President Bola Tinubu has signed the bill reverting to the old national anthem into law.
Nigeria had been using the anthem which was composed by Pa Benedict Odiase in 1978. A competition was held by the then military head of state, Gen Olusegun Obasanjo to foster a sense of unity and oneness. This anthem was accepted by all, but it has now been abandoned.
President Bola Tinubu has signed the bill which reverts the national anthem to the old anthem which was abrogated in 1978. The previous anthem was penned by Lillian Jean Williams, a British expatriate residing in Nigeria and composed by Frances Berda in 1959.
The new bill however was met with great dissatisfaction by Nigerians and they shared their displeasure through posts on X. The bill comes at a time when Nigerians face food crisis, poverty, inflation, naira devaluation, security crisis among others.
Ahmed Satomi of the APC opposed against this bill during its reading. He said:
“I don’t know how national anthem even affect the wellbeing of the common man in Nigeria. Let’s be realistic how this one will support the government to stop either hunger, banditry or improve insecurity. Let us do what is beneficial to the common man”.
He continued that “people are discussing nano technology, internet of things and we are still discussing national anthem.”
Shehu Sani reacted on X that “Nigeria is facing serious economic and security challenges but its prioritising changing its national anthem. We have bacterial infection, we opted for Prada instead of penicillin”.
Dozie said: “I only have one more national anthem to learn and God knows its not Nigeria’s”
Oseni Rufai reacted that “Tomato is scarce yet senate is passing bill on old national anthem. Can they talk about food inflation please and other issues that affect nigerians”
Osi tweeted on X that “You abandon the National anthem written by a Nigerian to adopt one written by a foreigner.”
@tosinolaseinde said “I’m not learning another national anthem”.
The speaker, house of representative, Tajudeen Abbas thanked the President for bringing back the anthem they grew up with. He also mentioned that those below the age of 50 would not be able to recite it. He said the young ones should read it line by line and word by word. The new anthem was played by a band during a joint session of both chambers of the national assembly to mark 25 years of unbroken democracy today.
The new national anthem reads as follows:
Nigeria we hail thee
Our own dear native land
Though tribes and tongue may differ
In brotherhood we stand
Nigerians all, are proud to serve
Our sovereign Motherland.
Our flag shall be a symbol
That truth and justice reign
In peace or battle honour’d,
And this we count as gain,
To hand on to our children
A banner without stain.
O God of all creation
Grant this our one request.
Help us to build a nation
Where no man is oppressed
And so with peace and plenty
Nigeria may be blessed.
It might be a trend with Nigerian presidents now to change a national monument in their tenure. The former President redesigned the naira and the new president reverted the present anthem to the old one. Hopefully the national flag and national pledge would not be affected too.
