May 29, (THEWILL)- President Bola Tinubu has signed the amended National Anthem Bill 2024 into law, changing the current national anthem titled “Arise O Compatriots” to the old anthem, “Nigeria, We Hail Thee”.
Senate President, Godswill Akpabio, disclosed this while addressing lawmakers at the ongoing joint session of the National Assembly.
Titled “National Anthem Bill, 2024″, the President signed the bill on Wednesday, as part of the constitutional provisions mandating a return to the old national anthem.
THEWILL reports that the old anthem, ‘Nigeria, We Hail Thee’ was adopted at independence on October 1, 1960, but changed in 1978 to ‘Arise O Compatriots’.
The Senate passed the bill on Tuesday while the House of Representatives passed it last Thursday.
In his address at the joint sitting, Akpabio urged Nigerians to familiarise themselves with the new national anthem.
THEWILL observed that the new national anthem was sung upon President Tinubu’s arrival at the ongoing joint session of the National Assembly in Abuja.
The President was welcomed into the chamber to the tune of the old and now reintroduced national anthem at exactly 12:28 pm.
