n Wednesday, May 29, lawmakers approved a bill replacing the current national anthem of Nigeria with one that was abandoned about fifty years prior.
This situation has led to a great deal of criticism regarding the law’s hasty passage and lack of public participation.
The legislation was approved by both chambers of Nigeria’s National Assembly, which is presided over by the ruling party, the day before President Bola Tinubu gave his approval. In less than a week, the federal parliamentarians introduced and passed the bill—a remarkably quick process for significant legislation that typically takes weeks or months to review.
Since its introduction by the military administration in 1978, the anthem “Arise, O Compatriots” has been in use. Nigerians are urged in the anthem, which was written during the country’s bloody civil war, to “serve our fatherland with love and strength” and to ensure that “the labor of our heroes past (to be) in vain.”
When Nigeria obtained independence from Britain in 1960, the new version, which is effective immediately, was first implemented before being discontinued by the military. Writing under the title “Nigeria We Hail Thee,” it was composed by British expatriate Lillian Jean Williams, who was residing in Nigeria at the time.
At a legislative session that Tinubu attended on Wednesday, the day he turned one year old as president, the new national anthem was performed in front of the public for the first time.
However, many Nigerians turned to social media to declare that they would not be singing the new national anthem. One such person is former education minister and presidential candidate Oby Ezekwesili, who claimed that the new law demonstrates the disregard of the nation’s political class for the interests of the general populace.
“In a 21st Century Nigeria, the country’s political class found a colonial National Anthem that has pejorative words like “Native Land” and “Tribes” to be admirable enough to foist on our Citizens without their consent,” Ezekwesili tweeted on X.
On the other hand, proponents of the new song contended that it was incorrect for the nation to have embraced an anthem that was created by the armed forces.
“Anthems are recitations of ideologies that aid in concentration. The military changing the national anthem was a really sad development, according to public affairs specialist Frank Tietie.
