ARISE O COMPATRIOTS
I find it quite ironic that the Nigerian
Anthem begins with these words glorifying the country with its rich vibrant
culture and heritage and yet it happens to have no atom of our cultural
heritage as regards the melody, I mean don’t get me wrong we do have a rich
culture and I personally feel it's an
amazing anthem as regards the lyrics, but I also believe one of the major
reasons why an average Nigerian especially the younger generation can hardly
remember the lyrics of our Anthem is because it's not in my opinion "A
call to Arise "but more like "A call to sleep".
So out of my curiosity, I found out that
though our National Anthem sounds like an old hymn, it really does not have to
sound like that for it to be an effective one, we are a people of rich culture
and a diverse one at that but it is so amazing that not one tribe or culture in
Nigeria can identify with our Nation's Anthem when it comes to the way it
sounds.
We’ve almost all heard the saying “If
purpose is unknown, abuse is inevitable”, a nation’s anthem should promote
patriotism, so people feel good about their country and generally complain
less, it is also supposed to promote unity, so people stop arguing with
different ethnic groups and embrace the fact that they're stuck on the same
piece of land for the rest of the foreseeable future. Now with all that said I
guess I will be right to say our current National Anthem does not do that at
all.
No I don’t think we should have all our languages in our Anthem but I
feel it should ultimately carry everyone along and make us feel a sense of
belonging and we can achieve that by making it less western and more Nigerian
with a bit of a traditional feel to it. Before you are tempted to feel like
this write-up is totally uncalled for, have you ever wondered why it is so easy
for an average Nigerian to respond to a random danceable song and yet almost
doze off the minute the National Anthem comes on. IT IS BORING THAT’S WHY! Need
I remind you that we are Nigerians and we don’t do well with boring? I mean
there’s an “Owambe” (Groove) around the corner every weekend and that just goes
on to show the extent of our heritage and our love for fun……..We are a happy
people, Its part of our DNA and that’s just who we are! “GOOD PEOPLE, GREAT
NATION”
So I would like us all to consider this a
wakeup call to question the norm and embrace change which happens to be the
only constant thing and begin to think of having an anthem we can all feel great
about and be committed to, that is when we would love it enough to consciously
memorize the words and then begin to consciously do what it says.
GOD BLESS NIGERIA
