Awolowo one of Nigeria’s greatest thinkers, reformers — Tinubu
President Bola Tinubu has described the late nationalist leader Obafemi Awolowo as courageous and one of Nigeria’s most visionary leaders.
Speaking on Friday at the 2026 Obafemi Awolowo Memorial Lecture, organised by the Obafemi Awolowo Foundation, Tinubu reaffirmed his administration’s commitment to long-term reforms and national development.
In a report by The Cable newspaper, Tinubu, who was represented by the minister of state for health and social welfare, Iziaq Salako, said the policies and priorities of his administration reflect the visionary leadership style associated with Awolowo.
According to the president, Nigeria currently has a leader in Awolowo’s mould guiding the country through a critical phase of reforms.
Tinubu described Awolowo as a rare statesman whose courage, intellectual depth and welfare-focused governance transformed the old Western Region.
He noted that Awolowo’s tenure as premier between 1954 and 1959 turned the region into a model of development through investments in education, healthcare and infrastructure.
“Pa Awolowo was a profoundly wise leader whose ideas and actions placed him among the great thinkers and reformers in history,” the president said.
He highlighted the introduction of free universal primary education in 1955 as one of the most significant policy decisions in Nigeria’s history, noting that it laid the foundation for the strong human capital base that continues to drive development in the South-West.
