If Nigeria’s national anthem were a human being, it would be in a coma by now after receiving some unwarranted uppercuts.
The Nigerian social media space has been agog with reactions to a trending video of a singer appearing as police personnel wrongly reciting the country’s national anthem.
This ‘national anthem goes wrong’, it is understood, happened at the Conference and Retreat for Senior Police Officers in Imo State, southeast Nigeria.
When you think you have seen it all, something unexpected just pops up. But why would any Nigerian struggle to recite the national anthem?
A Nigeria police officer struggling to recite the Country National anthem.
She is a Shame to the force and Nigeria at Large
pic.twitter.com/1XtWWZJZ0u— Wilfred Adahor♚ (@AdahorX) October 31, 2023
As expected, many Nigerians on the X social media platform have criticised her for missing the lyrics, even though a lot of Nigerians will be guilty of the same thing if given the opportunity.
National disgrace at the Nigerian senior police officers conference 🤣🤣 Owerri. 💔💔
Happy boys greatest Fubara Ambode arise TV Adekunle Mourinho venita heartattack national anthem Muslim Muslim FIFA Satoshi nakamoto Boko Haram malacia Rema welcome to Nigeria Marcus rashford pic.twitter.com/gnB334qV78
— Eminent global medics (@EmmanuelMedical) October 31, 2023
While we are still trying to understand and take in the embarrassing situation, another video of the ‘policewoman’ apologising to Nigerians for her error has gone viral, too.
She identified herself as an actress and a singer known as Descushiel.
Now, what is the concern in this matter?
The fact that she struggled to recite the national anthem is worrying. I am thinking, is it not the same national anthem that many of us recited or sang every day of our school lives back in primary and secondary school?
While some of us sang it incoherently when we were younger, as we grew older, we figured out the right words and began singing it better.
We understand that the country is not ‘smiling’ at the moment, but as citizens, we do not have any other country than Nigeria to call ours; hence, our national anthem should be a powerful symbol that resonates deeply with every citizen.
The national anthem of a nation captures the collective identity and shared history of a country, uniting people across diverse backgrounds and beliefs.
It represents a source of pride, a reminder of the sacrifices made by previous generations, and a beacon of hope for the future.
The anthem should instill a sense of belonging and patriotism, instigating a surge of emotion whenever it is heard because it is a reminder of the values, ideals, and principles upon which Nigeria was founded and a call to unity and solidarity in times of joy and adversity.
This is a reminder that we should not let our national values and sense of pride be eroded or washed away.
Also, our teachers should make it a point of duty to correct our schoolchildren when they are saying the wrong lyrics while singing the anthem.
This will help to imprint the right wording of the anthem on our children, and it will grow with them.
