Formerly the Lagos Race Course, this is the open square where Sir Abubakar Tafawa Balewa received the instruments of independence on 1 October 1960 and where the Republic was proclaimed on 1 October 1963.
Originally the Lagos Race Course, the open ground at the southern end of Lagos Island was used by the British administration for parades and ceremonial events. It was here that the formal handover of sovereignty took place on 1 October 1960: Princess Alexandra delivered the constitutional instruments to Prime Minister Tafawa Balewa, who gave the 'I am pledged to a destiny' independence address.
On 1 October 1963 — the proclamation of the Federal Republic — Nnamdi Azikiwe was sworn in as the first President at the same square. The site was renamed Tafawa Balewa Square (TBS) after the Prime Minister's assassination in 1966.
Every subsequent constitutional handover that took place in Lagos used this square: Obasanjo's 1979 handover to Shehu Shagari was held here; the annual Independence Day Parade ran here until the capital relocation to Abuja in 1991. Since then, the Lagos parade is symbolic; the federal parade moved to Eagle Square, Abuja.
The square is bordered by the Independence Building (formerly the Federal Secretariat) and the National Theatre cultural axis. It remains in active ceremonial use by the Lagos State Government.