
Lateef Kayode Jakande (July 23, 1929 – February 11, 2021) was a Nigerian journalist who became governor of Lagos State in Nigeria from 1979 to 1983, and later Minister of Works under the Sani Abacha military regime (1993–98). He died on February 11, 2021, aged 91 years.
Lateef Kayode Jakande was born in the Epetedo area of Lagos Island, Lagos State on July 29, 1929. Both parents are from Omu-Aran, Kwara State. He studied at the Lagos public school at Enu-Owa, Lagos Island, then at Bunham Memorial Methodist School, Port Harcourt (1934–43). He studied at King’s College, Lagos in 1943, and then enrolled at Ilesha Grammar School in 1945, where he edited a literary paper called The Quarterly Mirror.
In 1949, Jakande began a career in journalism first with the Daily Service and then in 1953 joining the Nigerian Tribune. In 1956 he was appointed editor-in-chief of the Tribune by the owner Chief Obafemi Awolowo.