Ideas for design were publicly solicited at the time of independence in 1960, and from 2870 ideas the current design was selected. It was a design by a student studying in the U.K. and is said to have been inspired when overlooking the vast forest and green lands from the airplane. Green represents agriculture, white, peace and unity, the horizontally divided three portions, the people of the northern Hausa, west Yoruba, and east Igbo regions.