President Bola Tinubu has expressed deep sorrow over the death of renowned literary scholar and former President of the Academic Staff Union of Universities (ASUU), Professor Emeritus Biodun Jeyifo.
The President described the late Jeyifo as an intellectual giant whose life was devoted to knowledge production and the advancement of human dignity.
In a condolence message issued on Wednesday, the President said Nigeria and the global academic community had lost a towering figure in African literary scholarship, cultural criticism and public intellectual engagement.
He noted that the late Professor Jeyifo would be sorely missed for his outstanding contributions to African literature, postcolonial studies, cultural theory, and his seminal interpretations of the works of Nobel Laureate, Professor Wole Soyinka.
Constructive Engagement
President Tinubu recalled the temperance, foresight and wisdom that the late scholar brought to the leadership of ASUU over several years, noting that his leadership helped shape constructive engagement and negotiation frameworks with government aimed at improving staff welfare and the learning environment in Nigerian universities.
The President further said Professor Jeyifo’s lifelong advocacy for academic freedom and social justice would endure, stating that his influence on political and cultural journalism remains a lasting reference point for generations of scholars, writers and activists he mentored across continents.
He condoled with the Academic Staff Union of Universities, the Nigerian Academy of Letters, the Wole Soyinka Centre for Investigative Journalism, and the academic communities of the University of Ibadan and Obafemi Awolowo University.
Enduring Contributions
The President also extended his sympathies to Oberlin University, Cornell University and Harvard University in the United States, where the late scholar studied, taught and made enduring contributions to African literary studies and research.
“Professor Biodun Jeyifo was an outstanding global citizen whose life was dedicated to knowledge production and the promotion of human dignity. I shared a strong personal relationship with him, and his contributions to literary and cultural advancement, as well as to society at large, will be profoundly missed,” the President said.
Professor Jeyifo, one of Africa’s most influential literary critics and public intellectuals, received several international honours in recognition of his scholarship, including the prestigious W.E.B. Du Bois Medal in 2019.
President Tinubu prayed for the repose of the soul of the departed scholar and for strength for his family, colleagues and the global academic community he served with distinction.