The President, Academic Staff Union of Universities (ASUU), Prof. Emmanuel Osodeke, has described the late Prof. Bene Madunagu, as a leader who fought against injustice and oppression.
Osodeke stated this during a wake/funeral conference organised in honour of the late professor of Botany, and first female ASUU chairman, University of Calabar chapter.
Recall that Prof. Madunagu who died on Nov. 26, 2024, at the age of 77, was summarily dismissed as a lecturer in 1978 following her roles in union activities, but was reinstated in 1981.
The ASUU president said that Madunagu used her lifetime to impact positively on the people and the world around her.
He said that Nigeria needed service-oriented leaders such as the late Madunagu in order to make meaningful impacts on the wellbeing of the citizenry.
Osodeke expressed worry that the political class in the country lacked the drive for selfless leadership.
“Their only ambition is to accumulate wealth, they have no interest in delivering selfless service to the people, this is unfair.
“It has become so bad that even the youth do not believe in hard work anymore. People only want government appointments so that they can steal public fund,” he said.
He described the attention being given to education in the country by policy makers as poor and absurd.
“We give N2 billion annually to a federal university as overhead cost while the Ministry of Finance gets about N72 billion, this is absurd, and won’t help the education sector.
“This is one of the injustices and bad policies that the late Madunagu fought against, we need to take back our country,” he said.
Also speaking at the event, Prof. Eka Braide, said that the late professor, contributed immensely to the struggle for a better world in spite of obvious challenges.
Braide, the pioneer Vice Chancellor, University of Cross River, said that Madunagu’s legacies in the campaign for gender equality and social justice would remain indelible.(NAN)
