fbpx
Advertisement
  • Home
  • World News
    OPEC Secretary-General, Barkindo, dies at 63

    OPEC Secretary-General, Barkindo, dies at 63

    UK finance minister, health secretary resign in protest

    UK finance minister, health secretary resign in protest

    Putin signs bill giving Russian presidents lifetime immunity

    Putin orders Russians to fight on after key Ukraine city falls

    US celebrates 246 Independence Anniversary

    US celebrates 246 Independence Anniversary

    Ketanji Brown Jackson sworn in as first black woman on US Supreme Court

    Ketanji Brown Jackson sworn in as first black woman on US Supreme Court

  • Politics
    • All
    • Politics Roundup
    Oyo lawmakers to Makinde: Implement anti-open grazing law

    Deputy gov’s probe: Oyo Assembly defies court, directs chief to set up panel

    Peter Obi

    VP: I prefer younger person with fresh ideas, not recycled old politician —Peter Obi 

    Peter Obi

    Fuel subsidy is scam, will remove it if I become president —Peter Obi 

    Peter Obi

    IPOB Link: Peter Obi replies Kwankwaso 

    Peter Obi

    Peter Obi ends alliance talks with NNPP, to announce substantive running mate by Friday

    • Politics Roundup
  • Business
    • All
    • Exclusive Economy
    Muhammad Nami’s Midas touch: FIRS collects N5.03trn as revenue

    Income Tax Returns: FIRS extends due date for companies

    Federal agencies tasked on research funding in Bayelsa varsities

    Bayelsa, New Jersey to partner on investment opportunities

    Diri to youths: stop scaring away investors from Bayelsa

    Diri to Nigerians in Diaspora: Bayelsa is safe for investments

    FirstBank announces single-digit loan for female entrepreneurs

    FirstBank announces single-digit loan for female entrepreneurs

    CBN to aid farmers, provides 13000MT of wheat

    Banks record N1.21tn non-performing loans

    • Exclusive Economy
  • Health
    Bayelsa, Cuba Consortium sign MoU on vaccines, pharmaceuticals factory

    Bayelsa, Cuba Consortium sign MoU on vaccines, pharmaceuticals factory

    COVID-19 cases jump by 67% in two weeks

    COVID-19 cases jump by 67% in two weeks

    Brig-Gen. Mohammed Buba Marwa (retd)

    Drug Abuse: 3 million Nigerians suffering disorder, Marwa cries out

    Covid-19 isolation centres remain open in Ekiti – Govt

    Lagos is worst-hit as COVID-19 cases surge in Nigeria

    US spends over $6b on HIV management, services in Nigeria 

    US spends over $6b on HIV management, services in Nigeria 

  • Entertainment
    • All
    • Big Brother Naija
    • Film
    Why I approached Keyamo for assistance in 2018 — Eedris Abdulkareem

    Rapper Eedris Abdulkareem diagnosed with Kidney failure, to undergo transplant

    BBNaija: Winner to get N100m prize as season 7 begins July 23

    BBNaija: Winner to get N100m prize as season 7 begins July 23

    Burna Boy becomes first African artist with 100m streams from 3 albums

    Burna Boy reveals Toni Braxton gets 60% royalties for hit ‘Last Last’

    Davido gifts fan his shoes, N2m at Lagos event

    Davido gifts fan his shoes, N2m at Lagos event

    Burna Boy

    Burna Boy releases upcoming album, ‘Love, Damini’, tracklist, announces album launch date

  • Sport
    Oshoala undergoes surgery!

    Oshoala ruled out of 2022 WAFCON due to injury

    Oshoala, three other Super Falcons players nominated for CAF Player of the Year Award

    Oshoala, three other Super Falcons players nominated for CAF Player of the Year Award

    Bilbao’s Iñaki Williams switches from Spain to Ghana

    Bilbao’s Iñaki Williams switches from Spain to Ghana

    Move to Manchester United: Christian Eriksen agrees deal in principle

    Move to Manchester United: Christian Eriksen agrees deal in principle

    Heckler harasses Super Falcons in Austria, dubs Buhari ‘terrorist’

    2022 WAFCON: Super Falcons lose 2-1 to South Africa in Group C opener 

  • Editorial
    Hurray, FirstNews Online clocks two!

    Hurray, FirstNews Online clocks two!

    Strike negotiations: ASUU disagrees with FG, may prolong strike

    World food prices jump to six-year high —UN

    Tackling soaring food prices

    Our command performance

    Our command performance

    Segun Olatunji

    That Ojodu Grammar School avoidable tragedy!

