<Tr> <Th> Proportion </Th> <Td> 1: 2 </Td> </Tr> <Tr> <Th> Design </Th> <Td> A sky - blue field with the national flag in the canton, with the air force roundel in the fly . </Td> </Tr> <P> The flag of Nigeria was designed in 1959 and first officially hoisted on 1 October 1960 . The flag has three vertical bands of green, white, green . The two green stripes represent Nigeria's natural wealth, while the white band represents peace . </P> <P> The flag is an adaptation of the winning entry from Michael Taiwo Akinkunmi in a competition held in 1959 . Akinkunmi was a 23 - year - old student at the time he designed the flag . He was studying at Norwich Technical College in London, England, when he saw an advertisement in a newspaper that submissions were being accepted for the design of a new national flag of Nigeria . The original submission had a red radiating sun badge in the central white vertical band with a green vertical band on each side . After the badge was removed by the judges, the flag has remained unchanged . It was first officially used on 1 October 1960, the day Nigeria was granted independence from the United Kingdom . </P>

What is the meaning of the nigerian flag