The National Orientation Agency, NOA has said that the newly introduced National Anthem is wrongly sung by individuals, organizations and government agencies during public gatherings.
A statement by the Director General, NOA, Mallam Lanre Issa-Onilu, expressed that people should only recite/sing the first stanza and not all the three stanzas at official events.
The statement announced that the third stanzas should be recited as the National Prayer at the beginning of an event, while the three entire stanzas should be recited/sang only during Independence Day, inauguration, that is swearing-in of a President, Armed forces Remembrance Day,Democracy Day and Inauguration of the National Assembly.
It stated that the National Pledge on the other hand is to be recited at the end of an event.
According to the statement, the agency has also effected changes in the national anthem with the alphabet “s” added to the words tribe and tongue in the first stanza .
It noted that Nigerians all are ” is the correct phrase and not Nigerians all and ” in the first stanza, while “Nigeria shall may be blessed ” and not “Nigeria shall be blessed” is the correct phrase to be used in the third stanza.
The statement therefore urged Nigerians to take note of all corrections to ensure proper recitation/singing of the new National Anthem henceforth.
Packaged by Alice Egbedele
