Alhaji Yahaya Madawaki

Early life

Alhaji Yahaya was born in 1907 in Ilorin, Kwara State, the oldest son of Abdulkadir Popoola Arinla-agbea wealthy Ilorin trader and Salimotu Asabi.

He started early education at the Koranic school in the Ago Market area in Ilorin and then Ilorin Provincial primary School. Being top of his class, he was selected to proceed to Katsina Training College, which later became Barewa College, for further education in June 1922.

Among his contemporaries at Katsina College were Ahmadu Bello, the Sardauna of Sokoto, Makaman Bida, Suleiman Barau and Sir Kashim Ibrahim. A brilliant student and sportsman, Yahaya became Head Boy and football captain and was selected to give the welcome address to the then Governor of Nigeria, Sir Hugh Clifford, during the official commissioning of the College in 1924.

Scoring the highest grades in his set, setting records that remained unbroken for many years, Yahaya was subsequently retained in the College as a teacher after his course in 1928. He taught at Katsina College for two years and his students included Alhaji Abubakar Tafawa Balewa, who later became Prime Minister, Habba Habib of Borno, Shuaibu Abuja and the Sarkin Gobir of Kaligo, who later became the Emir of Gwandu.

Yahaya went on to become Headmaster of Ilorin Middle School and a prominent community leader, famously settling several disputes both within prominent leaders of the community and with the British colonial authorities, for which he was awarded the Coronation Medal of King George VI in 1936.

Political career

Yahaya became Chairman of the Ilorin Emir’s Council in 1936, where he acquired the nickname “Yahaya Kiigbaa” (“Yahaya doesn’t accept”) for his probity and staunch efforts to eliminate corruption in the Council. In 1948, along with Sir Abubakar Tafawa Balewa, Yahaya was a member of the delegation to the first African conference in London and was received at Buckingham Palace by King George VI on 8 October 1948.

On his return from England, he was nominated as a member of the newly constituted Northern Regional House of Assembly and member of the Ilorin Native Authority Council. Following the coming into effect of the McPherson Constitution in 1952, Yahaya was elected as one of five members of the Northern Regional House of Assembly to join the central government legislature. That same year he became Minister for Health, joining a cabinet with Ahmadu Bello, the Sardauna of Sokoto, Alhaji Abubakar Tafawa Balewa and other prominent Northern Ministers. He was replaced in 1956 by Alhaji Ahman.

During his tenure as Minister of Health he recorded many achievements, including the commissioning of several hospitals, such as the medical school in Zaria and an orthopaedic hospital in Kano, and was responsible for the abolition of hospital charges in all General Hospitals in the North.

In 1973 Yahaya was appointed State Commissioner of Works, during which time he signed the Asa Dam contract and commissioned several major projects. In 1981, President Shehu Shagari appointed Yahaya as one of the Committee of Elders .

Honours and appointments

In 1936, Yahaya was awarded the Coronation Medal of King George VI. In 1955, he was awarded the Order of the British Empire (OBE) by Queen Elizabeth II and the traditional chieftaincy title of Madawaki of Ilorin. In 1981, Yahaya was conferred by President Shehu Shagari with the national honour of Member of the Federal Republic (M.F.R.). In 1982, he was awarded an honorary doctorate from the University of Ilorin and the title of Atunuse of Erin-Ile.

He was member and Chairman of numerous Boards, including the northern Nigeria Development Board, Nigeria Railway Corporation, Kwara State Water Corporation and Bacita Sugar Company. He is also particularly recognized as the person who gave Kwara State its name.