The old anthem was introduced on October the 1st 1960 when Nigeria obtained its independence from Great Britain. Lillian Jean Williams, a British expatriate that lived in Nigeria at the time, wrote the words and the music was composed by Frances Berda. It was replaced in 1978 by military fiat, with an anthem whose words were the amalgamation of the work of 5 winning contestants, John Ikechukwu, Eme Etim Akpan, B. A. Ogunaike, Sola Omogui and P. A. Aderogbu in a national competition held for the purpose. Benedict Odiase, who was then the Director of Music Nigeria Police Band, composed the music.
No clear reasons were given by the military dictatorship of the day as to its removal, except that it was composed and written by non-Nigerians. Our contention is that this was a grave error, which should now be reversed.
