How well do you know Nigeria’s national anthem? This was the focus of the conversation on Nigeria Info’s Hello Port Harcourt, which sparked diverse opinions from some residents of Port Harcourt about their interest in learning the newly reinstated national anthem.
President Bola Tinubu recently signed into law a bill to revert to Nigeria’s national anthem from 1960.
In the conversation, the first caller expressed a lack of interest in learning the new anthem due to the economic hardships in the country. According to him, reverting to the 1960 anthem is a matter of wrong timing.
“If things were okay and you introduced the national anthem, I would be glad to listen to it and learn, but I am hungry!” he stressed.
He suggested that the government should focus on increasing the national minimum wage and addressing the high cost of living.
Conversely, a second caller viewed the return to the 1960 anthem as a positive development. He appreciated the significance of the anthem’s stanzas and believed that learning the old anthem was an important act of patriotism, encouraging others to make the effort to learn it.
A third caller mentioned that he had already mastered the new anthem and translated it into his local dialect. He argued that reluctance to learn the anthem often comes from a lack of interest, and if people can learn the lyrics to their favourite songs, they can also learn the national anthem.
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