Nigerian businessman and 2023 presidential aspirant, Adamu Garba has stated the need for Nigeria as a country to change its name.
Taking to his Twitter account on Tuesday, Garba argued that Nigeria is a name given by colonial masters and has no significance in the lives of the people of the country.
He said instead of Nigeria, the name should be changed to “The Nigritian Federation” or simply NIGRITIA, stating further that the country was known as Nigritia before it was changed by Lady Lugard, the wife of Lord Lugard.
Garba submitted that if he emerges as President in 2023, the proposal for a name change will be submitted to the National Assembly by his government.
He wrote: “How about we rebrand this country, properly federalize it and rename it to “The Nigritian Federation” or simply NIGRITIA. Afterall, Nigritia is our ancient name before Lady Lugard renamed it Nigeria.
“This is part of our blueprint. Insha Allah, our govt will propose this to NASS.”
— Adamu Garba II (@adamugarba) April 26, 2022
Shortly after, he tweeted another statement also in support of a name change for Nigeria where he cited examples of African countries that changed their names after independence from their colonial masters.
He wrote: “If Ghana can change its name from the Colonial Gold Coast, Kenya from British East Africa, Benin from Dahomey, Togo from Togoland, etc, why would Nigeria maintain a colonially induced name?
“We should rename this country back to its pre-colonial NIGRITIA. Identity is everything.”
— Adamu Garba II (@adamugarba) April 26, 2022
Back in 2021, a citizen of the country, identified as Adeleye Jokotoye sent a proposal to the House of Representatives, seeking for the country’s name to be changed from Nigeria to United African Republic (UAR).
