Abubakar Tafawa Balewa

Abubakar Tafawa Balewa was born in December 1912 in modern-day Bauchi State, in the Northern Nigeria Protectorate.

Balewa's father, Yakubu Dan Zala, was of Gere ethnicity, and his mother Fatima Inna was of Gere and Fulani descent.

His father worked in the house of the district head of Lere, a district within the Bauchi Emirate.

He took his name from two corrupted Fula language words: "Tafari" (Rock) and "Baleri" (Black), which resulted in being the childhood nickname "Black Rock".

Balewa began his education at a Qur'anic school in Bauchi; when southern colonial administrators began to push for western education in the Northern region, Balewa was among the children sent to Tafawa Balewa Elementary School, after the Qur'anic school.

Thereafter, he proceeded to Bauchi Provincial School.

Like many of his contemporaries, he studied at Barewa College, then known as Katsina College, where he was student number 145.

Ahmadu Rabah, later known as Ahmadu Bello, was student number 87 and was two years his senior, while Abubakar Imam was a year ahead of him.

The college was several kilometers from Bauchi and was not close to a railway station nor other public transportation.

During holidays, which was twice a year, Balewa trekked home, a journey of more than 400 kilometers.

He trekked for 40 kilometers a day, before finding a resting place at a nearby village.

In total, the journey took him 10 days.

Katsina College had British expatriate teachers, many of whom had been educated at leading British schools and then attended Cambridge or Oxford Universities.

Students were taught in English, and speech was an important part of learning for the students.

Apart from excellence in English, the school was also a training ground for teachers to be posted to the provincial and middle schools within the Northern Provinces of Nigeria.

Balewa completed his five-year education in 1933 and returned to Bauchi to teach at Bauchi Middle School.

He taught at the school and rose to become a senior schoolmaster.

In 1941, he became acquainted with a young Aminu Kano, who was posted to the school as a teacher.

After a student unrest, investigations into student grievances indicted the headmaster, and in 1941 Balewa was nominated as the new headmaster.

In 1944, Balewa and some other educated teachers in the Northern Provinces were chosen to study abroad at the University of London's Institute of Education, which today forms part of University College London.

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 Northern House of Assembly, and to the Legislative Council in 1947.

As a legislator, he was a vocal advocate of the rights of Northern Nigeria.

He supported hesitance by the North to become independent, based on the objection that the north and south regions were not at an equal footing.

In the Northern Assembly, he sought more roles and responsibility in the Native Administration for the educated members of the emirates.

Together with Alhaji Sir Ahmadu Bello, who held the hereditary title of Sardauna of Sokoto, they proposed the transformation of the cultural organization, Jam'iyyar Mutanen Arewa, which means Northern People's Congress (NPC) in English, to become a political platform for use as campaign platform during the elections of 1951.

Balewa was elected Vice President of the new party and subsequently resigned his post as headmaster of Bauchi Middle School.

NPC won the plurality of votes to the regional House of Assembly in 1951.

Balewa was among the new legislators in Kaduna.

Under a new constitution, the Macpherson Constitution of 1951, an electoral college system was implemented whereby, some regional legislators were elected to the Federal House of Representatives in Lagos, and among the federal legislators, three members from each region would be appointed federal ministers with portfolio.

Balewa was among those nominated to Lagos and along with Kashim Ibrahim and Muhammadu Ribadu were nominated to become ministers.

Balewa entered the government in 1952 as Minister of Works, and later served as Minister of Transport during a time Nigeria was moving towards self-government.

During his tenure at the transport ministry, both the Marine and Railway departments were transformed to corporations and the designs for a bridge over the Niger and plans for the Kainji Dam were developed.

In 1957, NPC won the plurality of votes in the Federal House of Representatives and Balewa became the Chief Minister and designated Prime Minister.

As part of his plans to unify the country towards the move for independence in 1960, he formed a coalition government between the NPC and the National Council of Nigeria and the Cameroons (NCNC), led by Nnamdi Azikiwe and also invited the Action Group (A.G.), the 1957 cabinet was constituted as an all party cabinet.

Though, Awolowo, the leader of A.G. and premier of the Western region was skeptical of the plan, the national executive committee of Action Group party endorsed the National Government and Ayo Rosiji and Samuel Akintola were nominated by the party.

During his first few years in office as prime minister, Nigeria was a constitutional monarchy with Elizabeth II reigning as Queen of Nigeria, until Nigeria became a republic in 1963.

He was both a defender of Northern special interests and an advocate of Nigerian reform and unity.

Sir Abubakar Tafawa Balewa (December 1912 – 15 January 1966) was a Nigerian politician who served as the first and only prime minister of Nigeria upon independence.

A conservative Anglophile, he favoured maintaining close ties with the British.