By Chijioke Kingsley
Abuja (Sundiata Post) – The Plateau State Commissioner for Secondary Education, Hon. Mohammed Salihu Nyalun, has said with the efforts put in place by the Ministry of Education in the State, students are now acquainted with the reversed old national anthem.
Nyalun said with the new technology of smartphones it made it easy for the Ministry to circulate the first old national anthem that was sung by the colonial masters in 1960 to principals of various secondary schools in Plateau.
He said the immediate step that was taken was to print and circulate the lyrics of the old anthem to various zonal offices which were further sent to area offices and then to principals of various schools across the State.
The Commissioner who spoke with our correspondent on Wednesday, said the effort put in place has seen many schools now sing the old national anthem with ease.
Recall that President Tinubu on May 29th 2024, signed the bill on the reintroduction of the old national anthem.
Tinubu had launched the rendition of the old national anthem during a joint sitting of the national assembly.
The old national anthem is themed: ‘Nigeria, We Hail Thee’. The version used since 1978 is titled: ‘Arise, O Compatriots’.
However, the Commissioner said: “Immediately the new national anthem was reversed to the old one, the Ministry printed the copy of the old anthem to be effectively circulated to schools.
“We also took advantage of the smart phones and the new media to get the anthem across to various schools for immediate action.
“We also sent the videos and the lyrics.
“We have a follow-up mechanism to ensure that students learn the anthem. We can tell you that a good number of schools can now sing the old anthem.
The Commissioner said the directive to revert to the old anthem came with some challenges as people are not always eager to learn new things because they are used to the former.
He said part of the criticism was that students are saying why should they revert to an anthem that was formulated by the colonial masters instead of sticking to the one manufactured by independent Nigerians.
“Also, people are saying hunger in the land should be addressed instead of coming up with an anthem that cannot address the economic hardship.
“But since it has become a law, we have to enforce it, Nyalun said.
He said in a short while, after the supervision of the Junior Secondary School Exams, a monitoring team will be dispatched to assess the level of compliance with the reintroduced anthem.
Also speaking, the Director of Schools, Plateau State Ministry of Education, Secondary, Mrs Keithleen Rahab Nyango, said part of the monitoring for compliance includes going to hold early morning assembly sections with schools to hear them sing the anthem.
Nyango said one important aspect of the anthem is to also learn the new drumming and beat of the anthem as it is not the same with the former.
“The reintroduced anthem has its own different musical drumbeat and instruments which must be learnt.
“We are already making use of Whatsapp to play the beats to schools so that they can learn.
“We have sent it to them and they are following it bit by bit to catch up with the beating of the anthem.
“We have sent the videos to the various zonal Directors and the Area Directors, as it was mentioned before, stepping it down to schools.
“For those that don’t have drums, they are learning it orally’, she said.
Nyango said she has made some students and teachers sing the old national anthem in their staff rooms, adding that the Ministry is yet to come up with a sanction for defaulting schools.
