Nigerian President Bola Tinubu on Wednesday signed a bill switching back to a national anthem composed by a British expatriate and adopted at independence, a move some dismissed as a cynical distraction from an escalating economic crisis.
“We Hail Thee” will now be used instead of “Arise O’ Compatriots”. The bill introduced last Thursday received an accelerated adoption without any legislative debate.
During President Tinubu’s first year in office, Nigeria’s economy has sharply declined, with inflation hitting a 28-year high of 33.20%.
Marking his first year by addressing parliament, Tinubu faced a nation grappling with economic turmoil and worsening security.
In a related historical note, Nigeria’s independence anthem, originally written by a Briton during British colonial rule, was repealed in 1978 by then military head of state Olusegun Obasanjo.
Though no official reason was given, it was understood that the change was due to the anthem’s colonial origins. This move, along with the current economic and security crises, has left many Nigerians in disbelief.
“It is a waste of time,” Cheta Nwanze, lead partner at SBM Intelligence, told Reuters. “What is more important are inflation and security problems, that is what the government should squarely be looking at.”
