President Bola Tinubu yesterday expressed grief over the death of a former President of the Academic Staff Union of Universities and one of Africa\u2019s foremost literary scholars, Professor Emeritus Biodun Jeyifo.<\/p>\n
Jeyifo passed away on Wednesday, drawing tributes from across Nigeria and the global academic community.<\/p>\n
In a condolence message to the family, friends, and associates of the late scholar, Tinubu in a statement by his spokesperson, Bayo Onanuga, \u00a0described Jeyifo as a towering intellectual whose contributions to African literature, postcolonial studies, and cultural theory left an enduring legacy.<\/p>\n
He noted that the late professor would be sorely missed for his incisive criticism and masterful interpretations of the works of Nobel laureate, Professor Wole Soyinka.<\/p>\n
The President also recalled Jeyifo\u2019s leadership of ASUU, praising the temperance, foresight, and wisdom he brought to the union over the years.<\/p>\n
Tinubu said Jeyifo played a key role in shaping negotiation frameworks with the government aimed at improving working conditions for university staff and enhancing the learning environment in Nigerian universities.<\/p>\n
According to the President, Professor Jeyifo\u2019s longstanding advocacy for academic freedom and social justice will continue to inspire generations.<\/p>\n
He added that the late scholar\u2019s influence extended beyond academia into political and cultural journalism, where he served as a mentor to numerous scholars, writers, and activists.<\/p>\n
Tinubu condoled with ASUU, the Nigerian Academy of Letters, the Wole Soyinka Centre for Investigative Journalism, the University of Ibadan, Obafemi Awolowo University, Oberlin University, Cornell University, and Harvard University\u2014institutions where Jeyifo studied, taught, or made significant scholarly contributions.<\/p>\n
\u201cNigeria and the global academic community have lost a towering figure and outstanding global citizen,\u201d the President said.<\/p>\n
\u201cProfessor Biodun Jeyifo was an intellectual giant who dedicated his entire life to knowledge production and the promotion of human dignity. I share a strong personal relationship with him. His contributions to literary and cultural advancement and to society at large will be missed.\u201d<\/p>\n
Jeyifo was widely regarded as one of Africa\u2019s most influential literary critics and public intellectuals. Among several honours, he received the prestigious W.E.B. Du Bois Medal in 2019.<\/p>\n
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President Bola Tinubu yesterday expressed grief over the death of a former President of the Academic Staff Union of Universities and one of Africa\u2019s foremost literary scholars, Professor Emeritus Biodun Jeyifo. Jeyifo passed away on Wednesday, drawing tributes from across Nigeria and the global academic community. In a condolence message to the family, friends, and […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":67315,"featured_media":350369,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[76],"tags":[688],"class_list":["post-352553","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-featured","tag-front-pix"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.thetidenewsonline.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/352553","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.thetidenewsonline.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.thetidenewsonline.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.thetidenewsonline.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/67315"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.thetidenewsonline.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=352553"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.thetidenewsonline.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/352553\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":352554,"href":"https:\/\/www.thetidenewsonline.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/352553\/revisions\/352554"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.thetidenewsonline.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/350369"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.thetidenewsonline.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=352553"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.thetidenewsonline.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=352553"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.thetidenewsonline.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=352553"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}