NOA Rebuffs Akpabio On National Anthem Lyrics

The National Orientation Agency (NOA) has explained that the official version of the National Anthem it unveiled remains the correct lyrics approved in the act signed by President Bola Tinubu on May 29, 2024 contrary to the public assertions of Senate President Godswill Akpabio.

The Director General of the Agency, Mallam Issa-Onilu, clarifying inquiries from the media on the correct lyrics of the new national anthem, said that as an act of the Parliament, the NOA was duty-bound to only promote the official version.

Believing that the Senate President was misquoted, Mallam Issa-Onilu advised the media to always cross-check their facts before publication.

However, GWG.ng reports that Senator Akpabio was not misquoted as he had questioned the lyrics in the official anthem circulated by the NOA.

Speaking on Tuesday at the Senate session, Akpabio had while querying the NOA circulated lyrics had said:

“Where we have Nigerians ‘all’ are proud to say, they have Nigerians all and proud to say.

“Also, where we have ‘though’ tribes and tongues may differ, they have ‘those’ tribe and tongues

“Also at the end where we have ‘Nigeria shall be blessed’, they have Nigeria ‘may’ be blessed.”

 “We are using shall, which is a compulsion that this country shall be blessed, so, tell the National Orientation Agency to drop what they are circulating now,” the Senate President said.

However, NOA director-general, while debunking the claims of Akpabio had also advised the media to check the Act signed by the President as approved by the National Assembly to confirm the version as released by the NOA.

In his words,” The official version that we issued remains the correct lyrics. We are making an effort to standardise the instrumental and audio versions before we release it to the public.”

The NOA had last week released the official version of the National anthem to guide citizens who might be unsure of the correct lyrics of the reintroduced old National Anthem.

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