The composer of the National Youth Service Corps anthem, Wole Adetiran, is dead.
A publicity officer from the Ogun State NYSC office, Emmanuel Igba, confirmed the death to the Punch today.
According to Igba, Adetiran died on Friday evening.
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In a terse message, Igba said, “He is dead. The LGI already sent an official message to the State Coordinator who will inform the DG. He died this evening.”
The Ogun State NYSC Coordinator, Dr Belinda Faniyi, also corroborated Igba’s message.
“The LGI just informed me so I’ll let DG know,” she said.
Adetiran’s death has also been announced in multiple Facebook groups of the Celestial Church of Christ, as he held the post of National Music Director before his death.
The 74-year-old was in July 2021 visited by the NYSC Director-General, Ibrahim Shuaibu, at his house in Ibafo, Obafemi-Owode Local Government Area of Ogun State.
The septuagenarian, who composed the song in 1984, said he was moved that he was finally remembered 37 years after he composed the song.
He lamented that he had been suffering from diseases, including hypertension, diabetes and prostate cancer since 2018.
Adetiran, who studied music at the University of Nigeria, Nsukka, recalled that he composed the anthem in 1984 while he was a corps member in Oyo State. (Punch)
