Africa

Flag of Nigeria

Nigeria is Africa's most populous country, home to over 200 million people and more than 500 distinct languages and ethnic groups, making it one of the world's most diverse nations. It is Africa's largest economy and a significant oil exporter, with a vibrant creative culture including Nollywood (the world's second-largest film industry by volume) and Afrobeats music that has gained enormous global influence. Nigeria's celebrated writers include Chinua Achebe and Nobel Prize laureate Wole Soyinka.

CapitalAbuja
RegionAfrica
Current flag since1960
Main coloursGreen, White
Populationabout 224 million
Areaabout 924,000 km²
Flags in history5

Population and area are rounded.

What the flag of Nigeria means

Green stands for the country's forests and natural wealth and white for peace and unity. The flag was designed by Michael Taiwo Akinkunmi, a Nigerian student in London, who won a national competition in 1958; the judges removed the red sun he had placed in the centre. It was first raised at independence on 1 October 1960.

How to recognise it

Two vertical green stripes flanking a white centre — no symbol, no other colours.

Did you know?

Nigeria is Africa's most populous country and home to more than 500 distinct languages.

Easily confused with

Nigeria's flag is often mixed up with these. Learn to tell them apart:

Solomon Islands

Flag history of Nigeria

Every flag that has flown over Nigeria, from today back through time.

1960–present

Flag of Nigeria

Adopted on independence day in 1960 from a design by 23-year-old student Michael Taiwo Akinkunmi. The green bands represent agriculture and natural wealth; the white center stands for peace and unity.

1914–1960

Colonial Nigeria

The British Colony and Protectorate of Nigeria flew a Blue Ensign defaced with a green six-pointed "Seal of Solomon" star around a red disc and crown, used as the government ensign until independence.

1804–1903

Sokoto Caliphate

Across what is now northern Nigeria, the jihad of Usman dan Fodio founded the Sokoto Caliphate in 1804 — one of the largest and most populous states in 19th-century Africa, a federation of emirates flying green Islamic banners. Britain conquered it in 1903 but ruled through its emirs, so the caliphate's structures (and the north–south divide with the Christian-animist south) shaped Nigeria to this day.

1967–1970

Biafra

The secessionist Igbo republic whose bid for independence triggered the Nigerian Civil War and a devastating famine.

1690–1902

Aro Confederacy

An Igbo trading and oracle confederacy that dominated southeastern Nigeria until the British 'Aro Expedition' broke it.

Related historical states

Empires, kingdoms and republics that once covered part of Nigeria.

1967–1970

Biafra

The rising sun flew over the short-lived secessionist republic during the Nigerian Civil War: black mourned the slain, red the blood, green prosperity.

1967

Republic of Benin (1967)

One of the shortest-lived states in history — declared in Benin City as a Biafran ally during the Nigerian Civil War, it existed for a single day before federal troops retook the city.

1380s–1893

Bornu Empire

The long-lived successor to the Kanem Empire around Lake Chad, a centre of Islamic scholarship and trans-Saharan trade for centuries, until the warlord Rabih az-Zubayr overran it in the 1890s.