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Abubakar Tafa Balewa

(Nigeria) 1912-1966

Alhaji Sir Abubakar Tafawa Balewa was born in Tafawa Balewa, Northeast State, Nigeria. After attending Katsina Teacher Training College (1928-1933), he was a teacher and later Headmaster of the Bauchi Middle School. He studied at the London University Institute of Education (1945-1946), where he received a teacher’s certificate in history. In 1943 he founded the Bauchi Discussion Circle, an organization interested in political reform. In 1948 he was elected Vice President of the Northern Teacher’s Association, the first trade union in Northern Nigeria. In 1949 he helped organize the Northern People’s Congress (NPC), originally conceived as a cultural organization but by 1951 a political party.

In 1951, in the North’s first elections, Tafawa Balewa won seats in the Northern House of Assembly and in the House of Representatives in Lagos, where he became a minister in the Central Council. In 1952 he became Minister of Works and in 1954 Minister of Transport and the senior minister and leader of the NPC in the House of Representatives. In 1957 he became the first Prime Minister of Nigeria. He retained the position as Prime Minister when Nigeria gained independence in 1960 and was re-elected in 1964. As prime minister, Tafawa Balewa developed a favourable reputation in international circles. He was an important leader in the establishment of the Organization of African Unity (OAU) and fostered a cooperative relationship with French speaking African Countries. On 22 May 1964 in Fort Lamy (today N’Djamena), along with the leaders of the three other Lake Chad riparian countries, he signed the Convention establishing the Lake Chad Basin Commission (LCBC). Tafawa Balewa died in January 1966 following a military coup.