As part of the events to mark Nigeria’s 25 years of unbroken democracy, the Federal Government on May 29 officially reverted to the old national anthem, ‘Nigeria we hail thee,’ which was adopted at independence in 1960. It replaced, ‘Arise, O Compatriots,’ which has been in use since 1978. Earlier, the House of the Representatives and the Senate had speedily deliberated and passed into law the bill seeking to return Nigeria to the old national anthem.
Consequently, it was quickly signed into law by President Bola Ahmed Tinubu. The old anthem was the official anthem of Nigeria until 1978 when it was replaced with the current ‘Arise, O compatriots.’ At the joint sitting of the National Assembly, President Tinubu formally flagged off the recitation of the old national anthem. “This institution, the hallowed chamber, represents our consciousness for freedom and sense of belonging. You rang out the latest national anthem, ‘Nigeria we hail thee,’ this is our diversity, representing all characters and how we blend together to be brothers and sisters,” Tinubu stated.
Speaking at the event, the President of the Senate, Godswill Akpabio, said: “Of all the significant things you have done, I think one of the most profound is to take us back to the genealogy of our birth, that though we may belong to different tribes, though we may have different tongues in brotherhood we all stand. Henceforth, we will not refer to ourselves as mere compatriots; we will refer to ourselves as brothers. As we go forth in battle, whether in the field of sports or economic endeavours, we must hail Nigeria.”
Despite the envisaged emotive and psychological benefits of reverting to the old national anthem, we believe that the move was very hasty and did not factor the feelings of the majority of Nigerians. It is not even a priority at this point in time that millions of Nigerians are passing through a lot of economic challenges. The federal lawmakers and the Federal Government should have carried all Nigerians along and get their views before hastily passing the bill to change to the old national anthem into law. Similarly, the President ought to have considered the views of Nigerians before speedily signing the bill into law.
Reverting to the old national anthem, no matter its good intentions, will not solve the nation’s mounting socio-economic challenges. It will never shore up the dwindling value of the naira and cannot contribute to our Gross Domestic Product (GDP), create jobs, reduce inflation and increase our electricity supply.
Agreed that the wordings of the old national anthem eloquently captured our history and call for patriotism, the change should have been explained to the majority of Nigerians and their views taken into account before making the change. Whether Nigerians would have preferred reverting to the old national anthem or sticking to the current one is highly debatable as both evoke a call for patriotism.
However, instilling unity and patriotism among a diverse people like Nigeria goes beyond replacing one national anthem with another. Patriotism is not actually only about the lyrics of a national anthem. It is also not only about its swift recitation. It is about putting in practice what the anthem says.
Our leaders should show example and begin to practise what the old national says. If our leaders practise what the anthem says, Nigeria would be a better place to be. Now that we have reverted to the old national anthem, the government should ensure that we begin to see ourselves as truly brothers and sisters and treat Nigeria as our motherland and ensure that no one is oppressed in the country.
Let’s emphasise our ‘Nigerianness’ as opposed to our ethnicity and other clannishness. The government should use the same haste with which we reverted to the old national anthem to begin to restructure Nigeria by legislating into being the state police. It should use it to tackle insecurity, food shortage, galloping inflation, unemployment and rising cost of living.
Let our lawmakers begin to make laws that will unify the people and improve the quality of lives of all Nigerians. Let us hope that the change to the old national anthem will mark a new national rebirth and love for the country.