Nigeria’s First Female Vice Chancellor, Alele- Williams Dies At 89

By Akinwale Kasali

The delightful, elegant, a combination of brain, beauty and brawn, Professor Grace Alele-Williams, has passed on.

The renowned educationist and Professor of Mathematics, passed on Friday,  March, 25, 2022, at the age of 89 years.

She broke the jinx against female academics when she was appointed the first female Vice Chancellor in Nigeria – University of Benin – in 1985.

She was known to have taken drastic steps and measures in the reduction of cultism, that had become a  menace in UNIBEN at the time.

Before her appointment as Vice Chancellor,  she made history as the first Nigerian woman to obtain a doctorate degree in Mathematics  in 1963, a rare feat in the sixties.

Though the circumstances surrounding her death remains sketchy at the filing of this report,  her death was confirmed by the  former Commissioner for Higher Education, Delta State, and ex-Head of Department of English, the University of Lagos, Prof. Hope Eghagha.

Asked about the circumstances surrounding her death, Eghagha said, “Anything can happen at 89.”

It would be recalled that President Muhammadu Buhari felicitated with the former VC on her 89th birthday in December 2021, applauding her role in sanitising UNIBEN of cultism.

President Buhari had congratulated  the educationist on her achievements over many years, inspired by vision and hard work, becoming the first woman to earn a Ph.D in Nigeria (1963), and using her resources to create opportunities for other women, particularly in getting education,” partly read the statement issued by Buhari’s spokesperson, Femi Adesina.