Jean Bolikango, later Bolikango Akpolokaka Gbukulu Nzete Nzube (4 February 1909 – 17 February 1982), was a Congolese educator, writer, and politician. He served twice as Deputy Prime Minister of the Republic of the Congo (now the Democratic Republic of the Congo), in September 1960 and from February to August 1962. Enjoying substantial popularity among the Bangala people, he headed the Parti de l'Unité Nationale and worked as a key opposition member in Parliament in the early 1960s.

Bolikango began his career in the Belgian Congo as a teacher in Catholic schools, and became a prominent member of Congolese society as the leader of a cultural association. He wrote an award-winning novel and worked as a journalist before turning to politics in the late 1950s. Though he held a top communications post in the colonial administration, he became a leader in the push for independence, making him one of the "fathers of independence" in the Congo. The Republic of the Congo became independent in 1960 and Bolikango attempted to organise a national political base that would support his bid for a prestigious office in the new government. He succeeded in establishing the Parti de l'Unité Nationale and promoted both a united Congo and strong ties with Belgium. Older than most of his contemporaries and commanding significant respect—especially among his Bangala peers, he was seen as the Congo's "elder statesman". Regardless, his attempts to secure a position in the government failed and he became a leading member of the opposition in Parliament.

As the country became embroiled in a domestic crisis, the first government was dislodged and succeeded by several different administrations. Bolikango served as Deputy Prime Minister in one of the new governments before a partial state of stability was reestablished in 1961. He mediated between warring factions in the Congo and briefly served once again as Deputy Prime Minister in 1962 before returning to the parliamentary opposition. After Joseph-Désiré Mobutu took power in 1965, Bolikango became a minister in his government. Mobutu soon dismissed him but appointed him to the political bureau of the Mouvement Populaire de la Révolution. Bolikango left the bureau in 1970. He left Parliament in 1975 and died seven years later. His grandson created the Jean Bolikango Foundation in his memory to promote social progress. The President of the Congo posthumously awarded Bolikango a medal in 2005 for his long career in public service.

Jean Bolikango was born in Léopoldville, Belgian Congo, on 4 February 1909 to a Bangala family from Équateur Province. In 1917 he enrolled in St. Joseph's Institute, graduating in December 1925 after six years of primary school, two years of pedagogical studies, and one year of stenography and typing courses. He became a licensed primary school teacher the following year. Bolikango taught at Scheutist schools and finally St. Joseph's Institute until 1958. He instructed a total of 1,300 students, including future Prime Minister Joseph Iléo, future Prime Minister Cyrille Adoula, future Minister of Finance Arthur Pinzi, future Minister of Social Affairs Jacques Massa, future dramatist Albert Mongita, and future Catholic Cardinal Joseph Malula. In 1946 he became the president of the Association des Anciens élèves des pères de Scheut (ADAPÉS), a position he held until his death.

That year Bolikango, as the leader of the capital évolués, worked closely with missionary Raphaël de la Kethulle de Ryhove to establish the Union des Interets Sociaux Congolais (UNISCO), a cultural society for leaders of elite Congolese associations. He then became its vice president. The organisation was viewed favorably by the colonial administration for its attachment to Belgian social ideals, though it would later become a forum for revolutionary politics. In 1954 Bolikango founded and, for a time, served as general chairman of the Liboka Lya Bangala, the first Bangala ethnic association, based in Léopoldville. By 1957 it encompassed 48 affiliated tribal organisations and had 50,000 members. He authored a novel in Lingala entitled Mondjeni-Mobé: Le Hardi, which won a consolation prize for creative writing from the Conference on African Studies at the International Fair in Ghent in 1948. He also made a submission to the 1949 contest, but no prize was awarded. Bolikango soon befriended Joseph Kasa-Vubu and sponsored his election as secretary-general of ADAPÉS in order to bring him into UNISCO, thereby furthering the latter's political standing. Bolikango eventually married a woman named Claire. He also obtained a carte de mérite civique from the Belgian administration and served on the commission responsible for its assignment to deserving Congolese.

Bolikango first went abroad when he attended Kethulle de Ryhove's funeral in Belgium in 1956. During his return trip he stopped in Paris to meet African members of the French Parliament. That year he met a handful of his former students and other Congolese leaders in his home. Together they drafted the first Congolese political manifesto, Manifeste de Conscience Africaine. In 1958 he resigned from his teaching post and went to Brussels to represent Catholic education at the Expo 58 event, holding responsibility for public relations at the Missions Pavilion. This led him to study press, radio, television, film, and mass education techniques at the Office of Information and Public Relations for the Belgian Congo and Ruanda-Urundi. In August 1959 he was appointed Assistant Commissioner of Information in the office, making him one of only two Congolese to ever hold a second grade civil servant position in the Belgian colonial administration. In that capacity he initiated a comparative study of information services across Sub-Saharan Africa, compiled details on Congolese politicians, gave numerous speeches, and helped design Bantu language courses at the University of Ghent. He regularly wrote for the Léopoldville monthly La Voix du Congolais and the Catholic newspaper La Croix du Congo. In 1960 Bolikango started his own newspaper, La Nation Congalaise. In his contributions he frequently advocated for equal pay between black and whites for the same labor.

Bolikango was older than most of his political contemporaries and was regarded as the Congo's "elder statesman". He was labeled conservative and "pro-Belgian". He considered the Senegalese poet and politician Léopold Sédar Senghor to be a principal influence on his beliefs. He also admired Félix Houphouët-Boigny of Côte d'Ivoire for his "wisdom and calmness". Like other members of the original Congolese establishment, Bolikango sought a gradual decolonisation process during which the Belgian authorities were to be amicably negotiated with. He believed the Congo should be united in a broad fashion and supported the formation of a union of African states.

In 1953 Bolikango became a substitute member of the Conseil de la province de Léopoldville. He served in the post for three years. In December 1957 he unsuccessfully entered Léopoldville's first municipal elections. The Bangala as a whole did not do well in the campaign; their only form of organisation was Bolikango's Liboka Lya Bangala, an association with little cohesion. Following the electoral defeats, Bolikango decided to organise the Interfédérale, a federation among various regional and ethnic groups of the northern Congo that became the basis of his new Parti de l'unité Congolaise. Almost immediately after its creation the party collapsed due to ethnic differences. In April 1959 Patrice Lumumba asked Bolikango to become director of his nationalist political party, the Mouvement National Congolais (MNC), but he never committed to a decision. In the autumn of 1959 the Interfédérale became a part of the Parti National du Progrès (PNP). Bolikango did not follow them, instead founding the Front de l'unite Bangala (FUB), a political party representing the Bangala people of the northeastern Congo. Among them he was a popular figure; Bangala nicknames for him included "the Sage" and even "Moses". He hoped that by promoting the idea of a grande ethnie bangala he could enhance his political prospects. The Bangala were only unified as a political faction in the capital, so he began to look elsewhere for support. He was also a cofounder of the short-lived Mouvement pour le Progres National Congolais, a party formed by attendees of the Brussels exposition.