President Bola Tinubu has signed the National Anthem Bill 2024, restoring the old national anthem, “Nigeria, we hail thee.”
Senate President Godswill Akpabio announced this on Wednesday during a joint session of the National Assembly commemorating the Silver Jubilee of Nigeria’s 4th Republic.
The event also marked the first anniversary of President Bola Tinubu’s administration.
Tinubu, attending the joint session later, endorsed “Nigeria, we hail thee” as the “new national anthem.”
Akpabio explained that the session was primarily held to introduce the updated national anthem, noting that the President would not deliver a speech as he needed to depart to inaugurate the Abuja metro line.
Backstory
The Senate and the House of Representatives had earlier approved the bill to change the national anthem from “Arise, O Compatriots” to “Nigeria, We Hail Thee” during separate sessions.
With the President’s endorsement of the bill to reinstate the old national anthem, the joint session discarded the anthem that had been used since 1978, adopting the original “Nigeria, we hail thee” as the official anthem.
The anthem “Nigeria, we hail thee,” originally composed for Nigeria’s independence on October 1, 1960, has now supplanted “Arise, O Compatriots.”
Lillian Jean Williams, a British expatriate who lived in Nigeria during its independence, penned the lyrics for “Nigeria, we hail thee,” while Frances Berda composed the music.
The anthem played a significant role in shaping Nigeria’s national identity and unity during the 1960s and late 1970s.