Senate President, Godswill Akpabio, has said Nigeria might not be experiencing banditry today if the country had not changed its anthem in 1978.
Akpabio made the remark during a visit to the Nigerian Institute of Legislative and Democratic Studies (NILDS) on Tuesday.
In May, President Bola Tinubu signed into law the bill to revert to Nigeria’s old national anthem, ‘Nigeria, We Hail Thee’, which was dropped by a military government in 1978.
The newly re-adopted anthem, which begins “Nigeria, We Hail Thee,” was written by Lillian Jean Williams in 1959 and composed by Frances Berda.
Speaking at the event, the former Akwa Ibom State governor described the recent National Anthem Bill as one of the 10th Assembly’s most appealing pieces of legislation.
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The senator also noted that the Student Loan Bill was another significant bill that was passed by the Assembly.
“The bill that was sent to us by President Bola Ahmed Tinubu on students’ loans and scholarships to enable Nigerian vulnerable students; the less privilege to obtain higher education,” Akpabio said.
“And as I speak to you over 30,000 Nigerian students have been selected to benefit from it. That is one of the bills I would say appeals to me the most.
“The other one on social impact is reverting to our old national anthem. A lot of people are not aware that there was a panel made up of Nigerians set up to receive input from all over the world in 1959.
“So, when people say we are bringing colonial anthem, please look into the history of the “Nigeria, We Hail Thee”.
If we kept to that anthem, we probably would not have banditry today in Nigeria, because if you took your neighbour as your brother you would not want to kill your brother, if you took your neighbour as your brother, you would not want to into the farm and behead your brother.”
