President Bola Timubu
By Our Reporter
President Bola Ahmed Tinubu has signed the bill seeking to reintroduce the old national anthem into law.
The senate president, Godswill Akpabio, announced this at the joint sitting of the senate and house of representatives on Wednesday.
Akpabio said the president signed the bill into law on Wednesday morning.
President Bola Tinubu, who later joined the joint session, confirmed ‘Nigeria, we hail thee’ as the “latest national anthem”.
Akpabio said the sitting was primarily to launch the new national anthem, explaining that the President would not be making a speech because he has to leave to launch the Abuja metro line.
The Senate and the House of Representatives had previously passed the legislation to swap the national anthem from “Arise, O Compatriots” to “Nigeria, We Hail Thee” at separate sittings.
Following the signing of the bill by the President to reintroduce the old national anthem, the joint sitting jettisoned what has been in existence since 1978, to adopt the former (and newly signed) national anthem ‘Nigeria, we hail thee’.
The old anthem, “Nigeria, we hail thee”, composed when Nigeria gained independence on October 1, 1960, has replaced the “Arise, O Compatriots” anthem.
See below the reintrodiced NATIONAL ANTHEM
Nigeria We Hail Thee: Three stanzas of old 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.
