March 26, 2022

Governor Ifeanyi Okowa of Delta  and former Governor of the state, Chief James Onanefe Ibori have condoled with the family of renowned mathematician and first female Vice-Chancellor of a Nigerian university, Prof. Grace Alele-Williams, over the passing of the scholar and administrator.

Alele-Williams passed on Friday in Lagos at 89.

In a condolence message by his Chief Press Secretary, Olisa Ifeajika, on Saturday, Okowa said that late Alele-Williams was a great role model to the female gender whom she inspired with her brilliance and diligence.

The governor joined family members, the academia and the Itsekiri nation in mourning the renowned scholar who, in 1963, earned a doctoral degree and became the first Nigerian female to attain such academic height.

“On behalf of the government and people of Delta, I condole with the deceased’s family, the academia and the Itsekiri nation and all Deltans on the passing of the renowned mathematician and scholar, Professor Grace Alele-Williams.

“She was a great role model and worked assiduously to stamp out cultism at the University of Benin where she was Vice-Chancellor,” he said.

“Prof. Alele-Williams was an illustrious daughter of the state, and only recently, we honoured her and other illustrious Deltans during the state’s 30th anniversary celebration.

“She would be greatly missed by those whose lives she impacted and inspired in very many ways,” the governor stated.

Chief Ibori noted that he received with sadness and a deep sense of personal loss, the passing of Prof Grace Alele-Williams.

He said: “Alele -Williams’ life imparted greatly on mine as she was the Vice-Chancellor of the University of Benin while I was a student there. I remember her as an outstanding woman of integrity and one of those who showed my feet the way to follow”.

Ibori sent his condolences to the Itsekiri nation and Delta state whose histories Alele-Williams decorated with her trail-blazing life; as the first Nigerian woman to earn a PhD in Mathematics and the first female Vice-Chancellor of a Nigerian University.

Ibori said: “I regret her passing even as I thank God for the pace-setting life she lived as a high -achiever”.