.

 So what is in a name? this question came to mind recently when in the democracy day speech given by the president, Commander-In-Chief of the armed forces of the federal republic of Nigeria, Goodluck Ebele Jonathan,GCFR on may 29 at about 7am Nigerian time broadcasted on national television station, the Nigeria Television Authority, he made the citizenry and indeed the whole world to know that henceforth, the University of Lagos, Akoka, would be known as Moshood Abiola University, Lagos, after the name of the winner of the annulled 1993 elections.

The name didn’t go down well with the students of the institution as they took to the streets barely 90 minutes after the broadcast in protest of the name change. The students blocked the school’s main gate and also caused obstructions to the flow of traffic as they marched, chanting solidarity songs in a bid to make their grievances known to the president. They argued that the institution was established under The Act Of Parliament 1962 thus it was unlawful to change the name under any circumstances except it followed due process; which is amending the act – I guess the students failed to bring to their notice the kind of powers bestowed on the man elected as president. As the day went by, I remember all that I’ve heard and read about the man, MKO Abiola, a great philanthropist; he gave out his riches for things he loved: national development. He built schools, religious centers, roads, libraries, gave out educational materials, involved in sports administration among others; he also contributed to the population of the country – he fathered more than fifty children -- all in the quest of national development. So in a way, the protest was uncalled for, but then, the institution has been in existence since 1962 and over the years it has strived in becoming a world class type which is the reason its motto “The first choice school” is undoubted and it’s known the world over as one of the outstanding schools in the country. To the protesting students, changing the name is like doing what anger does – destroys that which has stood for a long time in few seconds. The school has built its name over the years, replacing its name would be like starting it from the beginning.

In conclusion, I deduce that a name most times has sometime heavier than the word used in naming in respect to the issue under discussion because as the word is just for making us identify what is being named, the name itself carries a kind of power, respect, representation, dignity which only the bearer fully understands.