Babatunde Fashola, who previously served as the Minister of Works and Housing, has cautioned Nigerians, advising them against adding the coat of arms to the national flag, citing it as a misappropriation of the country’s official colours.
Fashola conveyed this message during a live telecast on Channels Television on Monday. The event, known as “Empowering Tomorrow: A New Vision for Nigeria,” is a special program held each year on October 1st to honour Nigeria’s 63rd independence anniversary.
Fashola stated, ‘Just this afternoon (Monday), I was asked to hoist a flag of Nigeria. By the time the flag unfurled, I saw that there was a coat of arms in the middle and I whispered to my host that ‘this is not the flag of Nigeria’. Nigeria’s flag does not have a coat of arms in the middle. It is green, white, and green.’
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Furthermore, the ex-minister emphasised the importance of Nigerians taking note of “minor but consequential matters” and stressed the significance of featuring national symbols in official ceremonies that represent the entirety of the country.
‘When I was in primary school, these were the symbolisms of those Independence Day parades, Children’s Day parades, and this was how we were taught to stand up or maintain our position whenever we heard Nigeria’s national anthem being rendered,’ Fashola said.
‘You sit today and you shudder in your skin what happens today, what people have been taught when the national anthem is rendered.’
The ex-Lagos governor also expressed his objection to the routine singing of the national anthem “at every trivial occasion,” even when the President attends a social gathering, asserting that it should be reserved as a symbol of the country’s sovereignty.
‘I have had cause to ask people not to sing the anthem for me, either as governor or minister, because I’m not a sovereign. It’s a projection of our minds,’ he said.
‘These are, for me, the important things to talk about and that’s why I say this anniversary provides an opportunity for reflection and, indeed, inflexion.’