The Nation Newspaper

Tag: Alakija

  • Osun civil service mourns Tejumade Alakija

    The Osun State Civil Service has commiserated with the Alakija and Aderemi families on the death of the first female Head of Service in the old Oyo State and Nigeria, Princess Tejumade Alakija.

    In a statement, the Head of Service (HoS), Mr. Sunday Owoeye, described the late Princess Alakija as “an uncommon gift to the human race”.

    Owoeye said she was an “erudite” civil servant and “a trail blazer”.

    He said: “Mama fought a good fight, ran a fine race and departed with a sparkling crown befitting an authentic princess. Indeed, she came, she saw and she conquered to the glory of God. She was God’s uncommon gift to the human race.

    “We commiserate with the Aderemi royal family and that of the Alakija. May God grant them the fortitude to bear the loss. We take solace in the fact that Mama would have good news to relay to the late Baba Adesoji Aderemi on the amazing renaissance and development in Osun State under the dynamic leadership of Governor Rauf Aregbesola, especially the on-going Oba Adesoji Aderemi Bye-Pass in Osogbo, the state capital.”

     

  • Nigeria’s first female head of service, Alakija, dies at 88

    Nigeria’s first female head of service, Alakija, dies at 88

    A former permanent secretary in the old Western Region and first Nigerian woman to be appointed as head of civil service, Mrs Tejumade Alakija, is dead.

    She was aged 88.

    Mrs Alakija, daughter of the late Ooni of Ife and Governor of Western Region, Sir Adesoji Aderemi, died in the early hours of yesterday at the private suite of the University College Hospital (UCH), Ibadan.

    A reliable source confided in The Nation that the deceased had been in and out at the UCH in the last few months, adding that former president Olusegun Obasanjo visited her on her hospital bed at the private suite two months ago.

    Her body was taken to the Anatomy Unit of the University of Ibadan shortly after she passed on, due to the ongoing strike by health workers at the UCH.

    The late Alakija founded the Anglican Girls Grammar School, Ijebu-Ode, Ogun State.

    She was the permanent secretary in the Ministry of Health and also worked at various positions in the Western Region’s Ministry of Trade in the 1960s.

    She attended primary schools at Ile-Ife and later Kudeyi Girls School in Ibadan and C.M.S. Girls School, Lagos.

    She later travelled abroad and attended Grimes College, Manchester, Westfield College, and Oxford University.

    She returned to Nigeria in 1953 and worked as a government education officer.