President Bola Tinubu has assented to the National Anthem Bill 2024 reverting to the old national anthem, “Nigeria, we hail thee”.
Senate President, Godswill Akpabio, made the disclosure on Wednesday at a joint session of the National Assembly marking the silver jubilee Of Nigeria’s 4th Republic. The occasion coincided with the first anniversary of President Bola Tinubu’s administration.
Though Tinubu later joined the session where he flagged off ‘Nigeria, we hail thee’ as the latest national anthem, Akpabio explained that the sitting was primarily to launch the new national anthem, noting that the President would not be making a speech at the event due to his need to attend the launch of Abuja’s new metro line.
Prior to the latest development, the Senate and the House of Representatives had passed legislation to replace the national anthem from “Arise, O Compatriots”, adopted in 1978 to “Nigeria, We Hail Thee” at separate sittings.
The lyrics for Nigeria’s national anthem, ‘Nigeria, We Hail Thee’, were written by British expatriate Lillian Jean Williams, who lived in Nigeria during its independence, with the music composed by Frances Berda, and adopted in 1960.
