Students of the University of Abuja (UniAbuja) have staged a protest over the renaming of the institution after former Nigerian military head of state, Yakubu Gowon.
The students called on the federal government to immediately reverse the decision.
The protest took place on Thursday at the main gate of the university’s permanent campus, where students held placards with slogans such as “The voice of men is the voice of God,” “We stand for UniAbuja. We are the center of unity,” and “Solve hunger problems, not renaming UniAbuja.”
Nkem Silas, representing the Students Union Government (SUG), stated that the renaming would have negative psychological impacts on the student body.
He urged President Bola Ahmed Tinubu to reconsider and maintain the university’s original name. Silas also confirmed that the students’ union would submit an official letter to the Federal Ministry of Education via the university’s Vice Chancellor, officially rejecting the name change.
Prof. Jeremiah Vambe, a university alumnus and professor in the Department of Public Administration, also voiced his concerns.
He acknowledged Gowon’s significance in Nigerian history but emphasized that the change was not welcomed by the university community.
He noted that renaming the institution would have legal, economic, and psychological repercussions.
“The legal implication is that they will have to amend the law establishing the university, changing it from the University of Abuja to Yakubu Gowon University,” he explained.
Comrade Adamu Abdulbasit, president of the Abuja Indigenous Students Association (AISA) at UniAbuja, argued that the renaming would erase the university’s foundational history and its connection to the Abuja natives.
Instead, Abdulbasit urged the government to focus on completing the abandoned University of Science & Technology in Abaji and rename it Ladi Kwali University, after the famed Nigerian potter
