The bill has been referred to the Senate Committee on Judiciary, Human Rights and Legal Matters to report back as soon as possible.
A bill, titled ” A bill to provide for the National Anthem of Nigeria for related matters,” seeking the return of Nigeria’s old National Anthem – Nigeria, we hail thee – has passed its first and second reading at the Senate and the House of Representatives.
The Senate had just returned from a closed-door session which lasted for over an hour and immediately read the bill for a first reading and second reading subsequently.
In the executive/closed session during Thursday’s plenary, the lawmakers deliberated on changing the national anthem to the previous one.
After a closed-door session to debate the bill, the lawmakers concluded that the current national anthem is a product of the military junta, and should be discarded to adequately capture the nation’s democratic values, and integrity and principally foster commitment to nationhood.
The Bill sponsored by the Leader of the Senate, Opeyemi Bamidele (APC, Ekiti Central) seeks to replace the anthem with the former one ‘Nigeria, We Hail Thee’, which was adopted as the country’s first national anthem on October 1, 1960, but was dropped in 1978 by the Olusegun Obasanjo military regime.
The previous National Anthem reads as follows;
“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,
“And this we count as gain,
“To hand on to our children, a banner without stain.
“O God of 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.”
The bill has been referred to the Senate Committee on Judiciary, Human Rights and Legal Matters to report back as soon as possible.
In the same vein, the House quickly passed the bill, sponsored by Rep. Julius Ihonvbere (APC, Edo), for first, second and third reading within minutes.
Leading the debate Rep. Ihonvbere said the content of the old anthem is far better than the current one as he noted that Nigerians have repeatedly sung the current National Anthem without adhering to the patriotic lyrics contained in the Anthem.
He said, the old National Anthem written by Lilian Jean Williams and composed by Frances Benda is a nostalgic reminder of Nigeria’s rich history and cultural heritage.
Speaking against the bill, the Minority Leader, Rep. Kingsley Chinda said the anthem should not be a thing of priority to Nigerians adding that the old anthem was composed by colonialists and adopting it would mean going back to that mindset.
“For every law, there must be a spirit to it. If we are asked what is the essence of this law, I would talk about history. What does this old national anthem represent?
“This history dates back to colonialism. We dropped it because we wanted an Anthem to remove us from colonialism. The old anthem was composed by foreigners,” he said.
Following the debate, the bill was put to vote by Deputy Speaker, Rep. Benjamin Kalu who presided over the session. However, the “nay” voices seemingly appeared louder, yet the presiding officer called the vote in favour of “ayes”.
This generated complaints from lawmakers, however, the Deputy Speaker insisted on the ruling and pushed it through amid the objections by some lawmakers.
OrderPaper believes that the bill was pushed to the legislative chambers by the executive with the intent of signing it into law on May 29 to mark the 1-year anniversary of President Bola Tinubu or on June 12, Nigeria’s Democracy Day.
Additional reports provided by Leah Twaki
