Three days after President Bola Tinubu ratified the new National Anthem titled “Nigeria We Hail Thee,” many schools in Ogun State are yet to fully adopt it during their morning assemblies, a Saturday PUNCH survey has revealed.
On Wednesday, Senate President Godswill Akpabio announced during a joint plenary, attended by President Tinubu, that the president had signed into law the National Anthem Bill 2024, reinstating the old anthem “Nigeria, We Hail Thee.”
However, by Friday, students at Tenny College in the Ibafo area of Ogun State were still reciting the former anthem despite listening to the new one through a public address system. The school administrator, Mrs. Feyijimi Opeoluwa, explained, “We started today to teach them. Most of the children now are the noodle generation. We will have to take them through it.”
Similarly, at Gideon Comprehensive High School, the Principal, Mrs. Senbanjo Omolola, mentioned that students were yet to recite the new anthem but would start by the following week.
Students of the Community Grammar School in Ibafo also continued reciting the old National Anthem during their early morning assembly on Friday. Some students noted that while their friends in other schools had started learning the new anthem, their teachers had not yet begun teaching it.
The situation was similar in other areas of Ogun State. At Isanbi Comprehensive High School in Ilisan Remo, students had started learning the new anthem. On Friday, Vice-Principal Mr. Adedapo Amusan and a female teacher led the students in singing the new anthem. Initially, a recorded version of the anthem was played for the students to familiarize themselves with the tune before joining in the recitation. Senior teacher Mr. Segun Awoyemi commented, “This is a welcome development. You can see that the students are also excited, and we all sincerely hope that the messages of the new anthem will spur us to begin to work for the greatness of Nigeria.”
At another school, the headmistress, Mrs. Ayodele, described the efforts being made to ensure that both teachers and pupils memorize the new anthem. “We have stopped the old anthem in our school. We are now teaching our teachers and pupils to get the new song. Though they haven’t got it since last Wednesday, we have been teaching everyone in the school how to recite it every morning,” she said.
Despite these efforts, the transition has not been seamless. Some schools in Ogun State, like many across the country, continue to recite the old anthem while gradually introducing the new one to their students.
As the state’s schools strive to comply with the new directive, the mixed pace of adoption highlights the challenges in transitioning to a new national symbol. However, with ongoing efforts from school administrators and teachers, full compliance is expected in the coming weeks.
Source: https://punchng.com/ogun-adamawa-anambra-schools-recite-old-anthem-three-days-after-tinubus-assent/?amp
