In recent years, politicians have been naming public infrastructure after themselves or their cronies. With the practice, a political culture where leaders use facilities built with public funds to solidify their place in history is being enthroned gradually. In this report, GBENGA SALAU examines the propriety of the practice and how it may impact the future progress of the country.
A hall of residence built at the University of Lagos through a constituency project facilitated by Femi Gbajabiamila when he was the Speaker of the House of Representatives was named after him. The project was not funded with his personal money but through public funds provided for in the budget.
In 2019, the North East Children’s Trust, an initiative aimed at providing educational support to children orphaned by the Boko Haram insurgency, established a learning centre in Maiduguri. The centre was named ‘Vice President Yemi Osinbajo Learning Centre’ when Osinbajo was still in office.
In December 2024, Governor Babagana Umara Zulum of Borno State named a newly built 500-housing estate in Njimtilo, Maiduguri, after Mai Mala Buni, the Governor of Yobe State.
In Ebonyi State, the David Umahi International Market, Abakaliki, was named after Umahi, now the Minister of Works, when he was the governor of the state. A university built during Umahi’s administration as a governor of Ebonyi State was also named after him.
In 2023, a 21-storey business complex built by former governor Udom Emmanuel of Akwa Ibom State was renamed Udom Emmanuel Towers by Governor Umo Eno, whom he vehemently supported to succeed him.
Former governor of Rivers State and now Minister of the Federal Capital Territory (FCT), Nyesom Wike, even commissioned a local council administrative building in his state named after him when he was in power.
In less than two years of coming to office, about five projects built with public funds have been named after President Bola Ahmed Tinubu. The latest was the newly constructed army barracks in Asokoro, Abuja.
There are also state and local council funded projects named after his wife. In Amuwo-Odofin, the local council chairman named a new Primary Healthcare Centre after the First Lady and Wife of the President, Remi Tinubu.
Likewise, the immediate past president, Muhammadu Buhari, had a number of public infrastructure named after him when he was in power, including an airport.
While the culture to name public infrastructure after politicians and those who have selflessly contributed to the development of a community and state as part of efforts to institutionalise them and play up the values they represent is not new, the pattern that politicians and political office holders have adopted since return to democracy in 1999 is indeed strange.
Since the start of Fourth Republic, politicians and political leaders in their bids to institutionalise themselves, their friends and benefactors have been naming state-sponsored projects after themselves, their friends and political benefactors.
Many observers believe that the development is not in tune with democratic principles and tenets but the hallmark of dictatorial rules. It is noteworthy that after the restoration of democracy in 1999, some public infrastructure that military officers named after themselves while in office were renamed by democratically-elected governments. One of such was the Buba Marwa Garden, a housing estate in Alausa, Ikeja Lagos that was renamed MKO Abiola Garden.
Records have it that before leaders started institutionalising themselves or their friends by naming public infrastructure after themselves or their cronies, the norm was to name public infrastructure in honour of a deceased leader in recognition of the person’s selfless services to the state and community. So, it was not every late leader that enjoyed that honour; those who were so honoured were usually leaders who performed exceptionally when they were in office, either as politicians or civil servants.
For instance, when the late Premier of the defunct Western region, Chief Obafemi Awolowo died, the then University of Ife was renamed Obafemi Awolowo University. The honour was not just because he was a former premier of the region; it was because of his revolutionary contribution to the development of education in the South West through his party’s free education policy.
It was the same scenario with the Ahmadu Bello University, Zaria; Nnamdi Azikwe University, Awka, and Tai Solanrin University, Ijebu-Ode. When these personalities died, critical stakeholders called for their immortalisation through naming of iconic state projects after them.
However, that culture is changing very fast. But to the chagrin of many Nigerians, some of those who kicked against the culture of military leaders naming state-funded facilities after themselves and their cronies are now toeing the path they hitherto condemned.
Commenting on the development, Executive Director, Emergency and Risk Alert, Gbenro Olajuyigbe, stated that if anything is clear about democracy and governance in Nigeria, it is the fact that governments do not run with the concepts of shared ownership of the country.
“There is nothing called shared authority and responsibility. The mill is unilaterally run, with marks of crude impunity backed with clauses of immunity. The relationship is not about the governors and the governed, nor even about the citizens and the government. It is about them and us; about the owners of Nigeria and their servants, the power holders and the poverty owners, the powerful and their hapless victims,” he said.
He noted that these power relations explain the shenanigans of reducing public treasures and edifices to near personal possession and control. Olajuyigbe added: “Being timid, intimidated, cowardly and in some instances sycophantic, we have allowed our politicians, particularly those at the corridors of power, to run amok. We kowtow to their immorality and illegality, including brazenly treating public assets and treasures as personal possession and property, to the extent that they do what they like with them. Impunity is so much that national and state universities, airports, among others, are named after some people, in most cases, unworthy persons in society.
“Annoyingly too, these national assets and treasures are also named after persons in authority that have hardly contributed anything to the country in terms of good governance and excellent leadership; people who were too removed from the aspirations of the ordinary citizens. These offer a clear-eyed failure of values and ethical consideration. This practice has implications for ethical renaissance, values etiquette and moral examples for the younger generations in terms of learning and internalisation of character and values that build a sane country and sustainably progressive society.
