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Nigeria has returned to a national anthem dropped almost 50 years ago after lawmakers passed a law to replace the current one, sparking widespread criticism of the lack of public consultation on the change.
President Bola Tinubu signed the law into law on Wednesday, a day after it was approved by both houses of Nigeria’s ruling party-dominated National Assembly. Federal lawmakers introduced and passed the bill in less than a week — an unusually quick process for major bills that typically take weeks or months to consider.
Nigeria’s economy collapsed during Tinubu’s first year in office, with inflation hitting a 28-year high of 33.2 percent, and the anthem change was dismissed by some as a cynical distraction from the escalating economic crisis.
The reintroduced anthem was played in public for the first time at a legislative session attended by Tinubu. Titled Nigeria, We Hail Thee, it was introduced in 1960 when Nigeria gained independence from Britain. It was written by Lillian Jean Williams, a British expatriate.
It was replaced in 1978 by Arise O Countrymen under the military government of Olusegun Obasanjo. This anthem was composed at a time when the country was reeling from a deadly civil war and called on Nigerians to “serve their fatherland with love and strength” and not let “the labor of our heroes be in vain”.
The change was greeted with disbelief by some Nigerians as the country reeled from an economic crisis and deteriorating security.
“It’s a waste of time,” said Cheta Nwanze, managing partner at SBM Intelligence. “What’s more important are inflation and security issues: that’s what the government needs to look at head-on.”
Obi Ezekwesili, a former education minister and presidential candidate, said the new law shows that the country’s political class does not care about the public interest.
“In 21st century Nigeria, the country’s political class has found a colonial national anthem that contains derogatory words like ‘Motherland’ and ‘Tribes’ to be admirable enough to be foisted on our citizens without their consent,” Ezekwesili posted on X.
Supporters of the new anthem, however, say it is wrong for the country to have adopted an anthem introduced by the military.
“Hymns are ideological recitations that help people to be more focused. It was a very sad development for the military to change the anthem,” said public affairs analyst Frank Titi.
The Associated Press and Reuters contributed reporting
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