Abubakar Tafawa Balewa

Abubakar Tafawa Balewa
Prime Minister of Nigeria
In office October 1, 1959 – January 15, 1966
Succeeded by	None
Born	1912 Bauchi, Nigeria
Died	January 15, 1966
Political party	Northern People's Congress
Religion	Islam

Sir Abubakar Tafawa Balewa (December 1912 - January 15, 1966) was a Nigerian politician, and the first prime minister of an independent Nigeria. Originally a trained teacher, he became a vocal leader for Northern interest as one of the few educated Nigerians of his time. He was also an international statesman, widely respected across the African continent as one of the leaders who encouraged the formation of the Organization of African Unity (OAU).

Early life and career

Abubakar Balewa was born in Bauchi, the son of a Bageri Muslim district head in the Bauchi divisional district of Lere. He started early education at the Koranic School in Bauchi and like most of his contemporaries, he studied at the Katsina College for further education and soon acquired his teaching certificate. He returned to Bauchi to teach at the Bauchi Middle School. In 1944, along with a few learned teachers from the north, he was chosen to study abroad for a year at the University of London's Institute of Education. Upon returning to Nigeria, he became an Inspector of Schools for the colonial administration and later entered politics. He was elected in 1946, to the colony's Northern House of Assembly, and to the Legislative Assembly in 1947. As a legislator, he was a vocal advocate of the rights of northern Nigeria, and together with Alhaji Ahmadu Bello, who held the hereditary title of (Sardauna) of Sokoto, he founded the Northern People's Congress (NPC).

From self-government to independence

Balewa administration

Balewa entered the government in 1952 as Minister of Works, and later served as Minister of Transport. In 1957, he was elected Chief Minister, forming a coalition government between the NPC and the National Council of Nigeria and the Cameroons (NCNC), led by Nnamdi Azikiwe. He retained the post as prime minister, when Nigeria gained independence in 1960, and was reelected in 1964.

Prior to Nigeria's independence, a constitutional conference in 1954 had adopted a regional political framework for the country, with all regions given a considerable amount of political freedom. The three regions then were composed of diverse cultural groups. The premiers and some prominent leaders of the regions later took on a policy of guiding their regions against political encroachment from other regional leaders. Later on, this political environment influenced the Balewa administration. His term in office was turbulent, with regional factionalism constantly threatening his government.

However, as prime minister of Nigeria, he played important roles in the continent's formative indigenous rule. He was an important leader in the formation of the Organization of African Unity and creating a cooperative relationship with French speaking African Countries. He was also instrumental in negotiations between Moise Tshombe and the Congolese authorities during the Congo Crisis of 1960-1964. He led a vocal protest against the Sharpeville Massacre of 1960 and also entered into an alliance with Commonwealth ministers who wanted South Africa to leave the Commonwealth in 1961. However, a treason charge and conviction against one of the western region's leaders, Obafemi Awolowo, led to protest and condemnation from many of his supporters. The 1965 election in the region later produced violent protests. Rioting and violence were soon synchronous with what was perceived as inordinate political encroachment and an over-exuberant election outcome for Awolowo's western opponents. Different "regional parties worried that their rivals would intrigue with other groups to gain control of the federal government", which, effectively, was in the hands of the North. "The East and West feared the North, which" says Cooper, "was tightly controlled by an Islamic elite", of which leaders such as Balewa and Bello were part.

Nigeria's Colonial Legacy

The task faced by Abubakar Tafawa Balewa as Nigeria's first Prime Minister needs to be set in the context of Nigeria's [[colonialisn}colonial]] history. The British colony of Nigeria was created by a process of acquiring territory by conquest and treaty. Originally several protectorates were administered separately, two colonies were formed in 1900 which were combined in 1914. The British political ideology of dividing Nigeria during the colonial period into three regions North, West and East exacerbated the already well-developed economic, political, and social competition among Nigeria’s different ethnic groups. For the country was divided in such a way that the North had slightly more population than the other two regions combined. On this basis the Northern Region was allocated a majority of the seats in the Federal Legislature established by the colonial authorities. Within each of the three regions the dominant ethnic groups the Hausa-Fulani, Yoruba, and Igbo respectively formed political parties that were largely regional and tribal in character: the Northern People’s Congress (NPC) in the North; the Action Group in the West (AG): and the National Conference of Nigerian Citizens (NCNC) in the East. Although these parties were not exclusively homogeneous in terms of their ethnic or regional make-up, the later disintegration of Nigeria results, largely from the fact that these parties were primarily based in one region and one tribe. To simplify matters, we will refer to them here as the Hausa, Yoruba, and Ibgo-based; or Northern, Western and Eastern parties.

