82-year-old Michael Taiwo Akinkunmi. Source: Al Jazeera
The history of Nigeria will never be complete if the flag is
not mentioned, talkless of the person who took his time to
design the country’s logo.
History records that the Nigerian flag was designed in 1958
by one Michael Taiwo Akinkunmi who was just 23-year-old at
that time. After his design was accepted by the government,
it was officially launched on October 1, 1960.
Looking at the flag from then till now, the country’s logo has
maintained its official colors green and white for many
decades. The two green stripes represent Nigeria's natural
wealth, while the white in the middle represents peace.
could be recalled that Akinkunmi who is now 82-year-old,
was a 23-year-old student studying at Norwich Technical
College in London, England. The young man came across an
advertisement in a newspaper that submissions were being
accepted for the design of a new national flag of Nigeria.
He began to show o his skills and he finally came up with his
original submission which had a red radiating sun badge in
the central white vertical band with a green vertical band on
each side. Akinkunmi’s design was accepted but the judges
removed the red sun badge in the middle and the flag has
remained unchanged ever since.
The original flag designed by Michael Taiwo Akinkunmi in
1958. Source: Wikipedia
The flag was then launched on October 1, 1960, the year
Nigeria was granted its independence by the United Kingdom
(UK). He was paid the sum of £100 which was equal to $281
(N42,150) in 1959.
Now, Akinkunmi is a retired Nigerian civil servant who was
born in Ibadan, Oyo state. He lived with his father till he was
8-year-old before relocating to the Northern part of the
country where he began his early education.
After his father’s retirement, he came down to the west and
was re-enrolled at Baptist Day School, Idi-Ikan in Ibadan. He
finished from there in 1949 and proceeded to Ibadan
Grammar School (IGS) in 1950 where he enjoyed a very good
education.
He left IGS in 1955 and took an appointment as an
agriculturist at the Western Region Secretariat in Ibadan as a
civil servant.
In 1963, Akinkunmi returned to Nigeria and went back to the
agricultural department at the secretariat in Ibadan to
continue from where he stopped. He worked as a civil servant
until 1994 and retired as assistant superintendent of
agriculture.
On September 29, 2014, he was honoured with Officer of the
order of Federal Republic (OFR) and honorary life
presidential adviser at the conference centre Abuja.
The very first model of the green and white Nigeria's flag
designed by Michael Taiwo Akinkunmi in 1959. Source: Al
Jazeera
