The Federal Government has taken a bold and significant step towards the promotion of patriotism and respect for national symbols.
Towards this end, the government through the National Orientation Agency (NOA), has identified some common errors Nigerians make when reciting the National Anthem.
The renewed NOA under the leadership of the Mallam Issa-Onilu as Director General not only identified and pointed out the common, but also provided the citizens corrections.
The identified errors include:
– “Tribe” which should be “tribes”
– “Tongue” which should be “tongues”
– “Nigerians all, and” which should be “Nigerians all, are”
– “Nigeria shall be blessed” which should be “Nigeria may be blessed”
The Issa-Onilu-led NOA’s enlightenment campaign also aim to clean up the Anthem of ambiguities in order to enhance its syntactic flow.
This identification of the common errors is coming shortly after the NOA had earlier issued guidelines on the correct usage of the National Anthem and Pledge.
According to the guidelines, only the first stanza of the National Anthem should be sung at official functions, while the National Pledge should be recited at the end of such programmes.
The guidelines also specify that the full three stanzas of the National Anthem can only be sung on specific occasions such as Independence Day, Inauguration of a President, Armed Forces Remembrance Day, and Democracy Day.
The NOA Director-General, Malam Lanre Issa-Onilu, emphasised the importance of adhering to the guidelines to promote uniformity and respect for national symbols, saying that the initiative is part of the agency’s public enlightenment drive to educate Nigerians on the proper usage of national symbols.
By correcting the identified errors and promoting the correct usage of the National Anthem and Pledge, the Federal Government through the NOA aims to instil a sense of patriotism and national pride in Nigerians.
