President Bola Tinubu has signed the National Anthem Bill, 2024, reverting to the old National Anthem of “Nigeria We Hail thee”.
Senate President Godswill Akpabio announced this yesterday during a joint National Assembly (NASS) session to mark the country’s 25 years of uninterrupted democracy.
The session sang the new national anthem before the arrival of Tinubu, Vice President Kashim Shettima, and other top government functionaries.
The Senate and the House of Representatives had previously passed the legislation to swap the National
Anthem from “Arise, O Compatriots” to “Nigeria, We Hail Thee” at separate sittings.
Following the president’s signing of the bill to reintroduce the old National Anthem, the joint sitting jettisoned what had existed since 1978 to adopt the former (and newly signed) National Anthem, ‘Nigeria, we hail thee’.
The old anthem, “Nigeria, we hail thee”, composed when Nigeria gained Independence on October 1, 1960, has replaced the “Arise, O Compatriots” anthem. (NAN)
