Senate President Godswill Akpabio has once again gotten tongues wagging after saying that the old national anthem ‘Nigeria we hail thee’, which was re-introduced by President Tinubu as the new anthem, could have prevented issues of banditry and insecurity in Nigeria.
According to the senate president, if Nigeria had retained the Nigeria we hail thee, it would have taught citizens patriotism.
Akpabio noted that the old anthem would have helped tackle banditry because if Nigerians see themselves as brothers, they will not want to kill each other.
Furthermore, Akpabio stated that those labelling the re-introduced anthem as an element of colonialism don’t understand Nigeria’s history.
The Panel
To Akpabio, a panel made up of Nigerians was set up in 1959, with the sole aim of receiving inputs from all over the world regarding the anthem.
It was on Tuesday, during a visit to the Nigeria Institute of Legislative and Democratic Studies in Abuja that the Senate President made this submissions.
Also Read: Why I Reinstated Old National Anthem ‘Nigeria We Hail Thee’- President Tinubu
In his words: “The other impactful bill signed by the National Assembly is the reverting to our old national anthem.
“A lot of people are not aware that there was a panel set up and made up of Nigerians to receive input from all over the world in 1959.
“So when people are saying we’re bringing in colonial anthem, they need to look into the history of “Nigeria, we hail thee”.”
“If we had kept to that anthem, we probably would not have banditry today in Nigeria because if you take your neighbour as your brother, you will not want to kill him.”
The Bill
In case you have forgotten so soon, both the House of Representatives and the Senate speedily passed a bill to return to the old national anthem, “Nigeria, we hail thee”, that was abolished in 1978.
President Bola Tinubu also signed the bill in May, after it was passed by the National Assembly, making the old anthem the new anthem of the country.
Watch the video here:
New National Anthem Will Build Patriotism, Resolve Insecurity – Akpabio#ChannelsTVNews pic.twitter.com/N3sTgiSCbE
— Channels Television (@channelstv) June 18, 2024
