Let Nigeria Be Nigeria Again

Happy Independence Day Anniversary, Nigeria

Let Nigeria be Nigeria again

By a Noble Cause freed and enslaved

A riot of peoples swayed

By the ideals of freedom

From the rising of the sun

To the setting of the same

Let Nigeria be Nigeria again

That posterity

May never have to say,

'There was a country,'

In mockery of its unity

Harvest the bitter history

And retell it to your offspring

Till it springs a seed

Of brotherly fellowship

Leave no detail out

And make everyone count

The founding fathers had a vision

Take it and run your course,

Let Nigeria be Nigeria again

That the past be not misery's bane

And history be not relived

This is our story

We must tell it, correct it

And direct it or hubris

Will grow teeth and bite us

To heed Nigeria's call

We must define our Noble Cause,

Let Nigeria be Nigeria again

Or labors of heroes past was

Is and shall ever be in vain.

Akpan