Michael Taiwo Akinkunmi OFR (10 May 1936 – 29 August 2023) was a Nigerian civil servant who was best known for designing Nigeria's national flag. He was commonly referred to as Mr. Flag Man.

Early life and career

Michael Taiwo Akinkunmi was born in

Ibadan Ibadan (, ; ) is the Capital city, capital and most populous city of Oyo State, in Nigeria. It is the List of Nigerian cities by population, third-largest city by population in Nigeria after Lagos and Kano (city), Kano, with a total populatio ...

, 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 South Bank Colleges is a further education college in the London Borough of Lambeth. It was formed in 1992, initially as Lambeth College, from three former institutions – Vauxhall College of Building and Further Education, Brixton College of Fur ...

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, when hired as Assistant Superintendent of Agriculture. He was honoured as an Officer of the

Order of the Federal Republic The Order of the Federal Republic (OFR) is one of two orders of merit, established by the Nigeria, Federal Republic of Nigeria in 1963. It is senior to the Order of the Niger. The highest honours are the Grand Commander in the Order of the Fede ...

(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

o be O, or o, is the fifteenth letter and the fourth vowel letter of the Latin alphabet, used in the modern English alphabet, the alphabets of other western European languages and others worldwide. Its name in English is ''o'' (pronounced ), ...

expected to design a flag that would be used by a country that was about to witness tsindependence. 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.

Personal life and death

Akinkunmi was married with a wife and had children. He died on 29 August 2023, at the age of 87 after a brief illness. Despite promises by the federal government to hold a

state funeral A state funeral is a public funeral ceremony, observing the strict rules of protocol, held to honour people of national significance. State funerals usually include much pomp and ceremony as well as religious overtones and distinctive elements o ...

for him, no such ceremony was held, and the Oyo State government decided instead to help arrange the funeral scheduled in September 2024.

References

External links

Minutes with the man who design Nigerian Flag
Thisdaylive
Nigeria’s flag designer, PA TAIWO AKINKUNMI (77) finds joy in old age
Encomium Nigeria {{DEFAULTSORT:Akinkunmi, Taiwo 1936 births 2023 deaths People from Ibadan Flag designers Nigerian civil servants Yoruba people Ibadan Grammar School alumni Nigerian twins Officers of the Order of the Federal Republic