A senior advocate of Nigeria, Mike Ozekhome and the Attorney General of the Federation and Minister of Justice Lateef Fagbemi has consented to the change of the National anthem as the bill Passes second reading.
The President of the Senate was represented by the leader of the house Opeyemi Bamidele who said that the second stanza of the existing national anthem shall be the national prayer.
He however added that if necessary, more consultations will be made on the matter.
Contributing to the change, the attorney general of the Federation and Minister of Justice Lateef Fagbemi, said the amendment should not come only by legislative fiat, but should be subjected to a wider consultation.
He argued that though the change is necessary, it should however be given a wider process to ensure it is a true reflection of the generality of the wishes of all Nigerians.
A Senior Advocate of Nigeria, Mike Ozekhome has highlighted one of the lines from the previous anthem, which addresses the issue of oppression, while corroborating with the Director General of National Orientation Agency that the change of the nation’s anthem is long overdue.
He further recalled that he had mooted the idea 10 years ago at the 2014 CONFAB through a motion and it was debated by the 490 delegates but ultimately discarded.
According to him, the present Nigerian flag of green white green is too bland and not inspirational compared to that of US and South Africa.
Highlighting some of the countries that have gone through the change process like The Netherlands, Pakistan, France, Russia, Turkey, Zambia, Zimbabwe and 12 others noting that it is quintessential to National development.
Last week, a bill seeking to make provision for Nigeria to revert to its old national anthem scaled through second reading at the Senate.
It was referred to the Senate Committee on Judiciary, Human Rights and Legal Matters to report back to the house in two weeks.
Meanwile, at the House of Representatives, the bill to revert to the old national anthem “Nigeria, We Hail Thee”, was passed.
