Reactions Trail Super Eagles’ Inability To Recite New National Anthem
Nigerians have aired the views on the inabililty of the Super Eagles players to recite the re-introduced national anthem, “Nigeria We Hail Thee.”
The Super Eagles players were spotted struggling to sing the new Nigerian national anthem, ‘Nigeria we hail thee’, before the World Cup qualifier against South Africa on Friday.
They all kept mute throughout the national anthem recitation.
The three-time African champions hosted South Africa in their third qualifying game which ended 1-1 at the Godswill Akpabio Stadium in Uyo.
READ: Nigeria We Hail Thee: Checkout the Lyrics And Meaning Of The Old National Anthem
Singing the national anthem of each team during an international football match is a mandatory action before the kickoff.
However, before the South Africa game, Nigerian players could be seen silent while observing in solemnity the new national anthem as being played.
Reacting on social media platform X, some Nigerians were not surprised that the players were unable to recite the national anthem considering the short time frame to learn it.
@ChrisBassey22: How do you expect them to know the lyrics
@iamaleshinloye: How many of them even knows the first one? sabi the first one
@omahrico: no even expect them to sing. Most players no dey usually sing their anthems. Some country’s anthem don’t even have words.
@hewelu: Nobody is singing
@vinjahmedia: It clearly shows you how stup!d the whole idea is. Our lawmakers busy expending so much energy on things that have no bearing on national dev, while abandoning the very things they were voted for. Who will struggle to learn this at old age? I’m very sure the next administration will reverse it.
@Teesaids: It was a solemn recitation by the Super Eagles as the none of them could boldly sing out they will really suffer in coming matches.Changing the Nigeria National Anthem won’t automatically turn the situation of the Country around.
President Bola Tinubu, recently signed the re-adoption of the former national anthem, ‘Nigeria we hail thee’ to replace the ‘Arise O compatriots’ which most Nigerians of this generation are not familiar with.
There were debates over the actions taken by the country’s number one citizen, as the newly re-adopted national anthem had been discarded over four decades ago.
Nigeria’s next match would be against the Benin Republic at the Felix Houphouet-Boigny Stadium on Monday, June 10.
Hafsoh Isiaq is a graduate of Linguistics. An avid writer committed to creative, high-quality research and news reportage. She has considerable experience in writing and reporting across a variety of platforms including print and online.
