Senate President Godswill Akpabio on Tuesday highlighted several errors in the recently released version of the Nigerian national anthem by the National Orientation Agency (NOA).
During a plenary session, he directed the NOA to correct the mistakes found in lines three, five, and 18 of the anthem.
The Director-General of the NOA, Lanre Issa-Onilu, had unveiled what was called the “standardised version” of the national anthem in Abuja last Wednesday.
During the unveiling, Issa-Onilu emphasized the importance of paying attention to specific words in lines three and five of the anthem.
He pointed out that line three of the first stanza should read, “Though tribes and tongues may differ,” noting the plural forms of “tribes” and “tongues.” He also clarified that line five should read, “Nigerians all, are proud to serve,” with “are” being the correct word.
However, Senate President Akpabio stated that the corrections made by the NOA did not align with what the National Assembly had approved.
He specified that the approved version uses “Nigerians all, are proud to serve” rather than “Nigerians all, and proud to serve.” Additionally, the approved version states, “Though tribes and tongues may differ,” not “Thus tribe and tongue.”
Finally, the phrase “Nigeria shall be blessed” should be used instead of “Nigeria may be blessed,” emphasizing certainty over possibility.
Akpabio instructed the NOA to revert to the version approved by the National Assembly and cease circulating the current version.
He congratulated his colleagues on their adherence to the approved text.
