When a child is born, they are given a name freely and without contest. Everyone has a name, just as monuments, infrastructures, villages, towns, and even rivers and Hills do. Though names may change over time, such changes are often symbolic. For instance, the largest city in Vietnam, formerly known as Saigon, was renamed in 1975 to Ho Chi Minh City in honor of the North Vietnamese leader. This renaming symbolized the victory of North Vietnam and the reunification of the country under communist rule.
So, here’s a simple question that should invite no hard feelings: why did Nyesom Wike rename the Abuja International Conference Centre after his boss, Asiwaju Bola Ahmed Tinubu? According to Wike, President Tinubu has, in just two years, achieved what no other Nigerian president has. If this becomes a standard practice, then any future president who outperforms Tinubu might also have the monument renamed in their honor. At this rate, within a century, the same structure could bear the names of 15 different presidents.
Temporocentrism refers to the belief that one’s current time period is the most significant, often leading to a disregard for historical context and a tendency to judge the past by present standards. It is, in essence, the chronological version of ethnocentrism, a kind of present-mindedness that places the now above all that came before.
If former Head of State, General Ibrahim Babangida, had chosen to name the Abuja International Conference Centre during his tenure, he might have named it after someone older, more revered, or even after himself. Yet, he left the name as it was, perhaps to preserve the structure’s international appeal and significance. So, it appears to me, in my opinion though, like a disregard for what IBB built, but a greater honour to a man who ordered the renovation.
