NIGERIA| NEWS| NATIONAL ANTHEM| HISTORY
Nigeria National Anthem: When the Old Becomes the New
Nigeria constitutionally and dramatically changes her national anthem
May 29th every year became a date to reckon with since 1999 following the return of democratically elected government in the West African country. On that day, the military regime of General Abdulsalami Abubarkar (retired) handed over to the then President Olusegun Obasanjo.
That instituted the marking of 29th May a Democracy Day. It was also regarded as a national public holiday until the administration of President Muhammad Buhari decided to change it recently to 12th June.
The 29th of May 2024, however, had a historical twist. This is because it was on that day that President Bola Ahmed Tinubu signed into law the Old National Anthem Bill thereby returning the country to the national anthem made by the British colonial masters.
It should be recalled that the old national anthem was used in Nigeria between 1960 and 1978 when the regime of General Olusegun Obasanjo (retired) changed it to the immediate-past version.
This is the new Nigeria’s National Anthem signed into law by the incumbent President:
The National Anthem
🇳🇬
Nigeria we hail thee,
Our own dear native land,
Though tribe 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.
So, it could be said with a tint of irony. In the history of the national anthem of Nigeria, the old dramatically and constitutionally becomes the new while the new becomes the old.
Thus, “Nigeria we hail thee” replaces “Arise O compatriots”.
As a kid, I could recall nostalgically how we had sung it in our formative years of the primary (basic) school education. On the poetic properties, I would state that the current anthem is better.
With a better rhyme scheme and an acknowledgement of the fact that “Though tribe and tongue may differ/In brotherhood we stand”: it realistically recognizes our inborn differences.
Whether the dreams of the creators would be realized someday, is a different issue altogether. That the hydra-headed hyperinflation raging and stifling the life out of an average citizen — is yet to be addressed in practical terms: the least worry of an average Nigerian is the change of the national anthem.
Would the change put food on the table of any regular citizen? The answer is yet to be seen, in the most diplomatic denotation.
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