The Federal Executive Coun­cil (FEC) meeting presided over by President Bola Tinubu, on Monday, renamed the University of Abuja as Yakubu Gowon University.

The Minister of Information and National Orientation, Mohammed Idris, who announced the name change, said it was to honour the former Head of State for his contributions to nation building.

General Yakubu Gowon recently marked his 90th birthday, where he revealed how he intervened to save the life of former President Olusegun Obasanjo, while General Sani Abacha held sway as Head of State.

Gowon who superintended over the Nigerian civil war between 1967 and 1970 is greatly acknowledged for keeping the country one.

He went on to institute the National Youth Service Corps (NYSC) scheme, which is still in place till date.

In view of the yuletide season, the Federal Government also announced a free train ride for any Nigerian wishing to travel to celebrate the Christmas festivities.

Idris also made the announcement on Monday while briefing journalists on the outcome of the FEC meeting.

He noted that the free train ride would commence from December 20, 2024, and end on January 5, 2025.

According to Idris, Nigerians can access the train rides on all the routes where train services are currently being rendered.

Announcing the change of name of the university, Idris said, “The Federal Executive Council meeting just ended with members of the executive council commending President Bola Ahmed Tinubu for stewardship of the state for the last one year.

“Government is also hap­py to announce that, as we did last year, there will be free train service to all Nigerians from the 20th up until the 5th January. This is consistent with the president’s desire to cushion the effect of transportation, officially for the most vulnerable Nigerians. Recall that this also happened in the last Christmas period and the Sallah period.

“Mr. President has also approved that this year, from the 20th of December to the 5th of January 2024, there will be free transport service nationwide.

“The third item is that there’s also a decision taken by the Federal Executive Council to rename the University of Abuja to honour elder statesman, General Yakubu Gowon. The University of Abuja will now be known as Yakubu Gowon University, of course, the processing will have to go to the National Assembly, for all legislation in that direction.

“FEC has taken that de­cision to write to the National Assembly to change the name of University of Abuja to Yakubu Gowon University, in honour of the former Head of State and elder statesman”.