Feature/OPED
Is Reciting the National Anthem by Force?
By Prince Charles Dickson PhD
The Special Adviser to the President on Media and Publicity, Ajuri Ngelale, sent out a State House press release, the summary being that the President was directing the Mandatory Recitation of the National Pledge After the National Anthem at Official Engagements.
I wrote this piece in its original form in 2006…but I am rehearsing it again because (1) we don’t listen, (2) it is important that we listen, and (3) Cassandra in Greek legend, I recall, was condemned to know the future but to be disbelieved when she foretold it. Hence the agony of foreknowledge combined with the impotence to do anything about it. So, the pain that we know our problems but seem condemned to an existence of being incapable of solving them seems our curse as well.
Some people have criticized me for repeating the same story over again, that may be true but certainly, I have no apologies because the truth is that if we were what we ought to be then I probably would have resorted to doing something else. We refuse to listen, so I repeat the message. I change the tempo. I changed direction. I vary the stand but the message remains largely the same, that we have a problem that needs to be solved but we seem impotent at solving it.
So, again I am writing about the national anthem; In our case that National Anthem contains the National Pledge. I shall be as civil as possible and shall convey my thoughts in a sober mood so that we will at the end ask ourselves soul-searching questions. This take is directed to leadership and the led, it is a one-size-fits-all call.
A national anthem is generally a patriotic musical composition that evokes and eulogizes the history, traditions and struggles of its people, recognized either by a nation’s government as the official national song, or by convention through use by the people.
Many years ago, the now late Professor Grace Alele-Williams, wrote telling Obasanjo not to worry about his successor, she said “Nigerians should vote for a person whose activities are transparent and dedicated towards policies and practices that will promote unity and improve their standard of life. The person must truly believe in God, be self-disciplined and humble, the person must be intelligent enough to have people around him who are experienced, and also intelligent, motivated by love for the country”.
My only addition then was that these recommendations be also applied to citizenry not just those seeking elective positions and to the crux of my message, then the person should know what the National Pledge says and what it takes, the requirements of the words as simple as they may look.
Taking us down memory lane, I recall those days when the National Pledge was the first song one learnt in school and how we were trained to standstill even if the earth was collapsing, I recall going on an errand for my mother and had to stand for minutes to observe the National Anthem in its entirety, even when it was barely audible to me from the distance it was being played.
Today, things have taken a terrible turn, offence meant, kids are taught poems and rhymes that have no bearing on nationhood in schools…and as we say in local parlance “who Nigeria epp?”
They get an education without patriotism, and do we blame them, for an education that is nearly unaffordable for many? They have seen ambassadors select who could not recite the National Anthem and to imagine they were going to represent the nation outside her shores is simply the naked dance of masquerades in the village square.
These days there are very few things that give us a sense of patriotism, baring the nation’s soccer team. We are engaged in the struggle for power and the largesse that comes with it. The principal driving force behind the ‘it is our turn’ policy is not equality, equity, fairness and justice but a rotational chopping of the National cake that has refused to finish, one which we care less about how it is baked and who bakes it.
If as a nation we had a pittance of respect for the National pledge we would not be the way we are, and our leaders would not take us for the present circus ride they are doing right now…the first line of the Pledge states “I pledge to Nigeria, my country”…Have we as a people accepted Nigeria as a country beyond the gallery display, is there a sense of commitment to the Nigerian project both by leaders and the led beyond what we will chop? Even if we have Biafra, Odua, Arewa, Niger Delta, Middle, Lower and Upper Belts, the mentality largely will remain the same.
To you reading me, take a pause at this point, recite the National Anthem at one call, did you make mistakes with the lines, did you believe those words or did you just recite them like the Old Roger that is dead and gone to his grave poem…, does the words sound to us like Edris Abdulkarim’s Nigeria jaga jaga, do we have a pledge to this nation?
Our leaders have not pledged to the nation, they only owe their pockets, enriching their immediate families, even for some of us critics, is it not because we were denied part of the bounty that we cry foul, is it because we have pledged to Nigeria…
The pledge demands faithfulness, not hope, it involves loyalty, not betrayal, honesty, not palliatives. It asked very little, that a man, a woman that has Nigerian blood flowing in his/her veins should be faithful to his job as a civil servant, as a contractor, it asked for loyalty to the office one occupies, as a private citizen, loyalty to the people that you are serving and the institutions.
