Edo State Governor Godwin Obaseki and the Vice-Chancellor of University of Benin (UNIBEN), Professor Lilian Salami today in Benin City mourned the passing of renowned mathematician and former Vice-Chancellor of UNIBEN, Professor Grace Alele-Williams.
While Governor Obaseki in a statement, described Prof Alele-Williams as an Amazon who trod where others dreaded, Prof. Lilian Salami described her deceased predecessor and the first female vice-chancellor in Nigeria as an iconic giant who broke the glass ceiling for other women to blossom.
In a statement weekend in Benin City by the spokesperson, Dr Benedicta Ehanire, Prof. Salami noted that she was consoled that the late erudite scholar is being celebrated rather than mourned.
The governor hailed the unmatched devotion of Prof. Alele-Williams, whose death occurred on Friday, March, 25 died at the age of 89, to national development.
The governor eulogized Prof. Alele-Williams as a thoroughbred academician who throughout her life left an indelible mark of dutiful service, hard work, diligence and determination.
He mourned: “It is with a heavy heart that I received the sad news of the passing of renowned academic and administrator, Prof. Grace Alele-Williams.”
As the first female Nigerian to earn a doctorate degree in mathematics, Governor Obaseki noted that Prof. Alele-Williams was a woman of many firsts who shattered the glass ceiling and didn’t look back thereafter.
He recalled: “When she became the vice-chancellor of the University of Benin (UNIBEN) – at the time the first-ever female vice-chancellor of a Nigerian university – she shone brightly as a fearless administrator and restored sanity to the higher institution during a period of social upheaval.
“Prof. Alele-Williams will be remembered for her insight, dedication to duty and courage as well as her commitment to breaking barriers limiting the advancement of women in uncharted territories.”
The vice-chancellor said that the entire university community including the governing council, management, staff, alumni and students were distressed by the passing, adding that a condolence register in honour of Prof. Alele-Williams will be opened at the vice-chancellor’s office while the institution’s flag will fly at half-mast.
The governor and the vice-chancellor commiserated with the Alele-Williams family, praying God to grant them the fortitude to bear the irreparable loss.
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