While marking one year of his administration, President Bola Ahmed Tinubu signed the National Anthem Bill 2024 into law to reinstate the old anthem, “Nigeria, We Hail Thee.”
The decision to change the country’s national anthem has set tongues wagging and some entertainers who spoke to Saturday Vanguard have expressed disappointment with the federal government’s decision to reinstate the old national anthem.
They argued that instead of addressing the hunger that’s ravaging the country, the government decided to prioritise the change of the national anthem.
“Nigeria, We Hail Thee” was written by a British expatriate named Lillian Jean Williams in 1959 and composed by Frances Berda. It was changed to “Arise O Compatriots” in 1978 by former President Olusegun Obasanjo who brought five Nigerians to write the anthem as a way of departing from the colonial attributes of the old one.]
Reacting to the development, gyration master, Tony Oneweek described the change of the national anthem as a misplacement of priorities.
“Nigeria is a troubled nation whose problems cannot be solved by the lyrics of an anthem. We have a myriad of wahala and we are discussing the national anthem? What about our economy, insecurity and insufficient electricity?
“Even if we want to change our anthem, is that old one the best we can do? It’s even a pity that instead of reaching out to Nigerian musicians to create a new, current and Gen Z compliant national anthem. We are bringing back an anthem that was composed and handed down to us by our colonial masters,” the gyration master said.
On her own, actress Kate Henshaw criticized the timing of the change, querying how the return to the old anthem was going to tackle the hardship in the country.
Taking to her X handle (formerly Twitter) Henshaw wrote, ” In the midst of excoriating hardship and lack of good governance on every level but not to worry, going back to a colonial anthemn will be a soothing balm and inject patriotism back into our veins, a much needed drug.”
In another post, the actress said, “The labour of our heroes past… o ti lo [is gone].”
Pop singer Teni the Entertainer said she would miss the replaced National Anthem, “Arise, O Compatriots.”
On her X handle, Teni wrote: “Arise o compatriots, I’ll miss you, thank you for so many childhood memories. Till we meet again, love SM.”
Joeboy slammed President Tinubu’s administration for prioritising changing national anthem over addressing hardship in the country, while Adekunle Gold wondered why the government did not consider Timi Dakolo’s ‘Great Nation’ as the country’s new anthem.
On his X handle, Adekunle Gold wrote: “No one thought Timi Dakolo’s Great Nation makes a better anthem?”
Also reacting, popular film maker and convener of Indigenous People of Nigeria, IPN, Mazi Dickson Iroegbu frowned at the change, saying “it’s a mere distraction away from the abysmal failure of Tinubu’s one year in office.”
He added “Reverting to the old national anthem is just a scratch of the surface, I say this, because I believe we should also return to the 1963 Constitution, and possibly even consider changing the name “Nigeria”. If this government is serious about repositioning Nigeria.
“Reverting to the old anthem was one of the recommendations in Jonathan’s 2014 Conference, which is why I support the federal government adoption of the Confab document as an executive bill and take the same to the National Assembly for legislative consideration,” Ireegbu fumed.