In schools are we teachers honest in our dealings with female students, are we not unfaithful by plagiarizing those textbooks as handouts when all we need to do to uphold the pledge was to write our well-researched books? If I insist on harping on honesty we will have a compendium of thousands of pages, so I rest that virtue
The National Pledge requires service with all our strength, instead from Councilors to the President, we tear the nation apart with strength and vigour in terms of corrupt practices, with everyone eager to break the record of his predecessor. As it stands now Buhari is beginning to look like the saint he is and was not. Someone recently talked about heroes, heroes go the extra mile, heroes are models, and they make sacrifices. Are we not tired of Zik, Tafawa, Awo and their generation that gave service the best way they could?
We as a people steal with strength; we serve with hypocrisy, moving anywhere belly (stomach) face.
Look at the march past we had in those days when we would mourn for days if we were not selected by our schools to march to the anthem, but these days you see schools in drab uniforms, dull and unattractive. Public schools are without honour, without glory any more.
It is sad that every Wednesday, the Federal Executive Council members stand to the National Anthem yet they disrespect the words through their actions. It goes beyond understanding the National Anthem, the point is that can it be defended, are we preserving it by deeds? The words of the National Pledge are not just ordinary, they convey the essence of nationhood, we need to know that our lives as a people start to end when we become silent about things that matter.
I end by saying that we need to go back to where we lost it, the only hope of repulsing the tyrannical ambition of a corrupt leadership and a nonchalant populace and one without the willpower is to organize a spirited people that is ready to fight for freedom again is to instil the pride of the words of the National Pledge—May Nigeria Win.
Disclaimer: The views and opinions expressed in this article are purely of the writer and do not necessarily reflect the position of Business Post Nigeria on the subject matter.
By Blaise Udunze
When the federal government approved the write-off of about $1.42 billion and N5.57 trillion in legacy debts owed by the Nigerian National Petroleum Company Limited (NNPC Ltd) to the Federation Account, it was rightly described as a landmark decision. After years of disputes, reconciliations, and contested figures, Nigeria’s most important revenue institution was, at least on paper, given a cleaner slate.
The approval, contained in a report prepared by the Nigerian Upstream Petroleum Regulatory Commission (NUPRC) and presented at the last year November meeting of the Federation Account Allocation Committee (FAAC), effectively wiped out 96 percent of NNPC’s dollar-denominated obligations and 88 percent of its naira liabilities accumulated up to December 31, 2024. It resolved long-standing balances arising from crude oil liftings, joint venture royalties, production-sharing contracts, and related arrangements.
Judging it critically, the decision carries both promise and peril, but can be viewed from the perspective of a country desperate to restore confidence in public finance management. It offers an opportunity to reset relationships, clean up accounting records, and move forward under the Petroleum Industry Act (PIA). Yet, it also exposes deep structural weaknesses in Nigeria’s oil revenue governance, weaknesses that, if left unaddressed, could turn today’s debt relief into tomorrow’s fiscal regret.
Context matters. The debt write-off comes not during a period of revenue abundance, but at a time when Nigeria’s upstream revenue performance is under severe strain. According to the same NUPRC document, the commission missed its approved monthly revenue target for November 2025 by N544.76 billion, collecting only N660.04 billion against a projected N1.204 trillion.
Royalty receipts, the backbone of upstream revenue, tell an even starker story. It is alarming that against an approved monthly royalty projection of N1.144 trillion, only N605.26 billion was collected, leaving a shortfall of N538.92 billion. Cumulatively, by the end of November 2025, the revenue gap stood at N5.65 trillion, with royalty collections alone falling short by N5.63 trillion. These figures underscore how fragile Nigeria’s fiscal position remains, even as trillions of naira in historical obligations are being written off.
To be fair, the debts forgiven were not incurred overnight. They are the product of years of disputed remittances, lacking transparent accounting practices, and overlapping institutional roles, particularly under the pre-PIA regime. As petroleum economist Prof. Wumi Iledare has repeatedly observed, the former Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation combined regulatory, commercial, and operational functions, making revenue reconciliation cumbersome and frequently contested.
That legacy continues to haunt the system, as witnessed with the ongoing dispute between NNPC Ltd and Periscope Consulting, the audit firm engaged by the Nigeria Governors’ Forum, over an alleged $42.37 billion under-remittance between 2011 and 2017, which illustrates how unresolved the past remains. Though NNPC insists all revenues were properly accounted for as claimed, Periscope maintains that significant gaps persist, forcing FAAC to mandate yet another reconciliation exercise. This recurring pattern of audits, counterclaims, and stalemates has weakened trust in the federation revenue system and eroded confidence among states that depend on oil proceeds for survival.
