Janet Samuel, Abuja
In a an effort to follow the antecedents of country and state naming, Specifically in Africa, the Centre for Speech Development and Learning Initiative (CESDLIN) has called on the National Assembly to consider reviewing the constitution in favour of renaming ‘Kogi‘ to Confluence State.’
Executive Director of CESDLIN, Alexius Maiyanga, who made the call while speaking with Newsmen on Thursday in Abuja said the call became necessary because the present geographical and political area called ‘Kogi’ is the host of Rivers Niger and Benue, as Africa’s most important rivers.
He explained that, names are an incredibly important part of ones identity that carry very deep personal, cultural, emotional, historical connections. Adding that Names also give a sense of identity.
The Director maintained that, if countries could have their names changed as in the case of Upper Volta to Burkina Faso, Gold Coast to Ghana, the renaming of Kogi State is not a difficult thing to do by the National Assembly.
He informed that Nigeria recognizes the English language as the official language of communication, stressing that from the creation of the state by the former head of state, General Ibrahim Babangida and the Supreme Military Council, wrongly named the state as far as the nomenclature of Kogi was concerned.
Maiyanga said, ‘’Why did Babangida and his military associates bury one of Nigeria’s gigantic blessings of the two huge rivers; Niger and Benue with an amazing breath-taking confluence at Lokoja, the state capital?
‘’In Kogi, all the ethnic groups have a name for a river, why was none selected from amongst them?’’
According to him, “the present geographical and political area called ‘kogi’ is the host of the CONFLUENCE of two of Africa’s most important rivers after the Nile; and it should be so named CONFLUENCE STATE”. Maiyanga urged the National Assembly constitutional review committee to do the needful.
