A video has surfaced online in which President Bola Tinubu promised to change the national anthem if he had his way. He expressed the wish in 2022 during commemorating the country’s 62nd independence anniversary.
He said, “If I have my way, I will bring back our first national anthem. That describes us much, much better. I don’t know why we changed it. It’s about service, diversity, commitment to values, and nation-building.”
Earlier today, Tinubu signed the old national anthem into law. The anthem is the country’s first anthem, which many have described as ‘colonial’. It was written by a British expatriate who was in Nigeria when it gained independence.
In approximately one week, between May 23 and 29, the National Assembly passed the bill to change Nigeria’s anthem, and Tinubu assented to it.