After the publication of my column yesterday, many people told me in private that the only reason the old national anthem was hurriedly brought back is because that it helps old people in power to relive rosy retrospections of their bygone childhood! Unbelievable!
With a median age of 17, Nigeria is one of the world’s youngest countries. Yet doddering, disappearing, geriatric fuddy-duddies in the corridors of power who are in the twilight of their lives chose to reintroduce a racist colonial anthem because it evokes fond memories of their childhood.
In other worlds, the childhood memories of the vast majority of Nigerians who grew up with “Arise O Compatriots”—and to whom the future belongs— is immaterial. For this fading generation of leaders, the future is in the past. OK o.
