The National Orientation Agency (NOA) has released the standardized version of the reintroduced national anthem, following the signing of the bill into law by President Bola Tinubu on May 29.
NOA’s move aims to ensure a unified version of the anthem, amid various renditions circulating across the country.
The reintroduced national anthem, composed by Lillian Jean Williams, was originally in use from 1960 to 1978.
NOA’s Director-General, Lanre Issa-Onilu, unveiled the standardized version in Abuja on Wednesday, stressing the importance of a single, correct version.
According to Issa-Onilu, the standardized version features a minor correction, changing the word “and” to “are” in the first stanza, line five, which now reads: “Nigerians all, are proud to serve.”
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He upheld the importance of the correction and drew attention to the plural usage of “tribes” and “tongues” in line three of the first stanza.
The national anthem’s three stanzas are as follows:
Stanza 1:
Nigeria, we hail thee
Our own dear native land
Though tribes and tongues may differ
In brotherhood, we stand
Nigerians all, are proud to serve
Our sovereign Motherland.
Stanza 2:
Our flag shall be a symbol
That truth and justice reign
In peace or battle, honour’d,
And this we count as gain,
To hand on to our children
A banner without stain.
Stanza 3:
O God of all creation
Grant this our one request,
Help us to build a nation
Where no man is oppressed,
And so with peace and plenty
Nigeria may be blessed.
The Agency urged all Nigerians to adopt the standardized version, ensuring unity and correctness in the rendition of the national anthem.
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