FG Mourns Death of Designer of Nigerian Flag
The Federal Government of Nigeria has mourned the death of the designer of the Nigerian national flag, Pa Taiwo Akinkunmi.
He passed away at the age of 84, at his family home in Ibadan, after a brief illness.
“I am particularly saddened over the news of the demise of Pa Taiwo Akinkunmi, a national icon, whose contribution to national unity will remain indelible,” Minister of Information and National Orientation said in a statement on Wednesday.
He noted that the death of Pa Akinkunmi came at a time when Nigeria was reinventing itself for peace, development and enduring national reconciliation.
According to him, the country would miss the contributions of the deceased.
“I am confident that Pa Akinkunmi will continue to live in the minds of Nigerians for generations to come,” he added.
He noted that the National Flag, one of the country’s revered symbols, is an asset for which Pa Akinwunmi has etched his name in the annals of Nigerian history.
“I, therefore, wish to use this opportunity to express my heartfelt condolences to his immediate family, praying that God will grant them the fortitude to bear this great loss,” he noted.
Michael Taiwo Akinkunmi was born in Ibadan, of Yoruba origin, the older of a set of twins.
He lived with his father until he was 8 years old before he relocated to the Northern part of Nigeria. He began his early education in the North.
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 Baptist Day School Idi-kan in 1949, and proceeded to Ibadan Grammar School (IGS) in 1950 where he enjoyed a very good education.
Akinkunmi left IGS in 1955 and took an appointment as an agriculturist at the Western Region Secretariat in Ibadan as a civil servant.
He would then work some years before gaining admission to the Norwood Technical College, currently known as Lambeth College in London where he studied electrical engineering.While studying there, he designed the Nigerian Flag.
He returned to Nigeria in 1963 and went back to the agricultural department at the secretariat in Ibadan to continue where he stopped. He worked as a civil servant until 1994 and when heired as Assistant Superintendent of Agriculture.
He was honoured as an Officer of the Order of the Federal Republic (OFR) and honorary life presidential adviser on 29 September 1994 at the Abuja Conference Centre.
Designing Nigeria’s National Flag
Akinkunmi entered the competition which he came across in a library. In his own words, “I took details of what is [to be] expected to design a flag that would be used by a country that was about to witness [its] independence. I took part in the competition and my design was selected as the best in the year 1958.”
In 2021, Akinkunmi unveiled the world’s largest national flag in Ibadan, the Oyo state capital.
