Through the National Orientation Agency (NOA), the Federal Government has unveiled the approved version of the reintroduced national anthem.
The agency asked Nigerians to pay attention to the words in lines three and five of the recalled national anthem.
President Bola Tinubu signed into law the bill to revert to the old national anthem during his visit to the National Assembly on May 29.
NOA’s Director-General Lanre Issa-Onilu, who unveiled the standardised version of the anthem in Abuja, explained that his action was to guarantee consistency in the lyrics.
He said: “Today’s event is to present the official version which will clear all doubts about the correct lyrics as contained in the Act signed by the President.
“We call the attention of Nigerians to line three of the first stanza, which reads: Though tribes and tongues may differ. Note that the words ‘tribes’ and ‘tongues’ are in plural. We want you to also note that line five of the first stanza reads: “Nigerians all, are proud to serve”. The word “are”, not “and” is correct.”
According to him, the agency will soon call for entries for production of an authentic Nigerian melody for the anthem.
He said: “On the official instrumental and audio rendition, the NOA will call for entries for the production of an authentic Nigerian melody, taking into cognisance, the indigenous instrumentation of the Nigerian people.
“The effective date for the entries and the procedure will be announced through NOA channels in the coming week.”