Crucially, the debt write-off does not mean NNPC has turned a corner financially. Statutory obligations incurred between January and October 2025 remain on the books, amounting to about $56.8 million and N1.02 trillion. Although part of the dollar component was recovered during the period under review, the accumulation of new liabilities so soon after reconciliation raises uncomfortable questions about whether old habits are being replaced with genuine fiscal discipline.
More troubling still is what NNPC’s own audited financial statements reveal about its internal financial health. Despite recording a profit after tax of N5.4 trillion on revenues of N45.1 trillion in 2024, the company’s inter-company debts ballooned to N30.3 trillion, representing a 70 per cent increase within a single year. This is not debt owed to external creditors but largely obligations between NNPC and its subsidiaries, effectively the company owing itself.
Records show that of 32 subsidiaries, only eight are debt-free, and the rest, particularly the refineries, trading arms, and gas infrastructure units, remain heavily indebted to the parent company. There was a recurring cycle where profitable units subsidise chronically underperforming ones, and accountability steadily erodes because cash that should fund maintenance, expansion, and efficiency improvements is instead trapped in internal receivables.
The refineries offer a stark illustration whereby the Port Harcourt Refining Company alone owed N4.22 trillion in 2024, more than double its 2023 figure, while Kaduna and Warri refineries followed closely, with debts of N2.39 trillion and N2.06 trillion respectively. Despite the repeated failed turnaround maintenance with many years of rehabilitation spending, none have operated sustainably at commercially viable levels. Their continued dependence on financial support from the parent company highlights the cost of postponing difficult restructuring decisions.
And, for this reason, international observers have long warned about these structural weaknesses. One of the critics, the World Bank, has repeatedly flagged NNPC as a major source of revenue leakages. It further noted that the persistent gaps between reported earnings and actual remittances to the Federation Account. Even after the removal of petrol subsidies, the bank observed that NNPC remitted only about 50 per cent of the revenue gains, using the rest to offset past arrears. Such practices, while perhaps defensible in internal cash management terms, undermine fiscal transparency and weaken Nigeria’s macroeconomic credibility.
This is why the central issue is not the debt write-off itself, but what follows it because debt forgiveness is not reform. Without firm safeguards, it risks entrenching the very behaviours that created the problem in the first place. As Prof. Omowumi Iledare has warned, the scale and pace of the inter-company debt build-up represent a governance test rather than a mere accounting anomaly. Allowing subsidiaries to operate indefinitely without settling obligations is incompatible with the idea of a commercially driven national oil company.
The fact remains that if NNPC wants to function as a true commercial holding company under the PIA, it must enforce strict settlement timelines, restructure or divest non-viable subsidiaries, while clearly separating legacy debts from new obligations. With this, it holds subsidiary leadership accountable for cash flow and profitability. Independent, real-time audits and transparent reporting must become routine features of governance, not emergency responses triggered by controversy.
There is also a broader national implication. At a time when Nigerians are being asked to accept higher taxes, reduced subsidies, and fiscal tightening, large-scale debt write-offs without visible accountability risk undermining the legitimacy of the entire revenue system. Citizens cannot be expected to bear heavier burdens while systemic inefficiencies in the country’s most strategic sector persist.
Of a truth, the cancellation of NNPC’s legacy debts could mark a turning point in Nigeria’s fiscal governance, but only if it is not treated as its conclusion but the beginning of reform.
If discipline, transparency, and commercial accountability follow, the decision may yet help reposition NNPC as a profitable, credible, and PIA-compliant institution. If not, today’s clean slate will simply defer the reckoning until the next reconciliation, the next audit dispute, and the next fiscal crisis.
Blaise, a journalist and PR professional, writes from Lagos and can be reached via: [email protected]
By Dr Austin Orette
The grandiosity of Nigerians when they discuss events and situations can be very funny. If the leaders use this kind of creativity in proffering solutions, we may be able to solve some of the problems that plague Nigeria perennially.
There seems to be a sublime affectation for new lingos when the system is being set to punish Nigerians. It is a kind of Orwellian speak.
