Balewa, Abubakar, << bah LAY wah, ah BOO bah kahr >> (1912-1966), an educator and politician, was the first prime minister of independent Nigeria. Nigeria was under British control until 1960, when it gained independence. Balewa led Nigeria from 1957 until his assassination in 1966.
Abubakar Tafawa Balewa was born in December 1912 in the northern Nigerian city of Bauchi. His father was a local Muslim leader. Abubakar attended the Bauchi Provincial School and the Katsina Teachers Training College. He then traveled abroad to study at the London University Institute of Education.
Upon returning home, Balewa joined a nationalist movement that aimed to free Nigeria from British rule. In 1949, he helped form a political party, the Northern People’s Congress. Nigeria at that time was divided into three regions—north, west, and east. Balewa was elected to Nigeria’s Northern House of Assembly in 1951. He soon took on additional government positions, including minister of works and minister of transport.
In 1954, a new constitution brought the regions of Nigeria together in a federation. In 1957, Balewa became the federation’s first prime minister. On Oct. 1, 1960, the United Kingdom granted Nigeria independence, and Balewa remained prime minister. That same year, the United Kingdom’s Queen Elizabeth II knighted him, and he became known as Sir Abubakar Balewa.
Balewa’s government faced a variety of challenges in the early 1960’s. Rival groups competed for power, and the government faced charges of corruption. Disputed elections in 1964 and 1965 led to violent riots. In January 1966, a group of Nigerian Army officers overthrew the central and regional governments. They murdered Prime Minister Balewa and other government officials. Balewa died on Jan. 15, 1966. In 1980, the Federal University of Technology in Bauchi was renamed Abubakar Tafawa Balewa University in honor of the former prime minister.
