Nigeria we hail

Nigeria we hail thee..
These are first few words of Nigeria's old anthem. This was used between 1960 - 1978 I bet many Nigerians born in the early 80's and early 90's are not aware. It was shelved just like the second stanza of the present anthem, until recently. The three stanza song spoke of brotherhood, justice, peace and unity.

In recent times Nigeria's Federal Government has taken measures to 'find use' for the second stanza of the national anthem, this move was effected August this year.

'The Federal Executive Council has adopted the second stanza of the National Anthem as the official prayer at all public functions.'..Punch newspaper Aug 2, 2012

In another daily, the reporter in a frenzy of excitement on the said subject matter says; 

'ironically I have always thought that the lyrics of the second stanza are very rich'... dailytimesng May 12, 2012

many more people have said they prefer the second stanza to the first, is it because we have grown so accustomed to it?

Earlier in the week, the batch C' 2012 corps members resumed orientation activities at the designated camps across Nigeria. The NYSC anthem is one that reminds me of both the old anthem and stanza 2 of the current anthem.

I remember with nostalgia the day we had to sing ''under the sun or in the rain'' in an actual down pour, that day it became real that whoever wrote the NYSC anthem meant it.

With several debate on wether to save the scheme or not, the Nigerian youth still has something to look forward to on graduation. To think since inception in 1973 to date, the National Youth Service  Corps is the only program that has enjoyed continuity.

While the debate goes on, the call to serve our father land is on...