BLACK SOCIAL HISTORY : AFRO-NIGERIAN " TAIWO AKINKUNMI " IS A RETIRED NIGERIAN CIVIL SERVANT WHO IS FAMOUS FOR DESIGNING THE FLAG OF NIGERIA COMMONLY CALLED THE FLAG MAN : GOES INTO THE " HALL OF BLACK GENIUS "

         BLACK      SOCIAL    HISTORY                                                                                                                                                                                                    

                    Taiwo Akinkunmi

BLACK                              SOCIAL                          HISTORY

Taiwo Akinkunmi
Born	Taiwo Akinkunmi 10 May 1936 (age 79) Ibadan
Other names	Michael
Occupation	Electrical Engineer, Retired Nigerian civil servant
Years active	1958 – present

Taiwo Akinkunmi is a retired Nigerian civil servant, born 10 May 1936. He is famous for designing the Flag of Nigeria, commonly called Mr. Flag Man.

Early life and career

Akinkunmi was born Michael Taiwo Akinkunmi in Ibadan, of Yoruba origin. He lived with his father until age 8 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.

He 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 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 retired as Assistant Superintendent of Agriculture. He was honored with Officer of the order of Federal Republic (OFR) on 29 September 2014 at the conference center Abuja.

Designing National Flag

He entered the competition which he came across in a library. In his own words, "I took details of what and what is expected to design a flag that would be used by a country that was about to witness the independence. I took part in the competition and my design was selected as the best in the year 1958."

Akinkunmi's Original design  National Flag 

Personal life

He is married with a wife and children. He always wears the colours of the flag he designed as part of his attire, usually wearing a green Yoruba cap, and painted his house with a green-white-green pattern.