Nigeria, we hail thee!!

Reverting to the old national anthem is a complete non-issue to me. I would not have advocated for an anthem change if I was in the national assembly; I would have pushed for the old anthem to be included in a list of patriotic songs that can be sung as major events and functions. Just about anywhere sef

I would have pushed for Timi Dakolo's song 'Great Nation' and a host of songs done by Flavour to be included in the list. In fact, if I was the president, I'll appoint Flavour as the hype-master general of the federation.

The US have their national anthem and they also have 'America the beautiful' which is very popular. Some even tried to give this song an equal status with the star-spangled banner.

Some have asked and continue to ask what the new anthem brings to the table. The answer is nothing. For now, nothing and I wonder why so much hypersensitivity about it. It may stimulate patriotism later, who knows? Some are offended that a British woman composed it. They say it ought not to be regarded over an anthem a Nigerian composed. One fellow commented on X that local content is in the mud. This is good, I hope those offended are equally offended by everything foreign. I hope they do away with everything not 'made in Nigeria,' I hope they drive Nigerian assembled cars and eat only locally grown food instead of clamoring for surplus dollars to import what we already have locally.

What amazes me is how some people are acting as if they never wanted a reversion to the old, now new anthem. The 2014 national confab agreed on a reversion. Since this looks like a fulfillment of what was in that report, I think folks ought to leverage on this to pressure the national assembly and executive to look at what they consider beneficial in that document and effect them. Folks usually talk about how Nigeria already has enough items in white papers that still solve all our problems. We want regional governments, state police, parliamentary system and many other structural changes; let's fight for them instead of just sneering at this recent move. At least it didn't technically cost a kobo to change.

Local content isn't always good. It was a Nigerian who composed the NYSC song. That song itself needs to be wiped away from history. Some are worried that younger Nigerians will find it difficult to learn a new anthem. They don't typically find it difficult to learn the new lyrics of songs that get dropped every week in Nigeria. The new anthem should be considered as a new track and I bet certain Nigerians are already working on remixes and reimaginations that will help Nigerians remember the lyrics.

There's no cause for alarm.