The ruckus over a new (which is in fact old) National Anthem has subsided. And as with many other things, Nigerians have moved on. We always do.
For those of us who were in school in the 1960s and 70s, ‘Nigeria We Hail Thee’ was the staple we fed on. It was our very beloved National Anthem. Melodious and inspiring. We felt like doing anything, going anywhere for the country whenever we sang it, as young as we were.
But in 1978, they said we were changing to a new Anthem. ‘Arise o Compatriots, Nigeria’s Call Obey.’ I was a Class 3 student in secondary school then, and willy-nilly, had to learn the new one. I didn’t feel it was as good as the former one, but they mouthed things like patriotism, and having a home grown National Anthem, not one composed by a foreigner. We moved, as obedient citizens.
For some years, there had been agitation from certain quarters for a return to the old Anthem in the country. It was even a major issue at the 2014 Constitutional Conference convened by President Goodluck Jonathan. Majority of the conferees opted for it.
So when the Bola Tinubu administration reverted to ‘Nigeria We Hail Thee’ some months back, I had no issue with it. A lot of people argued that it was the least of the country’s problem at that time, but to me, ‘Nobody Worry Nobody.’ I didn’t have to relearn the old Anthem. It was firmly stuck in my brain, and I had even taught it to my children when they were younger.
Now, to where we are going, as we enter the year 2025. Look at the last two lines of the second stanza of the new (old) Anthem: ‘To hand on to our children, a banner without stain.’
Very deep. Fundamental for any entity that would truly be called a nation. We are not a nation yet, but mere conglomeration of ethnic nationalities. Hopefully, we will one day become a true nation.
But before we get there, the banner of Nigeria must be without stain, and it must be handed over from generation to generation.
‘To hand on to our children, a banner without stain.’ I shudder to admit that currently, the banner of Nigeria is filled with stains, and has been so from the beginning. Bloodied. Sullied. Smudged. Besmirched.
Pity!
When Major Kaduna Nzeogwu led the first military coup in the country, and they shot people from certain parts to ribbons, it was a stain on Nigeria’s banner. On our unity.
When the revenge coup occurred later, and it was also sectional in execution, another smudge on our banner. Eventually, there was a pogrom against an ethnic nationality, which eventually led to an internecine civil war for three years. Over two million people were killed, and it was a huge stain on our banner.
Corruption is a sully. Ethnicity is a tarnish. Irredentism, religious intolerance, chauvinism in any form, wanton killings, terrorism, insularity, evil speaking, hatred of people in authority simply because they are not from our clan, negative confessions about our country; all these besmirch our banner as a land and people.
But to build a true nation, we must hand on to our children a banner without stain, from generation to generation. It, therefore, means that we must eschew all anti-nation acts, predilections and tendencies, which suffuse ‘our own dear native land’ today.
We must believe in our country, warts and all. William Cowper said: “England, with all thy faults, I love thee still. My country.” We must also say of our land: “Nigeria, with all thy faults, I love thee still. My country.”
A banner without stain. To be called a nation, we must achieve it, if not in our time, then in the time of our children.
*Adesina served as Special Adviser on Media and Publicity to President Muhammadu Buhari, 2015-2023
