Aminu Kano

==== Northern Teachers' Association ====
In March 1948,<ref>{{Cite web |date=1 September 2019 |title=Mallam Aminu Kano, Voice of The Voiceless |url=https://www.pressreader.com/nigeria/the-guardian-nigeria/20190901/281887299982618 |access-date=2023-12-31 |work=[[The Guardian (Nigeria)|The Guardian]] |via=}}</ref> while still studying London, Aminu formed the Northern Teachers' Welfare Association (later Northern Teachers' Association), the first region-wide organisation and [[Trade union|labour union]] in Northern Nigeria,<ref name=":14" />{{Rp|page=276}}<ref>{{Cite journal |last=Fejoh |first=J. |date=2016 |title=Bio-Social Variables as Predictors of Teacher Union Leaders' Adherence to Democratic Principles in Ogun State, Nigeria |journal=Journal of Education and Practice |pages=202|s2cid=5022696 }}</ref><ref name=":11">{{Cite book |last1=Smythe |first1=Hugh H. |url=http://archive.org/details/newnigerianelite0000unse |title=The New Nigerian Elite |last2=Smythe |first2=Mabel M. |publisher=Stanford University Press |others=Internet Archive |year=1960}}</ref>{{Rp|page=41}} alongside other teachers from the region, like Salihu Fulani, Z. Y. Dimka, Yahaya Gusau, Shettima Shehu Ajiram, Shehu Shagari, and [[Abubakar Tafawa Balewa]].<ref name=":10">{{Cite book |last=Imam |first=Abubakar |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=yawsAAAAIAAJ |title=The Abubakar Imam Memoirs |date=1989 |publisher=NNPC |isbn=978-978-169-308-3 |language=en}}</ref>{{Rp|page=169}}<ref name=":30">{{Cite book |last=Shagari |first=Shehu Usman Aliyu |url=http://archive.org/details/shehushagaribeck0000shag |title=Shehu Shagari : Beckoned To Serve : an autobiography |date=2001 |publisher=Nigeria : Heinemann ed. books (Nigeria) plc |others=Internet Archive |isbn=978-978-129-932-2 |author-link=Shehu Shagari}}</ref>{{Rp|page=66}} The union focused on issues like rights and welfare of teachers, an improved syllabus, differences in salary between the North and the South and the eligibility of teachers in [[Missionary schools|Christian Mission Schools]] for membership.<ref name=":1" />{{Rp|pages=101–102}}<ref name=":6" />{{Rp|page=91}}<ref>{{Cite book |last=Musaazi |first=J. C. S. |url=http://archive.org/details/theorypracticeof0000musa |title=The Theory and Practice of Educational Administration |date=1982 |publisher=London : Macmillan Nigeria |others=Internet Archive |isbn=978-0-333-31489-0}}</ref>{{Rp|page=258}}

The union grew rapidly, having about 200 members in its first month<ref>{{Cite web |title=Gaskiya ta fi Kwabo, Issue 233, 31 Mar 1948 |url=https://eap.bl.uk/archive-file/EAP485-1-1-201 |access-date=2024-01-03 |website=Endangered Archives Programme |page=1 |language=ha}}</ref> and 25 branches within its first year and was later influential on the region's nationalist organisations that came after it.<ref name=":11" />{{Rp|page=41}}<ref name=":12">{{Cite book |last=Coleman |first=James Smoot |url=http://archive.org/details/nigeriabackgroun0000cole |title=Nigeria: background to nationalism |date=1958 |publisher=Berkeley, University of California Press |others=Internet Archive}}</ref>{{Rp|page=356}} The union continued being the most dominant teacher's union in Northern Nigeria until is merger with the [[Nigeria Union of Teachers|Nigerian Union of Teachers]], the dominant teacher's union in southern Nigeria, in 1972.<ref>{{Cite book |last=Falola |first=Toyin |url=http://archive.org/details/historicaldictio0000falo |title=Historical dictionary of Nigeria |date=2009 |publisher=Lanham, Md. : Scarecrow Press |others=Internet Archive |isbn=978-0-8108-5615-8}}</ref>{{Rp|page=260}}