The Story Of Shehu Shagari

Shehu Usman Shagari was born on 25th February 1925, to a Sunni Muslim Fulani family. Shagari was founded by his great-grandfather, Ahmadu Rufai. He was raised in a polygamous family, and was the sixth child born into the family. His father, Aliyu Shagari, was the village head of Shagari town.

Prior to becoming the village head, Shehu’s father was a farmer, trader and herder. However, due to traditional rites that prevented rulers from participating in business, Aliyu relinquished some of his trading interests when he became the village head.

Aliyu died five years after Shehu’s birth, and Shehu’s elder brother, Bello, briefly took on his father’s mantle as the village head. Shagari started his education in a Quranic school and then went to live with relatives at a nearby town, where from 1931 to 1935, he attended Yabo elementary school. 

Between 1936 and 1940, he went to Sokoto for middle school, and then from 1940 to 1944, he attended Barewa College. Between 1944 and 1952, Shagari matriculated at the Teachers Training College, in Zaria, Kaduna. From 1953 t0 1958, he got a job as a visiting teacher at Sokoto Province. He was also a member of the Federal Scholarship Board from 1954 to 1958.

Shehu Shagari entered politics in 1951 when he became the secretary of the Northern People’s Congress in Sokoto, a position he held until 1956. In 1954, Shagari was elected into his first public office as a member of the federal House of Representative for Sokoto west. In 1958, Shagari was appointed as parliamentary secretary to the Nigerian Prime Minister, Sir Abubakar Tafawa Balewa and that year he also served as the Federal Minister for Commerce and Industries. In nineteen seventy nine, Shagari became the President of Nigeria. In his time as President, Shagari made Agriculture, Industry, Housing and Transportation the major economic goals of his administration.