“By rewarding those that are least worthy of it and naming public edifices after them, we are inevitably building a society that lacks backbone for accountability, transparency and values that drive equity and social justice.
“The elite in power and their sycophantic cronies are out of step with moral values and can reduce the vulnerability of the hapless citizens. Self glorification has replaced the concept of good governance. We now have government officials who prefer using N10 billion to celebrate a road constructed at a cost of N2 billion; governments that are enamoured with collection of taxes without a corresponding service delivery plans.
“Of a fact, Nigeria has become a victim of mediocrity. Unless there is a sudden break of the chains to reset values that drive governance and recalibrate structure and process, the country has neither capacity to regenerate itself nor ability to forge a new order of civilisation.”
Olajuyigbe maintained that a country whose people “have been turned into a vengeful population by her cult of indiscriminately cruel anti-development rudderless rulers” has lost the structure and the will-ground for patriotic commitment and thought-system that promote ethical values, nationalism and the spirit of voluntary transformative patriotism.
“If things continue the way they are today, I won’t be surprised if I wake up one day to see Shekau university. Our moral decline and ethical abyss are that deep!” he stressed.
Speaking on the issue, a public affairs analyst, Bukola Bassey, stated that the fact that serving politicians are naming state-funded projects after themselves shows to the average Nigerian the extent to which the citizens have lowered the expectations of those elected to serve them.
“Without spelling it out, we now see state administration as a means of self-aggrandisement, and not necessarily an opportunity to further the nation’s growth. My opinion is from the perspective that when someone is elected to an office, they are elected to administer the resources of the Nigerian people on behalf of the people.
“That does not make them lord and king; that does not make them extraordinary. So, agreeing with the minister and the civil servants who work with the politicians that a bridge is needed somewhere, and such a project is approved, does not mean the minister or the politician have done something that should be seen as an extraordinary achievement in this part of the world.
“Really, that is just to show how low we have set the bar for excellence in service. The fact is that building hospitals, hostels, bridges, and roads is not extraordinary. But because of the bottlenecks encountered in state administration, we now see them as extraordinary.
“Thankfully, posterity will still judge everyone of them, and those who are bad will see their names wiped off and their statues toppled as we witnessed during the #feesmustfall protests in South Africa,” Bassey said.
On his part, the Executive Director of CISLAC, Auwal Ibrahim Musa (Rafsanjani), noted that naming state projects after politicians in service is an imprudent practice that raises concerns about the state of democracy and governance in Nigeria.
According to him, it suggests a departure from the essential functions of effective governance, which should focus on delivering tangible benefits to the populace. Musa said the practice may instead promote sycophancy, excessive praise, self-promotion, and a disregard for established norms.
“The current administration has taken this shameless practice to an unbearable level with about five state projects across the country already named after President Bola Tinubu in just over one year of his administration.
“With the public outcry occasioning the renaming of the Abubakar Imam Airport to Bola Ahmed Tinubu Airport in 2024, one would have thought that greater caution would be displayed going forward.
“But the administration has gone on with the madness; with more seemingly in the pipeline. While there is no law prohibiting the naming of public institutions or monuments after the president or anyone else, greater prioritisation of a certain level of morality has become the norm of such action.
“It is morally expected that the good work of citizens and public servants, including the president, would normally speak for them and determine the naming of institutions after them. Thus, the honour is expected to be bestowed by others, largely by successors, rather than being bestowed by the administration itself.
“This practice may set a negative precedent for the country, leading future administrations to follow suit and undermine the integrity associated with naming public institutions. In the long term, the culture of patronage and political favouritism could become normalised,” he warned.
Musa observed that the current administration, particularly the President, shows a preoccupation with receiving praise and engaging in political patronage.
He added: “This is evident in the president’s enjoyment of chants such as ‘on your mandate we shall stand’ during official appearances, including sessions in the National Assembly. This behaviour undermines the important democratic principles that separate the legislative authority from the executive.
“Additionally, the president often appears to relish these moments, fully allowing such displays of adulation to continue. It is not entirely surprising that no concerns have been raised by the Presidency in this regard. This aligns with the president’s implicit stance.
“To maintain favour with him, appointees and some governors seeking presidential approval may continue to name and rename institutions after him. Similarly, parliamentarians will likely persist in sponsoring bills to this effect.
“As this situation persists, the sanctity of the separation of powers and the system of checks and balances could be entirely compromised. Advisors to the president may turn into sycophants, thereby rendering the president’s actions unquestionable and potentially autocratic.”
Musa maintained that these developments do not align with democratic principles, stressing that it is crucial to uphold practices that, though not explicitly codified in legal documents, are essential values of the democratic experience.
A psychologist, Mathew Adebola, observed that when politicians name public infrastructure after themselves, it often reflects a blend of personal ambition and strategic self-promotion.
According to him, psychologically, this act can indicate a desire for legacy-building and a need for recognition beyond their tenure.
“It may also suggest a focus on enhancing personal brand identity, sometimes overshadowing the original intent of public service. Such practices serve the politicians’ interests more than those of their constituents, potentially fostering perceptions of elitism and self-aggrandisement. This trend raises concerns about the potential erosion of democratic values, as it may prioritise individual glorification over collective well-being,” Adebola stated.
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