Nigeria Gets New National Anthem As Tinubu Signs Bill on Adoption of Old National Anthem to Law

By:Israel Adeleke

In a move that resonates with the spirit of national pride, President Bola Tinubu has officially signed the National Anthem Bill 2024 into law, marking the return of Nigeria's old anthem, "Nigeria, we hail thee." 

This announcement was made on Wednesday by the Senate President Godswill Akpabio, during a momentous joint session of the National Assembly, commemorating the Silver Jubilee of Nigeria’s 4th Republic.

Akpabio who disclosed that the sitting of the session is primarily to launch the new national anthem, said that the President will not be making a speech because he has to leave to launch the Abuja metro line.

OPEN TELEVISION NAIJA had previously reported that the Senate and the House of Representatives had previously passed the bill at separate sittings.

However, the bill has been signed into law by the president, according to the statement of the senate president.

Open Television Naija recalls that the "Nigeria We Hail Thee” anthem was written by Lillian Jean Williams, a British expatriate, and composed by Frances Berda.

However, it faced criticisms over the years back in the era when it was in use by the country for not being composed by any Nigerians but rather by foreign persons.  

Meanwhile many lawmakers emphasised that the current anthem was a product of the military regime and lacked the resonance of national values, ethics, and norms encapsulated in the  independence anthem now replaced with the old anthem by law.

Given the President's passage of the bill to law, younger generations of Nigerians who never experienced recitation of the old national anthem now have to brace up to the civic duty of learning the newly adopted national anthem billed to be used in schools and at public functions throughout the country.

Below is the lyrics of the New Nigerian National Anthem:

Nigeria we hail thee,

Our own dear native land,

Though tribe and tongue may differ,

In brotherhood, we stand,

Nigerians all, and 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.

#End of Anthem

Tags: #Presidency#presidenttinubu#nationalanthem

#legislativebills#nigeriawehailthee