A former President of the University of Benin Students’ Union Government and Resident Electoral Commissioner in Cross River State, Mike Igini, on Saturday paid glowing tributes to Nigeria’s first female Vice Chancellor, Professor Grace Alele-Williams.
Williams, a former Vice Chancellor of UNIBEN died at the age of 89.
Igini recalled the positive exploits of Alele-Williams and his encounter with her when he was Speaker of the UNIBEN Students’ Union Parliament, and said that Williams contributed all her energy and time to the advancement of the University and the development of society.
Igini said he was Speaker of UNIBEN union parliament and later SUG President after Williams had left office.
According to him, she fractured many career ceilings that were biased against women in Nigeria when she became the first female VC of UNIBEN and the first female VC of a University in Nigeria.
Igini said, “Prof. Alele-Williams whose passing stunned the diverse spheres of Nigerian society that she has impacted and influenced was a towering academic and administrator.
“She fractured many career ceilings that were biased against women in Nigeria when she became the first female Vice Chancellor of the University of Benin and the first female Vice chancellor of a University in Nigeria.
“The recent struggle for more political inclusion by Nigerian women instantiates the enduring significance of her pioneering contributions. In my close interactions with her work as the VC of UNIBEN when I was Speaker of the Students’s Union Parliament, I have vivid recollections of her intrepid leadership.
“Although our causes and approaches were not often co-terminal, owing to the social constructs of our society as it relates to students welfare, still we shared the communal goal and purpose of advancing the development of the University, the Nigerian academic sphere and the development of our society.
“These were interests to which she contributed all of her energy and time. Though her physical presence will be missed, her work and honour will remain eternally in the nation’s leadership pantheon.”
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