    • Opinion
  • Lifestyle
    • All
    • Art
    • Beauty and wellness
    • Culture
    • Fashion and Style
    • Food
    • Love & relationship
    • Travel
    You want to live long? Get a second wife, study says

    You want to live long? Get a second wife, study says

    Yewa Paramount Ruler installs Odunaro Majeobaje Olu Ilaro Saturday

    Yewa Paramount Ruler installs Odunaro Majeobaje Olu Ilaro Saturday

    Ogun Eid-il-Fitr special prayers in pictures

    Ogun Eid-il-Fitr special prayers in pictures

    Nigeria’s deadly marriages: How 49 husbands, wives were killed in 15 months

    Nigeria’s deadly marriages: How 49 husbands, wives were killed in 15 months

    US hints on new Lassa fever vaccine trial in Nigeria, Liberia, Sierra Leone

    US govt praises documentation of Osun Osogbo Sacred Groove

    10th Coronation Anniversary: Yewa Christians, Muslims hold special services for Olu Ilaro

    10th Coronation Anniversary: Yewa Christians, Muslims hold special services for Olu Ilaro

    Climate Change: Lagos launches Trees From Art campaign in schools

    Climate Change: Lagos launches Trees From Art campaign in schools

    Crescent Varsity celebrates philanthropist, Osula-Atu

    Crescent Varsity celebrates philanthropist, Osula-Atu

    Putin will meet his end sooner than later —Primate Ayodele

    Putin will meet his end sooner than later —Primate Ayodele

    Gabon is walking the talk with conservation!

    Gabon is walking the talk with conservation!

    • Travel
    • Pop culture
      Nigeria’s tech industry: where are the women?

      Nigeria’s tech industry: where are the women?

      Big Brother Naija: What 8 Nigerians think about this controversial show

      Big Brother Naija: What 8 Nigerians think about this controversial show

      nigerian youth

      A Simple Guide to Being an Angry Nigerian Youth

      Big brother naija

      Big Brother Naija Lockdown Reunion: A Recipe for Embarrassment

      chimamanda

      What Chimamanda Adichie’s Essay Says about Social Media Performativity and Conformity

      united african republic

      United African Republic: What is in a Name?

      Twitter is our 911: The Myth of Democracy in Nigeria

      Twitter is our 911: The Myth of Democracy in Nigeria

      THE COVID-19 SERIES

      Tech in Nigeria? Please

      Tech in Nigeria? Please

    • Love & relationship
    • Food
    • Fashion and Style
    • Culture
    • Beauty and wellness
    • Art
No Result
View All Result
No Result
View All Result
Home Pop culture

United African Republic: What is in a Name?

by Omolola Okunlola
June 15, 2021
in Pop culture, Trending
Reading Time: 4min read
0
united african republic
Share on FacebookShare on Twitter

A name is a powerful thing, like a passport that travels with us. Even though the sound of our name rolls off our tongues with ease and familiarity, we rarely examine how our names help to define our identity. My middle name has always fascinated me. However, walking around with a name that seemed familiar but lost in meaning to me made me feel vulnerable. Since discovering its meaning, I have tried to embody its meaning. The name is the shortest origin story. It speaks to our roots, where we have been and where we are heading. In essence, it serves as a link between the past, the present, and the future. 

A fragment of Nigeria’s story is summed up in the name. It is an encapsulation of our history and like so many modern African countries, Nigeria is the product of European imperialism. Interestingly, the name Nigeria – derived from the Niger River, the country’s dominant geographical feature – was suggested in the 1890s by Flora Shaw, a British journalist who later married Frederick Lugard. Prior to the name ‘Nigeria’ emerging, the British had taken control of Lagos and the Southern Coast. The Royal Niger Company controlled the region around the Niger River, which was known as the Royal Niger Company Territories. In a famous article, Flora Shaw suggested the name ‘Nigeria’ to describe the region held by the Niger Royal Company Territories and the Southern Protectorate. It was only afterwards when the British, under Frederick Lugard, conquered Sokoto and Kano, that Nigeria was applied to the Northern region. 

RelatedPosts

CJN Tanko Mohammed resigns

Drama as lawyer storms court in religious attire, face painted with local chalk  

Nigeria has been taken over by terrorists, come help us, Akeredolu begs int’l community

In recent times, there have been speculations about where the name Nigeria truly came from. Natasha H. Akpoti in a personal reflection wrote on the history of Nigeria, particularly how our country came to be named. This story trended on social media platforms. She started her essay by recollecting an airplane conversation she had with an unnamed “American professor of African history” who persuaded her to believe that contrary to what she had been taught, Flora Shaw, Frederick Lugard’s girlfriend and later wife, who came up with the name of our country, didn’t invent the name “Nigeria” from River Niger. The professor told her that Nigeria simply means ‘The Nigger Area’ or ‘Land of the Black slaves.’  “Nigger” was a common derogatory slang used for slaves. This claim has been deemed almost wholly historically inaccurate by scholars. 

