Babatunde Fashola, a former minister of works and housing, has forbade Nigerians from inscribing the coat of arms on the national flag, arguing that doing so is an abuse of the flag's colours.

Fashola made this statement on Monday while making a live appearance on Empowering Tomorrow: A New Vision for Nigeria on Channels Television. This was a special show on the 63rd anniversary of Nigeria's independence, which is observed yearly on October 1.

“Just this afternoon, I was asked to hoist a flag of Nigeria,” Fashola 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 minister added that national emblems must be displayed during official national events and urged Nigerians to pay attention to "some of the small things that matter".

“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 national anthem should be performed as a representation of the country's sovereignty, according to the former governor of Lagos, who also spoke out against its performance "at every little event" (including when the president attends a social function).

“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, inflection.”