Why Nigeria's anthem change has been coldly received

By Abdulwasiu Hassan

The rousing notes of a national anthem represent more than just a set of lyrics set to tune and meant to evoke patriotism and pride. To citizens who sing and rise to it, the anthem could be sacrosanct, mirroring their nation's history, culture, and aspirations.

In Nigeria, there is a raging debate over President Bola Tinubu signing into law a bill passed by both legislative chambers to reinstate the old national anthem that had been replaced in 1978.

Many are surprised by the speed at which federal lawmakers introduced and passed the bill in a week, which might have taken months in normal circumstances.

The original anthem, Nigeria, We Hail Thee, was written in 1960 by Briton Lillian Jean Williams and bequeathed to the then newly independent nation by the erstwhile British colonial regime.

In 1978, General Olusegun Obasanjo's military government replaced it with Arise, O' Compatriots, penned jointly by a group of Nigerians.

President Tinubu said after giving his assent to the bill on May 29 that the old anthem represented the beauty of Nigeria's diversity.

For a generation of Nigerians born after 1978 and with no memory of the original anthem, its reinstatement has stirred a gamut of emotions.

Mixed feelings

"I understand there are divergent views on reverting to the old anthem. For those of us who used to sing it at school assemblies, there is a sense of nostalgia about revisiting Nigeria, We Hail Thee," Dr Aliyu Tilde, an educationist, tells TRT Afrika.

But Baba Yusuf, a policy analyst, argues that reinstating the old anthem is a prime example of misplaced priority.

"I don't see any reason why we should go back to a national anthem that would remind us of colonialism," he says.

"To be honest, I would prefer Arise, O' Compatriots as the national anthem over Nigeria, We Hail Thee for the simple reason that the former was written by and for Nigerians. Also, the new one is more relevant to the aspirations of Nigerians than the newly reinstated one."

So, is this merely a generational divide caused by one-half not relating to an anthem that existed before their time?

Ibrahim Sheme, a journalist and writer, falls somewhere between the two schools of thought. He was in primary school when the post-independence national anthem was discarded in 1978 without an opportunity for those of his age to learn and understand it.

"Out of curiosity, I made an effort to learn the original anthem before its recent reinstatement. When the controversy started, I was surprised to see a section of people treating this issue as trivial, saying we should be worrying about the economy instead," he says.

The middle view

Sheme believes the wholesale rejection of an idea prevents people from engaging in discussions about national ethos.

"It is not a misplacement of priority, as some think. You can see that Nigerians are now talking, probably for the first time in decades, about nationhood and patriotism," he tells TRT Afrika.

"It's good that people are introspecting on what we should be doing to make our nation great, including the need to commit ourselves all over again to the Nigerian ideal."

Amid the debate over whether the old anthem or the one that has been replaced better represents the Nigerian ethos, one of the concerns being raised is that children who are out of secondary school will face difficulty learning Nigeria, We Hail Thee, and reconciling to it as their national anthem.

Proponents of this view argue that while pre-tertiary students, soldiers and athletes will learn the new national anthem by default during their routine institutional assemblies, the learning curve could be steeper for others.

Sheme says that treating the act of learning the reinstated anthem as a hurdle was making much ado about nothing. "Anybody who puts their mind to learning the anthem would be able to do so quickly, depending on their interest in and commitment to it."

The re-introduced 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