President Bola Ahmed Tinubu has assented to the National Anthem Bill 2024 reverting to the old national anthem, “Nigeria, we hail thee”.

“This morning, Mr President signed into an Act of Parliament, the newly passed National Anthem 2024,” Senate President, Godswill Akpabio, said on Wednesday at a joint session of the National Assembly marking the Silver Jubilee Of Nigeria’s 4th Republic. The occasion coincided with the first anniversary of President Bola Tinubu’s administration.

Tinubu, who later joined the joint session, confirmed ‘Nigeria, we hail thee’ as the “latest national anthem”.

Akpabio said the sitting was primarily to launch the new national anthem, explaining that the President would not be making a speech because he has to leave to launch the Abuja metro line.

Following the signing of the bill by the President to reintroduce the old national anthem, the joint sitting jettisoned what has been in existence since 1978, to adopt the former (and newly signed) national anthem ‘Nigeria, we hail thee’. The President and Lawmakers jointly recited the old national anthem at the National Assembly, at 12,48 pm.

The old anthem, “Nigeria, we hail thee”, composed when Nigeria gained independence on October 1, 1960, has replaced the “Arise, O Compatriots” anthem.