As we countdown the days to the country celebrating her 56th Independence, we wanted to be sure of how well you know your country by challenging with some historical facts!
Did you know the National flag once had a blaring red sun in between the Green colours and on the white?! I bet you didn’t!
The national flag is an adaptation of the winning entry from Taiwo Akinkunmi in a competition held in 1959. The original submission had a red radiating sun badge in the center triptych of one white horizontal with a green horizontal on each side. After the badge was removed by the judges, the flag has remained unchanged.
The designer of the national flag was Michael Taiwo Akinkunmi, a twenty-three-year-old student. He was studying at Norwich Technical College in England when he saw an advertisement in a newspaper that submissions were being accepted for the design of a new National flag. In 1959 Akinkunmi’s design was chosen as the winner and, with adaptations, was first officially used on October 1, 1960, Nigeria’s Independence Day
See before and after photo of Taiwo Akinkunmi below:
