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THE HISTORY OF ROTARY IN NIGERIA
A Part of Our History of Rotary in Africa
See also -
Home Club of RI
President John Majiyagbe
Prepared by the district and not verified
by Rotary Global History
The world-wide spread of Rotary arrived in
Nigeria some 40 years after the creation of Africa's first club, the
Rotary Club of Johannesburg, South Africa on 1 July 1921.
Rotary slowly spread throughout the continent
before reaching West Africa via the first club in this region, the
Rotary Club of Dakar, Senegal on 10 July 1939.
Many other countries followed but it was not
until the 56th year of Rotary International, in 1961, that the first
club was formed in our country.
Nigeria was the 32nd country on the African
continent to welcome Rotary International into our life.
It was on 28 April, 1961 that the Rotary Club
of Kano was chartered.
Kano is the capital of Kano State and is the
second most populous city in Nigeria with a population of nearly 4
million people.
Despite this slow adoption of Rotary, Nigeria
has more than made up for its slow start.
Only one month after the formation of RC Kano, Rotary found its way
to the nation's capital, Lagos.
The Rotary Club of Lagos was chartered on 30th
May 1961 and followed a few months later by the Rotary Club of
Ibadan on 24th November 1961.
By 1973, the number of clubs in Nigeria was
large enough for grouping with other clubs outside Nigeria to form
the new Rotary International
District 210 with Rotarian Francois
Amorin of the Rotary Club of Cotonou, Benin Republic, as the first
District Governor.
In 1972/73, Nigeria produced her first District Governor for
District 210 when Rotarian Anofi Guobadia of the Rotary club of
Ikeja came into office.
Worldwide changes in district numbers saw the
creation of the new District 910
in 1973 and for the next 8 years to 1981, this district grouped all
of the clubs in about 14 countries in West Africa. It was a huge
district and created enormous strains on the District Governors at
the time.
Throughout the entire west African region,
Rotary made its name and developed a reputation of the caring and
humanitarian organisation which had followed it around the world. An
impossibly long list of projects and activities were carried out
during this period, not coincidentally resulting in a huge growth of
members and clubs.
In the 1980/81 year, Nigeria produced its second District Governor
when Rotarian John Majiyagbe of the Rotary Club of Kano took charge
of this huge district.
The constant and prolific growth of clubs in
the country, encouraged RI to create a new district solely for the
administration of all the clubs in Nigeria.
As a result,
District 911
was created on 1 July 1982 to administer all the clubs throughout
the entire country.
The first District
Governor of this newly created All-Nigerian District 911 was
Rotarian Julius Adelusi-Adeluyi.
In that year (1982 – 83)
PDG Juli (as he is fondly called) criss-crossed Nigeria several
times doing some 26,000 kilometers by air, by land and over water to
spread the message of Rotary with the support of a well chosen,
motivated, committed and coordinated team of District officers.
PDG Juli and his team created a new dawn for Rotary in Nigeria with
the establishment of 31 new clubs, thus having a growth of about
100% in one Rotary year! A feat that won the commendation and
salutation of Rotary International as the best ever from any
District in the Rotary world at that time.
This sudden, unequalled
and unprecedented growth of clubs and membership, forced RI to
divide the country into two districts.
In 1984,
District 912
was added to form two Districts and PDG Bob Ogbuagu took over from
PDG Juli and sustained the tempo with great charms and promotions,
typical of a the public relations guru and veteran that he was.
After the redistricting exercise, PDG Babs
Ajayi became the third District Governor of District 911 which was
left to comprise six states and the Federal City Territory i.e.
Lagos, Ogun, Oyo, Ondo, Kwara, Sokoto and FCT.
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