It is cruel compelling our children to sing the colonial anthem —Sota Omoigui, co-author of Nigeria’s discarded national anthem

TRIBUNE

Dr Sota Omoigui is a medical practitioner in California in the United States of America. He is one of the authors of ‘Arise O Compatriots, Nigeria’s call obey!’, the national anthem recently discarded by the government to revert to the old national anthem, Nigeria we hail thee. In this interview by SAM NWAOKO, Dr Omoigui shares his thoughts on the action and other national issues.

Your position on the return to the old national anthem presupposes that you were not pleased by the decision. How do you feel about the decision to discard the national anthem you co-authored?

It was not the return of the colonial anthem that concerned me, but rather the reasons attributed for the return. What struck me the most was that the colonial anthem embodied more relevant values than our Nigerian anthem or that it would be a source of building patriotism. Our political leaders have no idea of the meaning of patriotism. Patriotism is love for or devotion to one’s country. The first two lines of Arise O Compatriots, Nigeria’s call obey is a call to action. It calls on us to serve our fatherland with love and strength and faith. There is nothing more patriotic than that. The vast majority have no electricity, roads, pipe-borne water, healthcare and social amenities. Nigerians are worse off today than at the time of independence. They are not benefiting from any wealth, rather the politicians are. The minimum wage is being negotiated from N30,000.00 while each Senator earns about N30 million every month. Changing the anthem and expecting a different result is insanity.

Does what just happened evoke any memories… Perhaps of a Nigeria you had dreamt of as a young boy, or during your Kings College days or immediately after?

It evoked memories of a Nigeria that used to work in the years following our independence. A Nigeria with a vibrant civil service that constituted checks and balances even in the military regimes of Ironsi and Gowon… The destruction of that civil service by Murtala Muhammed and Olusegun Obasanjo sowed the seeds for the lack of accountability and generational decline that we experience today. We did not experience as much decline during our military regimes that always had some degree of discipline but with the advent of democracy and a constitution that gave civil and criminal immunity to governors, the nation is now awash with unchecked corruption with impunity at all levels.

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