Michael Okpara, Ohuhu-Igbo, was born on December 25, 1920 in Umuegwu Okpuala, Ohuhu State, Umuahia Region, now Abia State, Nigeria and died on December 17, 1984 (aged 63). Nigerian politician and Prime Minister of Eastern Nigeria during the First Republic from 1959 to 1966. At 39, he was the country’s youngest prime minister. He was a strong advocate of what he called “pragmatic socialism” and believed that land reform was crucial to Nigeria’s ultimate success.
Although he was the son of a laborer, he was able to attend mission schools and later attended the Methodist College in Uzuakoli, where he won a scholarship to study medicine at Yaba Higher College in Lagos. After completing his medical studies at the Nigerian Medical College, he worked briefly as a government doctor before returning to Umuahia to start a private practice.
He is a member of the Royal College of Physicians of Great Britain. The Michael Okpara Way in Abuja is named after him, as is the Michael Okpara University of Agriculture. Michaela Okpara in Umudike, Okpara Square in Enugu; Michael Okpara College of Agriculture, Imo State (now renamed Imo State Polytechnic). In 1964, he was awarded the GCON (Grand Commander of the Order of the Niger), one of Nigeria’s highest honors. His statue stands in Enugu, Enugu State, along with another statue of him in Umuahia, the capital of Niger, currently Abia State.
During his training, he became interested in the Zikist movement (named after Nnamdi Azikiwe), the militant wing of the National Council of Nigeria and Cameroon (NCNC). After police fired on rioters in the Enugu coal mines in 1949, Okpara was arrested for alleged complicity in inciting the riots but was quickly released. After being granted internal self-rule in 1952, he was elected to the Eastern Nigeria House of Assembly on the NCNC platform.
Between 1952 and 1959 he held various positions in the government of Eastern Nigeria, from Minister of Health to Minister of Agriculture and Production. When NCNC lawmakers revolted against the party leadership in 1953, he remained loyal and joined Azikiwe. In November 1960, when Azikiwe left active politics and became Nigeria’s first African governor-general, Okpara was elected chairman of the NCNC. His outspokenness has caused serious tensions in relations between his party and the ruling Northern People’s Congress.
Okpara was the leader of the NCNC and Prime Minister of Eastern Nigeria during the First Republic from 1959 to 1966. Although he was one of the politicians arrested shortly after the military coup in January 1966, he survived a military mutiny, the second of which killed two prime ministers.
An ardent supporter of what he calls “pragmatic socialism,” he believes that saving Nigeria depends on an agrarian revolution. To this end, he purchased and operated a large farm called Umuegwu Okpuala Mixed farms in his hometown, which led many leaders in Eastern Nigeria to follow suit. He also supported the development of education and infrastructure in Eastern Nigeria.
When he was in government, he never had his own house. After the end of the Nigerian Civil War, he went into exile in Ireland. Before his return from exile in 1979, his closest associates and beneficiaries collected money to build him a house in his village, Umuegwu. Okpara died on December 17, 1984.