By Mustafa Abubakar and Dorcas Akintoye

The wife of Prof. L. P. O. Lumumba, the Guest Anniversary Speaker at the just concluded 50th Anniversary of the University of Ilorin, Mrs Celestine Otieno-Lumumba, has urged women in academia to be proactive, insisting that they must not wait for opportunities to be handed to them.

Mrs Lumumba said this while speaking with  UNILORIN Bulletin penultimate Thursday (November 27, 2025) at the University Auditorium.

She said, “Do not give up. Be in the forefront. Do not wait to be called to the table because nobody is going to call you. Take yourself to the table and make a difference just like the men are doing.”

Mrs Lumumba added that while the academic space belongs to everyone, women must organise themselves effectively, as the men organise themselves.

“I am not saying men are better organisers in terms of these things than women. So women should organise themselves and excel in academia just like the men are excelling,” she noted.

Reflecting on the University of Ilorin, she said she was “actually very impressed,” explaining that the long drive into campus before seeing any buildings gave “this kind of privacy” she had only seen at the Earth University in Costa Rica.

She said UNILORIN reminded her of that institution, which “specialises in agriculture and agriculture alone, and they only have African students, but they do amazing work there.”

She encouraged a visit to the University by researchers from the University of Ilorin to see what they do there, stating that it shall be wonderful.

On youth and national development, she said, “There is a lot to do for the youth. You have seen what has happened in Kenya, Madagascar. It is the youth who bring change, not the old people. If you are waiting for change from the old people, you will wait for a very long time. So it is you who have to bring the change that you want, and not by destroying yourself or destroying the country, but by doing the right thing.”