During the 1940’s and 1950’s the Ibgo and Yoruba parties were in the forefront of the fight for independence from Britain. They also wanted an independent Nigeria to be organized into several small states so that the conservative and backward North could not dominate the country. Northern leaders, however, fearful that independence would mean political and economic domination by the more Westernized elites in the South, preferred the perpetuation of British rule. As a condition for accepting independence, they demanded that the country continue to be divided into three regions with the North having a clear majority. Igbo and Yoruba leaders, anxious to obtain an independent country at all cost accepted the Northern demands. The semi-feudal and Islamic Hausa-Fulani in the North were traditionally ruled by an autocratic, conservative Islamic hierarchy consisting of some thirty-odd Emirs who, in turn, owed their allegiance to a supreme Sultan. This Sultan was regarded as the source of all political power and religious authority.

The Yoruba political system in the southwest, like that of the Hausa-Fulani, also consisted of a series of monarchs being the Obas. The Yoruba monarchs, however, were less autocratic than those in the North, and the political and social system of the Yoruba accordingly allowed for greater upward mobility based on acquired rather than inherited wealth and title.

The Igbo in the southeast, in contrast to the two other groups, lived in some six hundred autonomous, democratically-organized villages. Although there were monarchs in these villages (whether hereditary or elected), they were largely little more than figureheads. Unlike the other two regions, decisions among the Igbo were made by a general assembly in which every man could participate.

Balewa's Ministers
OFFICE	NAME	TERM
Prime Minister	Abubakar Tafawa Balewa	1957–1966
Transportation	Raymond Njoku	1957–1960
Education	Jaja Wachukwu	1957–1960
Commerce	K. O. Mbadiwe	1957–1960
Communications	Samuel Ladoke Akintola	1957–1960
Internal Affairs	J. M. Johnson	1957–1960
Information	Kola Balogun	1957–1960
Health	Ayo Rosiji	1957–1960
Labor	Festus Okotie-Eboh	1957–1960
Mines	Muhammadu Ribadu	1957–1960

Honors

In January 1960, Balewa was knighted by Queen Elizabeth II of the United Kingdom. He was awarded an honorary doctorate from the University of Sheffield in May, 1960.

Overthrow

He was overthrown and killed in a military coup on January 15, 1966, as were many other leaders, including his old companion Ahmadu Bello. His body was discovered by a roadside near Lagos six days after he was ousted from office. Balewa was buried in Bauchi.

Legacy

Military governance as coup followed coup, except for a brief civilian interlude in 1979 until democracy was re-established in 1999,, over 30 years later.

Today, the Abubakar Tafawa Balewa University in Bauchi is named in his honour.

References

ISBN links support NWE through referral fees

• Cooper, Frederick. 2002. Africa since 1940: the past of the present. New approaches to African history. Cambridge, U.K.: Cambridge University Press. ISBN 9780521772419
• Clark, Trevor. 1991. A right honourable gentleman: Abubakar from the black rock: a narrative chronicle of the life and times of Nigeria's Alhaji Sir Abubakar Tafawa Balewa. London: Edward Arnold. ISBN 9780340561898
• Ezera, Kalu. 1960. Constitutional Developments in Nigeria: An Analytical Study of Nigeria's Constitution-Making Developments and the Historical and Political Factors That Affected Constitutional Change. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
• Meredith, Martin. 2005. The fate of Africa: from the hopes of freedom to the heart of despair: a history of fifty years of independence. New York: Public Affairs.

ISBN 9781586482466

• Olson, James S. and Shadle, Robert S. 1996. Historical Dictionary of the British Empire. Westport, CT: Greenwood Press. ISBN 9780313279171
• Reader, John. 1998. Africa: a biography of the continent. New York: A.A. Knopf. ISBN 9780679409793

Preceded by: None

Foreign Minister of Nigeria 1960 – 1963

Succeeded by: Jaja Wachukwu

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