Recently, there was no electricity throughout the country. The usual culprit and government spoke; people came out to tell us the power failure was due to the collapse of the National grid. Does it really matter what is collapsing? This is just an attempt by some government bureaucrats to sound intelligent.
Intelligence is becoming a borrowed commodity from the IMF or World Bank. What does it mean when you tell Nigerians that the national grid collapsed? Is that supposed to be a reassurance, or it is said to give the assurance that they know something about the anemic electricity, and we should get used to the darkness. This is a language that is vague and beckons the consumer to stop complaining. Does that statement mean anything to Nigerians who pay bills and don’t see the electricity they paid for? If they see it, it comes with an irregular voltage that destroys their newly purchased appliances. Just tell or stay quiet like in the past.
Telling us that a grid collapse is a lie. We have no national grid. Do these people know how silly their language sounds? Nigeria produces less than 10,000 megawatts of electricity for a population of 200 million people. How do you permutate this to give constant electricity to 200 million people? It is an insult to call this low output a national grid. What is so national about using a generator to supply electricity to 200 million people? It is simple mathematics. If you calculate this to the minute, it should not surprise you that every Nigerian will receive electricity for the duration of the blink of an eye. They are paying for total darkness, and someone is telling them they have an electricity grid.
If you can call the 10,000-megawatt national grid collapsed, it means you don’t have the mind set to solve the electricity problem in Nigeria.
To put it in perspective is to understand the basic fact that the electrical output of Nigeria is pre-industrial. Without acknowledging this fact, we will never find solutions as every mediocre will come and confuse Nigeria with lingos that make them sound important.
It is very shameful for those in the know to always use grandiose language to obfuscate the real issues.
South Africa with a population of sixty million produces about 200,000 megawatts of electricity daily. Nigeria produces less than 10,000 megawatts. Why South Africa makes it easy to lift the poor from poverty, Nigeria is trying to tax the poor into poverty.
The architects of the new tax plan saw the poor as rich because they could afford a generator.
A non-existent subsidy was removed, and the price of fuel went through the roof. Now the government says they are rich. What will they get in return for this tax extraction? Why do successive Nigerian governments always think the best way to develop Nigeria is to slap the poor into poverty? What are the avenues for upward mobility when youth corps members are suddenly seen as rich taxpayers? Do these people know how difficult it is to start a business in Nigeria?
After all the rigmarole from Abuja to my village, I cannot get a government certificate without a-shake down from government bureaucrats and area boys. The government that is so unfriendly to business wants to tax my non-existing businesses. Are these people in their right state of mind? Why do they think that taxing the poor is their best revenue plan? A plan like this can only come from a group of people who have no inkling of what Nigerians are going through. People can’t eat and the government is asking them to share their meager rations with potbellied people in Abuja.
Teach the people how to fish, then you can share in their harvest. If an individual does what the government is doing to Nigerians, it will be called robbery, and the individual will be in prison. When the government taxes people, there is a reciprocal exchange. What is being done in Nigeria does not represent fair exchange.
Nigerians have never gotten anything good from their government except individual wealth that is doled out in Abuja for the selected few.
The question is, will Nigerians have a good electricity supply? NO. Will they have security of persons and properties? No. Will they have improved health care? NO. Will there be good roads? No. Will they have good schools and good education? No.
Taxation is not good governance. A policy like this should never be rushed without adequate studies. Once again, our legislators have let us down. They have never shown the people the reason they were elected and to be re-elected. They are not playing their roles as the watchdog and representatives of the people. Anyone who voted for this tax bill deserves to lose their positions as Senators and Members of the House of Representatives.
We are not in a military regime anymore. Nigerians must start learning how to exercise their franchise. This taxation issue must be litigated at the ballot box. The members of the National Assembly have shown by their assent that they don’t represent the people.
In a normal democracy, taxation without representation should never be tolerated. They must be voted out of office. We have a responsibility and duty to use our voting power to fight unjust laws. Taxation without representation is unjust. Those voted into power will never respect the citizens until the citizens learn to punish errant politicians by voting them out of office. This responsibility is sacred and must be exercised with diligence.
Dr Austin Orette writes from Houston, Texas
For many Nigerian families, GOtv has become more than a television service. It is part of the daily routine. It is what people unwind with after a long day, what keeps children entertained on quiet weekend mornings, and what brings households together during football matches, movie nights, and festive celebrations. Over the years, GOtv has blended naturally into these everyday moments, shaping the way Nigerians enjoy entertainment at home.
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