Akpabio calls out NOA for teaching Nigerians wrong version of new National Anthem

The National Orientation Agency has come under fire from Senate President Godswill Akpabio for teaching Nigerians the wrong version of the recently adopted old National Anthem.

Akpabio pointed out that the New National Anthem, which was authorised by the Senate, was not the same as what the agency was distributing.

The Senate delayed plenary to July 2 after spending more than two hours in executive sessions following debates.

Akpabio asked that the Senate should sing the opening verse of the new National Anthem prior to adjourning the plenary.

The Senate President glanced at his book every now and then as the members sing the national anthem.

After they were done, Akpabio stated that the lawmakers should take note of the wordings of the anthem approved by the Senate and discard the one being presented by the NOA.

He said, “Take note of what we have here; what we have is different from what the NOA has.

“Where we have Nigerians ‘all’ are proud to say, they have Nigerians all and proud to say.

“Also, where we have ‘though’ tribes and tongues may differ, they have ‘those’ tribe and tongues.

“Also at the end where we have ‘Nigeria shall be blessed’, they have Nigeria ‘may’ be blessed.

“We are using ‘shall’ which is a compulsion that this country shall be blessed, so tell the National Orientation Agency to drop what they are circulating now.

The Senate had two weeks ago, passed the National Anthem Bill 2024 to revert to the old national anthem, “Nigeria, we hail thee.”

The Senate passed legislation to swap the national anthem from “Arise, O Compatriots” to “Nigeria, We Hail Thee.”

The bill, which speedily passed first and second readings on the same day was last week assented to by President Bola Tinubu.