Who wants to rename Nigeria?
By Safiyanu Danladi Mairiga  SIR: Many things in Nigeria start like a joke, so, it wont surprise if the proposal for renaming our 60-year-old country also started that way. The proposed change of name has caused mix reactions among Nigerians especially on Twitter and Facebooksome in support and majority, kicking against it. Federal lawmakers from both the chambers have been going round the country in the past two weeks collating opinions from citizens on the planned constitutional amendment. Groups and individuals nationwide have submitted memoranda to the various committees on their areas of interest or in other words, how they want the to-be amended constitution to be. Some submissions centred on creation of additional states and local governments; some on economic restructuring; some on youth engagements in governance and indeed many other areas of interest. But it came to me as indeed many Nigerians as surprise when the House of Representatives announced that it received a proposal from a tax consultant in Lagos, Adeleye Jokotoye, seeking for the renaming of the country to United African Republic. To Jokotoye, the name Nigeria was a colonial creation by the British and therefore, does not reflect our culture. The point is that Nigerianot only the namebut the country itself, is a colonial creation. The country was born in January 1914 when the then British colonial governor, Fredrick Lugard, brought the northern and southern protectorates together to form a single colony for easy exploitation. So, many things including institutions that exist today in this country are colonial creation. His reasoning therefore holds no water. ADVERTISEMENT  The major focus for all of usthe government and the governed alikeshould be on how to sustain our fragile unity and restore trust and tolerance among diverse ethnic groups in the country. The unity of this country only starts and stops on the lips of its citizens but doesnt reflect in their actions and how they relate. You understand this more when you traverse the country. There are tensions all over the land with each region facing its peculiar security and other economic challenges. Insecurity and agitations by secessionist groups are at increase. Southeast has now become a hot zone with incidents of killings and destructions being reported on daily basis all in the name of agitating for an independent state that was unsuccessfully fought some 50 years ago, this time around, with Nnamdi Kanu spearheading and commanding the frontline agitators from London. Agitation for the creation of Oduduwa republic has sprung up in the southwest with Sunday Ogboho in the lead. ISWAP has now expanded its criminal activities from the territories of northeast to northwest and has been launching attacks and kidnapping innocent citizens including students in schools. This story is not different in north-central. So, Im of the opinion that what we need now is not a change of an identity. We need the government at the centre to be serious in how it deals with issues and how it confronts most of these known problems. These problems that are fast accumulating are posing serious threats to our democracy that havent lasted for even quarter a century and also to our corporate existence as a nation. All hands must now be on deck to get this country back on track, else we will all gather to regret our actions and what the dysfunction of our system has caused us all. If this joke of Adeleye becomes true, it means we will need aside the new name, also a new anthem; a new coat of arm; perhaps a new flag; and so many new things.