By Ola Kay
The proprietor of Elsoteria International School, in Azuabie/Okujagu Trans Amadi, Port Harcourt Rivers State, Mr. Alfred Onwuchekwa, has lent his support for President Bola Ahmed Tinubu, for taking a bold step in changing the Nigerian National Anthem.
He stated this during an interactive session with journalists in the state capital on Monday.
He described said the immediate past Nigerian national anthem as an aberration, as it failed to capture the true Nigerian spirit at Independence in 1960.
While noting that the last anthem was changed by the former Head of State, General Olusegun Obasanjo in 1978, the new anthem came with a marked different, just as some of the lyrics contained in the current anthem address fundamental issues about the country, quoting “…though tribes and tongues may differ, in brotherhood we stand…, help us to build a nation, where no man is oppressed…”
Onwuchekwa pointed out that it is time President Tinubu addressed tribal differences and brought together all Nigerians on the side of brotherhood, irrespective of religious or tribal leanings.
He went down memory lane, saying that the anthem, ” Nigeria We Hail Thee…” was adopted as Nigeria’s First National Anthem on October 1, 1960; the anthem which lyrics were written by Lilian Jean Williams, a British expatriate, who lived in Nigeria when it achieved Independence.
He added that it was Francis Berda, a Briton, who composed the music of ‘Nigeria We Hail Thee.’
The move to actualize the current anthem was first made on May 23rd, 2024, when the National Assembly passed a bill to revert to the anthem from the last anthem to 1960 Anthem.
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