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Arise, O Compatriots

National anthem of Nigeria from 1978 to 2024

Field	Value
title	Arise, O Compatriots
caption	Sheet music
prefix	Former national
country
author	John A. Ilechukwu, Eme Etim Akpan, B. A. Ogunnaike, Sota Omoigui and P. O. Aderibigbe
lyrics_date	1978
composer	Nigerian Police Band under the directorship of B. E. Odiasse
music_date	1990
adopted
until
successor	Nigeria, We Hail Thee
sound	Former national anthem of Nigeria (1978–2024).oga
sound_title	Arise, O Compatriots

Arise, O Compatriots is a Nigerian patriotic song that was used as the national anthem of Nigeria from 1 October 1978 until 2024, when Nigeria, We Hail Thee was reinstated. On 29 May 2024, "Arise, O Compatriots" was officially relinquished followed by the readoption of the first national anthem, "Nigeria, We Hail Thee" used from 1960 until 1978.

History

The anthem was adopted in 1978 by the military dictatorship and replaced the previous national anthem, "Nigeria, We Hail Thee".

The lyrics are a combination of words and phrases taken from five of the best entries in a national contest. The words were put to music by the Nigerian Police Band under the directorship of Benedict P. Odiase (1934–2013). The lyrics were created by five people: P. O. Aderibigbe, John A. Ilechukwu, Dr. Sota Omoigui, Eme Etim Akpan and B.A. Ogunnaike.

On 29 May 2024, "Arise, O Compatriots" was officially relinquished following a bill passed by the National Assembly and subsequently signed into law by president Bola Tinubu. It was replaced by "Nigeria, We Hail Thee", Nigeria’s first national anthem.

Lyrics

Although the anthem has two verses, usually only the first is sung. On some occasions, the second verse is recited as "The National Prayer".

English original	Hausa translation	Igbo translation
I	{{lang	ha	italic=no	I	{{lang	ig	italic=no	I

Yoruba translation	Fulani translation	Tyap translation
{{lang	yo	italic=no	I	{{lang	fuv	italic=no	I	{{lang	kcg	italic=no	I

National Pledge

The Nigerian pledge of allegiance is recited immediately after the playing of the Nigerian national anthem. It was written by Felicia Adebola Adeyoyin in 1976.

English original	Hausa translation	Yoruba translation	Tyap translation
I pledge to Nigeria, my country	Na yi wa Najeriya alƙawarin ƙasata	Mo ṣeleri fun Nàìjíríà orilẹ-ede mi	N da̱p a̱nu ma̱ng Naijeriya, a̱byin nung ka.

References

Akpan, Samuel. (29 May 2024). "Tinubu signs bill returning Nigeria back to using the old national anthem.".
(2013-06-12). "Nigeria's National Anthem Composer, Pa Ben Odiase, Dies". Gazelle News.
AriseNews. (2024-05-29). "National Assembly Passes Bill to Change National Anthem from 'Arise O Compatriots' to 'Nigeria, We Hail Thee'".
"National Anthem".
(2021-06-16). "Awọn aami Orilẹ-ede Naijiria ati Ohun ti Wọn Aṣoju Imudojuiwọn Titun".
(3 May 2021). "Prof. Felicia Adeyoyin, Author of Nigeria's National Pledge, Dies at 83". Foundation For Investigative Journalism.
"Nigerian National Anthem".

Info: Wikipedia Source

This article was imported from Wikipedia and is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License. Content has been adapted to SurfDoc format. Original contributors can be found on the article history page.

historical-national-anthems nigerian-songs national-symbols-of-nigeria

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