The renaming of Benue State University to Fr. Moses Orshio Adasu University Makurdi in 2025 was more than a symbolic gesture. It was a legislative decision to immortalise one of Benue State’s most distinguished leaders while giving the institution a new identity. Consequently, the university’s medical school appropriately became the Fr. Moses Orshio Adasu College of Health Sciences. However, one important institution within the university system, the Benue State University Teaching Hospital (BSUTH), still bears the old identity.
Teaching hospitals are not ordinary hospitals. They exist primarily to support the training of medical and other health science students while providing specialised healthcare services to the public. BSUTH was established to serve the College of Health Sciences of the university. Its academic, research and clinical functions are directly tied to the university that owns it. Therefore, when the university’s name changed, logic and institutional consistency demanded that the teaching hospital’s name should change as well.
The continued use of the name “Benue State University Teaching Hospital” creates an unnecessary contradiction. Today, students of the Fr. Moses Orshio Adasu College of Health Sciences undertake their clinical training at an institution that still bears the former name of the university. To an outsider, it could easily appear as though the students belong to one university while receiving their clinical education from another institution altogether.
Some have argued that the teaching hospital was established under a separate law and, therefore, cannot simply adopt the university’s new name. That argument is legally understandable. However, it should not become an excuse for maintaining an inconsistency that is capable of causing confusion. If the law establishing the hospital is the obstacle, then the law should be amended to reflect the current reality.
Legislation is not static. Laws are amended regularly to accommodate institutional reforms, policy changes and administrative necessities. Renaming the teaching hospital to align with the university would merely complete the legislative process that began with the university’s renaming in 2025. It would not alter the hospital’s mandate or legal status; it would simply harmonise its identity with that of its parent institution.
Across Nigeria and beyond, universities and their teaching hospitals usually share the same institutional identity. This common identity strengthens their academic reputation, promotes easier recognition and reinforces the relationship between the university and its teaching hospital. Benue should not be an exception when the solution is both simple and achievable.
Changing the hospital’s name would also be a fitting continuation of the state’s decision to honour the legacy of the late Fr. Moses Orshio Adasu. If the university proudly bears his name, it is only appropriate that its teaching hospital; the principal centre for clinical education and medical research, also reflects that identity. Such consistency would preserve the integrity of the institution’s brand.
The responsibility for initiating this change should not be difficult to determine. The Chief Medical Director of the teaching hospital, the Commissioner for Health and other relevant government officials should engage with the appropriate authorities to begin the process of amending the enabling law. Their leadership would demonstrate a commitment to institutional coherence and good governance.
Should the executive arm not immediately initiate the process, the Benue State Assembly has the constitutional responsibility to review and amend existing laws where necessary. The Assembly can introduce the necessary amendment to rename the hospital as Fr. Adasu University Teaching Hospital (FAUTH), thereby bringing the law in line with the present status of the university.
Ultimately, this is not merely a debate about changing a signboard. It is about ensuring that the law reflects reality, preserving institutional consistency and strengthening the identity of one of Benue State’s foremost medical institutions. The time has come for the BSUTH to become the FAUTH, completing the transition that began with the renaming of the university itself.
