The Nigerian Coat of Arms is the country’s official emblem. It was drafted by London firm Beverley Pick Associates in May 1960, used from independence on 1 October 1960, and officially re-adopted by the Nigerian government in 1975. Its seven elements — the black shield, white wavy “Y”, two horses, eagle, green-and-white wreath, yellow flowers, and motto band — each carry a fixed meaning tied to Nigeria’s land, rivers, and ideals.
What the Nigerian Coat of Arms means
The arms function as Nigeria’s heraldic signature. They appear on the naira, government letterheads, the President’s seal, court documents, and military insignia. The design was commissioned to give the new federation a single visual identity that no region or ethnic group could claim alone.
Before 1960 the regions of Nigeria each used their own colonial-era emblems. The unified arms replaced them so the federation could speak with one symbol. Use of the arms is regulated by the Flag and Coat of Arms Act.
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The 7 features and what each one stands for
| Feature | What it represents |
|---|---|
| Black shield | Nigeria’s good earth |
| Two white wavy bands forming a “Y” (a heraldic wavy pall) | The rivers Niger and Benue meeting at Lokoja |
| Two white horses (supporters) | Dignity |
| Eagle on the wreath | Strength |
| Green-and-white twisted wreath | The colours of the Nigerian flag |
| Costus spectabilis (yellow trumpet) flowers at the base | The beauty of the nation; Nigeria’s national flower |
| Motto band | “Unity and Faith, Peace and Progress” |
The wavy pall is a heraldic shape — two wavy lines that meet to form a Y. Heralds use it whenever two rivers join. On the Nigerian shield it points to the confluence at Lokoja, where the Niger flows in from the west and the Benue from the east.
The flowers at the base are often described as red online. They are not. The species is Costus spectabilis, the yellow trumpet, an African herb that opens a single yellow bloom at a time. It was chosen because it grows across most of Nigeria.
Who designed the Nigerian Coat of Arms?
The drafting firm was Beverley Pick Associates of 118 Charing Cross Road, London. Colonel E.A. Hefford wrote to the College of Arms on behalf of pre-independence Nigeria on 11 February 1960, asking it to prepare a draft. The Garter Principal King of Arms approved the draft in May 1960. A photograph from 16 May 1960 shows Beverley Pick himself holding the finished design.
The flag (the green-white-green vertical bands) is a separate design. That one is by Michael Taiwo Akinkunmi, who confirmed in interviews that he did not design the coat of arms.
When was the Coat of Arms adopted?
There are two dates worth knowing.
- 1 October 1960 — the original Beverley Pick draft, with the motto “Unity and Faith”, was used at independence.
- 1975 — the Nigerian government officially re-adopted the arms after a series of revisions to the original design.
In 1978 the motto was expanded to “Unity and Faith, Peace and Progress”, the wording still in use today.
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Why the Coat of Arms was created
Nigeria was formed by the 1914 amalgamation of the Northern and Southern Protectorates under British colonial rule. The peoples inside the new borders had no shared political tradition. Even after independence in 1960, ethnic identity ran ahead of national identity, and that gap fed the 1967–70 civil war, in which an estimated 500,000 to 2 million people died (source).
The unified arms — adopted formally five years after the war — were meant to put one shared symbol on every official document Nigerians touch. The black shield, the joining rivers, the two horses, the eagle: each element was chosen so any Nigerian, in any region, could read the same meaning into it.
How to download the Nigerian Coat of Arms
Right-click the image at the top of this page and choose “Save image as” to download a PNG copy. For a cleaner vector version, the SVG file at Wikimedia Commons is in the public domain in Nigeria.
Common questions
Are the flowers in the Nigerian Coat of Arms red or yellow?
Yellow. They are Costus spectabilis, the yellow trumpet flower.
Who designed the Nigerian Coat of Arms?
Beverley Pick Associates of London, in May 1960.
What does the Y on the shield mean?
The two rivers Niger and Benue meeting at Lokoja.
What was Nigeria’s first national motto?
“Unity and Faith”. It was expanded to “Unity and Faith, Peace and Progress” in 1978.
Is the Nigerian flag part of the Coat of Arms?
Yes — the green-and-white twist on top of the shield mirrors the flag’s colours.
For the full list of national symbols — flag, anthem, pledge, coat of arms — see Nigeria’s national symbols.
Why is it red and not yellow as it is in the picture
Why are the flowers of the Nigerian coat of arms red instead of yellow? Since this flower represented here in itself is actually yellow, thanks!
From records (history), it has always been yellow flowers, i do not know why it was changed to red; the color of cocsus spectabilis is YELLOW and not red. Thanks
Not the best coat of arms. Whoever designed it is lazy af