Late Pa Michael Taiwo Akinkumi
Pa Michael Taiwo Akinkumi, popularly known as “Mr. Flag Man”, who desiged the Nigerian flag, has died. He was 83 years old.
His demise was announced on Wednesday August 30, 2023 by his son, Samuel Akinkunmi via a post on his Facebook page.
Born in Ibadan, Akinkunmi was the older of a set of twins. He lived with his father until he was eight years old before he relocated to the Northern part of Nigeria 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. Finishing from Baptist Day School Idi-kan in 1949 he 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. Late Akinkumi would then work some years before gaining admission to the Norwood Technical College in London where he studied electrical engineering.
While studying there, he designed the Nigerian Flag. It was an open competition and he came tops with the green-white-green design. He entered the competition which he came across in a library.
Said he: “I took details of what is expected to design a flag that would be used by a country that was about to witness independence. I took part in the competition and my design was selected as the best in the year 1958.”
He won a prize money of £100 for his design in 1959.
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 retired as Assistant Superintendent of Agriculture.
Akinkunmi was honoured with Officer of the Order of Federal Republic (OFR) and honorary life presidential adviser on September 29, 2014 at the Conference Centre Abuja.
Akinkunmi unveiled the world’s largest national flag in Ibadan, the Oyo state capital in 2021.
