Nigeria, July 19 -- There's a peculiar weight to the name you carried on your ID card at eighteen. It clung to your chest like a badge of honor or a scar. You entered the university as a dreamer, but the name of that institution, whether whispered with pride or muttered with apology, began to shape how the world saw you. and sometimes, how you saw yourself.

University names have power. They open doors for some. They close them for others.

Say Harvard, and a room leans in. Say Yale, and the interview tilts in your favor. Now say Federal University of Agriculture, Ogbomoso West Campus, Satellite Extension Annex and watch how even your own voice starts to doubt your brilliance.

We don't like to admit it, but branding matters. In Nigeria a...