Are you a patriotic citizen? Before you hastily answer , think deeply about the question. We all at some point in time have sung the national anthem and recited the pledge. When you do any of these things , do you think about the words you sing and recite, the vow you make. Have you lived up to the words of the anthem , fulfilled your pledge to your nation. In a series of posts, I will work through the anthem and pledge and how the deep meaning and importance of these national anthem.
In this post, I will start with the national anthem. What is an anthem? Is it just a song that we sing before a football match or in the mornings at school or on television before the day’s broadcast begins.... ? NO, it is much more than a song. The anthem is a song adopted by a country to express the values and patriotic feeling. In other words our anthem was established to awaken our patriotic feelings towards our nation. It also encompasses the values and ethics and principles of the nation. It reflects what our forefathers believed and sought to pass on. It shows the love we should have for our country as well as what our nation demands of us.
We know the first verse of the anthem quite well:
Arise oh compatriots
Nigeria’s call obey
To serve our fatherland
With love and strength and faith
The labour of our heroes past
Shall never be in vain,
To serve with heart and might
One nation bound in freedom
Peace and unity
The first 2 lines is a constant call to serve. It says arise. Arise is call to stand, to take your place in the fight for the sanity of this nation. Arise is a call to take a front seat in determining the future of the country. The Oxford dictionary defines ‘arise’ as start to exist or be noticed. In other words, Nigeria is calling us to stand out and to be noticed. She is calling us to stand and fight for the preservation of the nation, of her values, of all that she represents and stands for. Nigeria is calling her citizens to defend her . to be stand out, to take their place.
She elaborates her call I lines 3 and 4. She calls us to serve our fatherland. This the land we were born into. It is the both the land of our fathers and ours too. She call us to serve our fatherland not out of duty, but out of love. Nigeria desires for us to love her and cherish her, if we truly love our nation we would do what is best for her and her people. Those in power will use their authority to promote the progress of the country, to ensure the betterment of the citizens. We the citizens would also seek the best for our country. If we truly loved her we would obey the laws of the land, shun corruption and do our part to preserve the country.
Nigeria also calls out to us to serve her with strength and faith. She desires that we serve her with an unwavering belief in her and with courage. In this time when all hope seems lost and it looks as though Nigeria can never live up to her potential, she cries out louder “serve with strength and faith.” Faith is believing in what you cannot see. We as Nigerians are called to stand anywhere and declare our unwavering belief in our nation, no matter the what the reality or circumstances say. We are called to continually hope in this nation, to support her , to carry her dreams and to stand tall and proud as her citizens.
Lines 5 and 6 remind us of why we ought to serve our country with strength and faith. Our forefathers, the heroes of this nation gave their lives so that we may enjoy our freedom; for our today they gave their tomorrow. The least we can do is to ensure that their sacrifice and labour of love is not in vain, that all that which they valiantly fought for remains and stands the test of time. “The labour of our heroes past shall never be in vain” is a vow we take, a pledge we make, a reason for us to stand and with all our might fight our nation and its survival. In remembrance of our heroes and as a response to Nigeria’s call in lines 3 and 4, we take a vow in line 7 serve with our heart ( where love and faith reside ) and might ( which is our strength)
The final line of this verse is like a prophecy. As though the composer foresaw the conflicts that would arise as a result of the different cultures, tribes that make up this nation. The composer sought to remind us each time we sing this anthem that we are ONE nation (no matter how diverse we may be ) that the bonds that hold us together – the bonds of freedom, peace and unity – far outweigh whatever differences that we may have. We must see ourselves as Nigerians before anything else and to Nigeria my allegiance lies. Hence we must not allow our differences pull us apart but see them as opportunities to draw even closer together.
I will stop here for now, in part 2 I will cover the second verse of the anthem... so till next time
Signed,
NessaD
