‘Nigeria, We Hail Thee’ Not a Colonial Anthem – Akpabio

June 19, 2024

Senate President, Godswill Akpabio, has stated that the reintroduced national anthem, ‘Nigeria, We Hail Thee’ is not a colonial anthem, but a Nigerian one.

He said this during a visit to the Nigeria Institute of Legislative and Democratic Studies in Abuja on Tuesday.

According to Akpabio, people who argued that the reintroduced anthem was a remnant of colonialism were ignorant of the law and had no understanding of the history of the nation.

The Senate President said a group of Nigerians was formed in 1959, which received suggestions from all over the world regarding the anthem and approved the anthem then.

He said: “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 the colonial anthem, they need to look into the history of “Nigeria, we hail thee.”

Akpabio also added that the reintroduced anthem could have prevented banditry and insecurity if the country had left it as the anthem.

“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 Senate president said.