Overview
Abubakar Tafawa Balewa was Nigeria's first Prime Minister, in office from 1957 as federal premier and through independence in 1960 until the coup of January 1966. He was born at Tafawa Balewa in what is now Bauchi State.
Biography
Balewa trained as a teacher at Katsina College and taught at Bauchi Middle School before further study at the University of London Institute of Education. He entered the Northern House of Assembly and then the federal legislature, where he became known as a careful speaker who argued for the interests of northern constituencies within a federal Nigeria.
He served as federal minister of works and then of transport before becoming Prime Minister of the federation in 1957, leading a coalition government at independence. In office he presided over the transition to a republic, Nigeria's entry into the United Nations and the Commonwealth, and mediation efforts in African disputes, including the initiative that led to the Organisation of African Unity. His government was also marked by disputed elections, a state of emergency in the Western Region and the census crises that strained the First Republic. He was abducted and killed during the coup of January 1966.
Notable achievements
- First Prime Minister of Nigeria, in office from 1957 to 1966
- Led the government at independence in 1960 and through the move to a republic in 1963
- Took Nigeria into the United Nations and the Commonwealth as an independent state
- Active in African diplomacy, including the process leading to the Organisation of African Unity
Legacy
Balewa is remembered for a plain personal style and for holding together a fragile federal coalition. The failures of the First Republic under his premiership — disputed elections, the Western Region emergency and the census disputes — are read very differently by different Nigerian historians.