History of Rotary in Nigeria

The first Rotary Club in Nigeria was formed with the assistance of Rotarian Vuilleumier. It was the Rotary Club of Kano, which was chartered on 28th April 1961. At the same time the Rotary Club of Lagos was being put together by late Rotarian S. L. Edu and late Simeon Adebo. The second club in Nigeria was admitted into the Rotary Family on 30th May 1961. Rotary Club of Ibadan followed as the third club when it was chartered in November 1961.

Prior to 1961, Niegrians have been having contacts with Rotary and Rotarians in the course of their travels and sojourn abroad. It was no surprise then that the first set of Nigerians who joined Rotary were the much traveled, foreign trained business executives, professional and civil servants to whom the ideals of Rotary were not strange.

The formation of these pioneer clubs followed the Rotary International procedures of forming clubs inclusive of intensive effort at community and classification surveys.

Consequently, charter members of these clubs were very distinguished citizens of the communities and above all were imbued with the desire to serve. The news of the zeal with which they worked for Rotary spread far and contributed to the efforts put in by other RI Special Representatives to form five more clubs between 1961 and 1967.

It should also be noted that expatriate Rotarians in the country contributed a lot to the spread of Rotary Clubs. They came out to make friends, fellowship, expand their business and contribute their quota to the development of the communities they were working or resident in. These pioneer clubs still exist and are formidable pillars of Rotary in Nigeria.

In the early years, the administration of Rotary Clubs in Nigeria was directly through the zonal Representatives appointed by the Rotary International. They include Rotarian Jack Farnsworth 1968/69, Rotarian Bayo Braithwathe, 1969/70, Rotarian Inder Baker 1970/71, Rotarian Anofi S. Guobadia 1971/72 and Rotarian Philip Dudeney, 1972/73.

The growth of Rotary in Nigeria can be linked in its early years to its introduction to West Africa in 1939 through the charter of the Rotary Club of Abidjan, Cote D’Ivoire. By 1973, the number of Rotary Clubs in West Africa had grown to 33 to warrant the creation of a District. Thus District 210 was created for efficient administration of the clubs in West Africa.

A prominent Nigerian, Rot. Anofi Guobadia (RC Ikeja, Nigeria) was District Governor in 1974/75 Rotary year. In 1977/78 District 210 was renamed District 910. Rot. Jonathan Babatunde Majiyagbe (RC Kano, Nigeria), a very distinguished Nigerian was Governor of District 910 in 1981/82. He later moved up in the Rotary organization to become an RI Director in 1988 and the Rotary International President in 2003/2004.