{"id":3586,"date":"2024-06-14T14:13:36","date_gmt":"2024-06-14T14:13:36","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/placng.org\/Legist\/?p=3586"},"modified":"2024-06-14T15:05:07","modified_gmt":"2024-06-14T15:05:07","slug":"new-old-national-anthem-law-raises-questions-about-legislative-process","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/placng.org\/Legist\/new-old-national-anthem-law-raises-questions-about-legislative-process\/","title":{"rendered":"\u2018New\u2019 (Old) National Anthem Law Raises Questions about Legislative Process"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

The lightning speed with which the\namendment to the National Anthem Bill passed, has raised very serious concerns\namong Nigerians about the process of passage of bills in the National Assembly.\nThe National Assembly before this one \u2013 the 9th<\/sup> Assembly,\nparticularly the Senate was repeatedly accused of being \u2018rubber stamp.\u2019 The 10th<\/sup>\nNational Assembly may now appear to be following in that footstep. At the tail\nend of November 2023, the President sent in the 2024 Appropriation Bill to the\nNational Assembly, two months behind schedule. The budget was passed at an\nincredibly fast pace even without the National Assembly members knowing the\nfull details of the budget, with the President assenting to the 2024 National\nBudget on New Year\u2019s Day, January 1, 2024. This was later to generate its own\ncontroversy when Senator Abdul Ningi accused the National Assembly of passing\nthe budget with a padding of about N3 trillion. He was suspended for his\ncomments on this but later recalled. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

The bill to revert to the old\nNigerian national anthem signed into law by President Muhammadu Buhari has\ndrawn criticism from various quarters of the country. The Executive bill passed\nfor First, Second and Third Reading in the House of Representatives on\nWednesday, 22nd<\/sup> May 2024, while it scaled First and Second Reading\nin the Senate on the same day. It was eventually passed for Third Reading in\nthe Senate on Tuesday, May 28, 2024 and received assent on May 29, 2024. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

The restoration of the old National\nAnthem has highlighted several issues. This development, while striking a chord of scepticism across the nation,\nraises serious concern about the sidelining of  public consultation on a subject\nthat borders on a\ncritical aspect of national identity. At the heart of any democracy lies the principle of\npublic participation in governance. The national anthem, a symbol of collective\nidentity and pride, should be a reflection of the people’s values, aspirations,\nand history. By rushing this bill through without consulting the public, the\nNational Assembly has not only disregarded this principle but has also\nundermined the democratic process itself. Decisions of such magnitude demand a\nthorough, inclusive dialogue to ensure they resonate with the populace they are\nmeant to represent.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

This is not the first time that the\nNational Assembly is passing a bill without public consultation. The\nCybercrimes Amendment Bill 2024 was handled in a similar manner and sent off\nfor the President\u2019s assent. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Public consultation is not merely a procedural\nformality; it is a critical aspect of legitimate and transparent governance. It\nensures that diverse voices are heard and considered, fostering a sense of\nownership and acceptance among citizens. In the case of the national anthem,\nthis is especially pertinent. The\nabsence of robust debate on this Executive Bill by the National Assembly also\nraises concern about the erosion of the democratic\nprinciple of checks and balances among the arms of government. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

The development has also been\ncriticised on the basis that the country has restored a national anthem\ncomposed by a foreigner and handed over to the country in time for its\nindependence declaration in October 1960 and dispensed with the anthem that was\nlater composed by a group of Nigerians in 1978. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

The restoration of the old national\nanthem has also got observers questioning the priority of government business.\nWhile some citizens are indifferent on the change of the anthem, they question\nif it is an important item on the government\u2019s agenda in a time of crippling\neconomic challenges, as it does not address the daily needs of the populace. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Some Nigerians on social media and\nother platforms have stated that they will be boycotting the anthem to express\ntheir displeasure of his move by the Nigerian government. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The lightning speed with which the amendment to the National Anthem Bill passed, has raised very serious concerns among Nigerians about the process of passage of bills in the National Assembly. The National Assembly before this one \u2013 the 9th Assembly, particularly the Senate was repeatedly accused of being \u2018rubber stamp.\u2019 The 10th National Assembly […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":3593,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[11],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-3586","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/placng.org\/Legist\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3586","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/placng.org\/Legist\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/placng.org\/Legist\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/placng.org\/Legist\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/placng.org\/Legist\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=3586"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/placng.org\/Legist\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3586\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":3598,"href":"https:\/\/placng.org\/Legist\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3586\/revisions\/3598"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/placng.org\/Legist\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/3593"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/placng.org\/Legist\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=3586"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/placng.org\/Legist\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=3586"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/placng.org\/Legist\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=3586"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}