Pan-Atlantic University’s The Centenary Project, which was launched in 2014, published a scanned newspaper clipping of a January 8, 1897 article titled “Flora Shaw Gives the Name” in The Times of London where Flora Shaw first suggested Nigeria’s name. Shaw’s original article was titled “Nigeria.” The article did not allude to the speculation that Nigeria simply means ‘The Nigger Area’ or ‘Land of the Black slaves.’  

Flora Shaw Gives the Name

The problem of Nigeria is not the name but the people. Changing a name will not distort the fact that we were indeed colonised, it also will not force us into unity. I suppose a name change would have been welcomed if the country wasn’t so unstable. Changing a name to the United African Republic will not hide the fact that Nigeria is indeed a nation struggling with the chains of fragmentation. In fact, it would be ironic if we had ‘united’ in our name but were still defined by ethnic sentimentalism and religious intolerance. What is in a name? Everything. But what if the name is not the pressing issue? Nigeria’s disunity is made up of a complex combination of factors, such as religion, culture, more recently, the Islamist militant Boko Haram insurgency. Nigeria needs a systematic change, a structural change and a name change is the least of our problems now. A name change is a surface-level solution to Nigeria’s deep-seated problems. 

Every day, news reports in Nigeria’s newspapers detail increasing levels of kidnappings, ransom demands, banditry, police brutality, religious intolerance and more. There is tension between the regions. The call for secession has grown louder. The Indigenous People of Biafra (IPOB), a radical breakaway faction of the Movement for the Actualization of the Sovereign State of Biafra (MASSOB) advocates secession and the restoration of an independent Biafra nation in the mainly Igbo-speaking south-east region. There is also a secessionist movement in the west – the Oodua Republic Movement. Boko Haram, which has terrorised the northeastern part of Nigeria for more than a decade with aims to create an Islamic State in the territory of Nigeria, is another secessionist group. Rather than design and promulgate policies to arrest the deterioration, a name change is proposed. 

While I am of the stand that it’s high time we shrug off our colonised coat and reinvent ourselves as a people unaffected by European imperialism, the Nigerian government must make a stronger case for unity. There is power in a name. However, I am sceptical that the name, “United African Republic” will hold much power in the grand scheme of things in our country. It may look good on paper, but it could not be more ironic.

Tags: nigerianUARunited african republic
Share226Tweet141Share57
Omolola Okunlola

Omolola Okunlola

Lola sees the beauty in words and how they colour life experiences.

  • Trending
  • Comments
  • Latest
10 most followed Nigerian comedians, skit makers on Instagram, Twitter

10 most followed Nigerian comedians, skit makers on Instagram, Twitter

May 22, 2021
Minors’ viral sex tape: Lagos govt closes Chrisland School indefinitely

Minors’ viral sex tape: Lagos govt closes Chrisland School indefinitely

April 18, 2022
Chief Onyechi bags Doctorate degree from Benin Republic university

Chief Onyechi bags Doctorate degree from Benin Republic university

April 18, 2022
Five benefits of sleeping more

Five benefits of sleeping more

3
Court orders Nnamdi Kanu remand in DSS custody

Court orders Nnamdi Kanu remand in DSS custody

3
No fewer than 109 foreigners from Benin Republic have been arrested by operatives of the Gombe State Police Command for alleged illegal entry into Nigeria.

Police nab kidnappers for trying to abduct lawyers, others

3
COAS, 10 others’ death: Air Force to decide on military jets after probe

Scores die in Katsina as NAF jet accidentally bombs villagers

July 7, 2022
Why I approached Keyamo for assistance in 2018 — Eedris Abdulkareem

Rapper Eedris Abdulkareem diagnosed with Kidney failure, to undergo transplant

July 7, 2022
Kuje prison attack: UK, US blacklist 19 Nigerian states

Kuje prison attack: UK, US blacklist 19 Nigerian states

July 6, 2022
First News NG

Copyright © 2022 First Media Networks Limited

Site Navigation

  • Contact Us
  • About Us
  • Privacy Policy

Follow Us

No Result
View All Result
  • Home
  • World News
  • Politics
    • Politics Roundup
  • Business
    • Exclusive Economy
  • Health
  • Entertainment
  • Sport
  • Editorial
    • Opinion
  • Lifestyle
    • Travel
    • Pop culture
    • Love & relationship
    • Food
    • Fashion and Style
    • Culture
    • Beauty and wellness
    • Art

Copyright © 2022 First Media Networks Limited