By Abiola Olawale
Nigerians have begun to react to the drama that broke out during Thursday’s, May 23, plenary of the House of Representatives, as lawmakers passed a bill to adopt the old National Anthem.
The bill scaled through first, second and third reading within a few minutes, despite opposition from some lawmakers.
The bill was sponsored by the Majority Leader, Hon. Julius Ihonvbere (APC, Owan Federal Constituency, Edo State).
Leading the debate on the bill, Prof. Ihonvbere said the content of the old Anthem is far better than the current one.
He pointed to the need for Nigerians to see the anthem as a national symbol and sign of authority, one which does not deny the realities.
However, the Minority Leader, Hon. Kingsley Chinda kicked against the bill, saying that the anthem should not be a thing of priority to Nigerians.
While opposing the bill, Chinda said the old anthem was composed by colonialists and adopting it would mean going back.
He said: “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, Ben Kalu, who presided over the session.
Although the “nay” voices appeared louder, the Deputy Speaker called the vote in favour of “ayes.”
The New Diplomat reports that the “Nigeria, We Hail Thee” anthem was used from 1960 when Nigeria gained independence until replaced by, “Arise, O Compatriots,” in 1978.
Lilian Jean Williams wrote the lyrics for Nigeria’s previous national anthem, “Nigeria, We Hail Thee,” in 1959, while Frances Berda composed the music for the anthem during the same year.
Below are reactions by Nigerians curated from social media:
“Is the National anthem our problem now?
These people just earn millions to be doing rubbish weekly.” (@TommySheb)
“What a disaster of a government. The old anthem that has all the wordings and screams of colonialism… there’s is something going on here. It may be deeper than we think. There is an external force directing Nigerians leadership.” (@fAultsanadreas)
“For what purpose, what do they hope to achieve? Is it a national unity? Will it stop corruption? Will it improve the collapsing economy?” (@faisi100)
“Maybe it’s the national anthem that is the reason for poor policy decisions and performances with the economy, which isn’t attracting foreign and some local investors? Akin to the biblical Elijah’s mockery of the Ba’al, 1 Kings 18, at Mount Carmel.” (@WHISKYP3)
“They are jobless, see how they were fast in passing the bill?! If it were life-saving issues, it would have taken decades for them to pass the bill. There is no constituency that sent its Rep to do this, none in Nigeria.
Who are they representing?” (@Jayaashy)
“As usual lack of direction. Nothing to discuss so they major in irrelevance. How is this one better than the one we are using? Are we going back in life? Or the people who changed it… did they think they don’t have sense?” (@A
yosky)
