A former Minister of Works and Housing, Babatunde Fashola, on Monday, faulted the misrepresentation and misuse of national symbols such as the anthem and flag.
Fashola expressed this on Channels Television’s Empowering Tomorrow: A New Vision for Nigeria, a special programme on the 63rd anniversary of Nigeria’s independence celebrated annually on October 1.
His words: “Just this afternoon, I was asked to hoist a flag of Nigeria,” he said.
“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.”
The former Lagos State Governor noted that the National Orientation Agency, which has offices in all the states of the country, produces and sells the flag.
He therefore underscored the need to deal with “some of the small things that matter,” adding that Nigerians must be intentional.
READ ALSO: Stop Saying “May Nigeria Not Happen To Me” – Fashola Warns Nigerians
“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.
“You sit today and you shudder in your skin what happens today, what people have been taught when the national anthem is rendered,” Fashola said.
“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.
“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,” he added.
